Stability and dynamics of bumblebee models

Abstract

In this work, we study vector field theories with spontaneous Lorentz violation induced by a nonderivative potential $V(X)$ (with $X = B_μB^μ$), known as bumblebee models, with a Maxwell kinetic term in Minkowski spacetime. We confirm a recent result showing that a class of smooth potentials, including a purely cubic potential, leads to a Hamiltonian density that is bounded from below and assumes a global minimum for nonzero timelike expectation values of the vector field satisfying $X = b^2 > 0$, inducing spontaneous Lorentz-symmetry breaking. We show explicitly that the standard quadratic potential has a Hamiltonian that is unbounded from below and thus unstable. We analyze the Hamiltonian equations of motion for the timelike case and demonstrate that they are regular at the global minimum. Furthermore, we examine the linearized spectrum of small fluctuations around the minimum. We also study particular solutions with spherical symmetry analytically and numerically, without assuming linearization. We find that the time evolution of smooth initial configurations can develop shock-like singularities, and we explain why this behavior is expected in this model. We also identify a subset of the space of field configurations in which the field equations cease to be hyperbolic, leading to a breakdown of well-posedness of the Cauchy initial-value problem.