Lorentz symmetry is intimately tied up with CPT symmetry in that the assumption of Lorentz invariance is
required for the CPT theorem [162]. Lorentz violation therefore allows for (but does not require) CPT
violation, even if the other properties of standard quantum field theory are assumed. Conversely, however,
CPT violation implies Lorentz violation for local field theories [134]. Furthermore, many observational
results are sensitive to CPT violation but not directly to Lorentz violation. Examples of such experiments
are kaon decay (see Section 5.5) and -ray birefringence (see Section 6.3), both of which indirectly
provide stringent bounds on Lorentz violation that incorporates CPT violation. Hence CPT tests are very
important tools for constraining Lorentz violation. In effective field theory CPT invariance can explicitly be
imposed to forbid a number of strongly constrained operators. For more discussion on this point see
Section 4.3.
SUSY, while related to Lorentz symmetry, can still be an exact symmetry even in the presence of Lorentz
violation. Imposing exact SUSY provides another custodial symmetry that can forbid certain operators in
Lorentz violating field theories. If, for example, exact SUSY is imposed in the MSSM (minimal
supersymmetric standard model), then the only Lorentz violating operators that can appear have mass
dimension five or above [137]. Of course, we do not have exact SUSY in nature. The size of low
dimension Lorentz violating operators in a theory with Planck scale Lorentz violation and low
energy broken SUSY has recently been analyzed in [65
]. For more discussion on this point see
Section 4.3.
In many astrophysics approaches to Lorentz violation, conservation of energy-momentum is used along with
Lorentz violating dispersion relations to give rise to new particle reactions. Absence of these reactions then
yields constraints. Energy/momentum conservation between initial and final particle states requires
translation invariance of the underlying spacetime and the Lorentz violating physics. Therefore we can
apply the usual conservation laws only if the translation subgroup of the Poincaré group is left unmodified.
If Lorentz violation happens in conjunction with a modification of the rest of the Poincaré group, then it
can happen that modified conservation laws must be applied to threshold reactions. This is
the situation in DSR: All reactions that are forbidden by conservation in ordinary Lorentz
invariant physics are also forbidden in DSR [146], even though particle dispersion relations in DSR
would naively allow new reactions. The conservation equations change in such a way as to
compensate for the modified dispersion relations (see Section 3.4). Due to this unusual (and useful)
feature, DSR evades many of the constraints on effective field theory formulations of Lorentz
violation.
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