Department of Physics and Astronomy

Nuclear and Particle Physics Seminar

Monday, October 25

12:30pm-1:30pm

Stevenson Center, Room 6333

Ralf Lehnert
Vanderbilt University

Fundamental Physics and Lorentz Symmetry

In most approaches to a quantum theory of gravitation, one expects Planck-suppressed deviations from conventional physics. Such effects are minuscule and hamper experimental research in this field. However, tiny violations of Lorentz and CPT invariance have recently been identified as promising candidate signatures for fundamental physics: these symmetries are amenable to Planck-precision tests, and theoretical evidence for their breaking in the leading quantum-gravity models is accumulating. This talk gives an overview of various ideas in this field.

http://www.hep.vanderbilt.edu/seminar