2005/05/31 by Joshua W. Elliott, Joshua W Elliott, Guy D. Moore +1 · 5 citations
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Aether #Astrophysics #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Cherenkov radiation #Classical mechanics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Field theory (psychology) #Gravitation #Gravitational energy #Gravitational field #Gravitational redshift #Gravitational wave #Lorentz transformation #Mathematical physics #Mathematics #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #Optics #Physics #Quantum electrodynamics #Speed of gravity #Tensor (intrinsic definition) #Theoretical physics #gr-qc #hep-ph #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1126-6708/2005/08/066
published as JHEP 0508:066,2005 · 19 pages, one figure. Minor revisions, published version
arxiv created 2005/07/19 · openalex publication_date 2005/08/17 · arxiv updated 2014/11/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We study the simplest concrete theory for spontaneous Lorentz violation, the ``New Aether Theory'' of Jacobson and Mattingly, which is a vector-tensor gravitational theory with a fixed-modulus condition on the vector field. We show that the observation of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (which implies the absence of energy loss via various Cherenkov type processes) places constraints on the parameters of this theory, which are much stronger than those previously found in the literature and are also stronger than the constraints generically arising when gravity displays sub-luminal propagation.