After a century of successes, physicists still feel the need to probe the limits of the validity of theories based on special relativity. Canonical approaches to quantum gravity, non-commutative geometry, string theory and unification scenarios predict tiny violations of Lorentz invariance at high energies.
The present book, based on a recent seminar devoted to such frontier problems, contains reviews of the foundations of special relativity and the implications of Poincaré invariance as well as comprehensive accounts of experimental results and proposed tests.
The book addresses, besides researchers in the field, everyone interested in the conceptual and empirical foundations of our knowledge about space, time and matter.
The present book, based on a recent seminar devoted to such frontier problems, contains reviews of the foundations of special relativity and the implications of Poincaré invariance as well as comprehensive accounts of experimental results and proposed tests.
The book addresses, besides researchers in the field, everyone interested in the conceptual and empirical foundations of our knowledge about space, time and matter.
From the reviews:
"In the last decade and a half, many scientists have come to believe that special relativity, as Einstein formulated it, will need to be modified to accommodate a quantum theory of gravity. ... the volume presents an excellent survey of current research on Lorentz symmetry. Most of the book should be accessible to graduate students and researchers who are interested in the field ... . provide abundant references, which should be quite valuable in a field with as many counterintuitive features as Lorentz violation research." (Brett D Altschul, Classical and Quantum Gravity, Vol. 24, 2007)
"In the last decade and a half, many scientists have come to believe that special relativity, as Einstein formulated it, will need to be modified to accommodate a quantum theory of gravity. ... the volume presents an excellent survey of current research on Lorentz symmetry. Most of the book should be accessible to graduate students and researchers who are interested in the field ... . provide abundant references, which should be quite valuable in a field with as many counterintuitive features as Lorentz violation research." (Brett D Altschul, Classical and Quantum Gravity, Vol. 24, 2007)