English

Field Theory at a Lifshitz Point

High Energy Physics - Theory 2010-01-15 v2 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Physics - Phenomenology

Abstract

We construct the general renormalizable actions for the scalar field and the gauge field at a Lifshitz point characterized by the dynamical critical exponent zz. The Lorentz invariance is broken down in the UV region, but is recovered in the IR limit. Even though the theories are UV complete, the speed of light is related to the momentum by z(k/M)z1z(k/M)^{z-1} which can go to infinity in the UV limit for z2z\geq 2. Since the Lorentz invariance is broken down, the dispersion relation is modified and the time delays in Gamma-Ray bursts can be easily explained. In addition, we also discuss the thermal dynamics and the size of causal patch in a FRW universe for the field theory at a Lifshitz point.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0904.4565,
  title  = {Field Theory at a Lifshitz Point},
  author = {Bin Chen and Qing-Guo Huang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0904.4565},
  year   = {2010}
}

Comments

12 pages; more discussions on the matter with the dynamical critical exponent z added, version for publication in Phys.Lett.B

R2 v1 2026-06-21T12:56:17.276Z