We study phenomena predicted by a renormalizable, CPT invariant extension of the Standard Model that contains higher-dimensional operators and violates Lorentz symmetry explicitly at energies greater than some scale $\Lambda_{L}$. In particular, we consider the Cherenkov radiation in vacuo. In a rather general class of dispersion relations, there exists an energy threshold above which radiation is emitted. The threshold is enhanced in composite particles by a sort of kinematic screening mechanism. We study the energy loss and compare the predictions of our model with known experimental bounds on Lorentz violating parameters and observations of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays. We argue that the scale of Lorentz violation $\Lambda_{L}$ (with preserved CPT invariance) can be smaller than the Planck scale, actually as small as $10^{14}$-$10^{15}$ GeV. Our model also predicts the Cherenkov radiation of neutral particles.
Phys. Rev. D 83 (2011) 056010 | DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.83.056010
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