On Superluminal Particles and the Extended Relativity Theories

Abstract

Superluminal particles are studied within the framework of the Extended Relativity theory in Clifford spaces (C-spaces). In the simplest scenario, it is found that it is the contribution of the Clifford scalar component π of the poly-vector-valued momentum which is responsible for the superluminal behavior in ordinary spacetime due to the fact that the effective mass \(\mathcal{M} = \sqrt{ M^{2} - \pi^{2} }\) is imaginary (tachyonic). However, from the point of view of C-space, there is no superluminal (tachyonic) behavior because the true physical mass still obeys M2>0. Therefore, there are no violations of the Clifford-extended Lorentz invariance and the extended Relativity principle in C-spaces. It is also explained why the charged muons (leptons) are subluminal while its chargeless neutrinos may admit superluminal propagation. A Born’s Reciprocal Relativity theory in Phase Spaces leads to modified dispersion relations involving both coordinates and momenta, and whose truncations furnish Lorentz-violating dispersion relations which appear in Finsler Geometry, rainbow-metrics models and Double (deformed) Special Relativity. These models also admit superluminal particles. A numerical analysis based on the recent OPERA experimental findings on alleged superluminal muon neutrinos is made. For the average muon neutrino energy of 17 GeV, we find a value for the magnitude \(|\mathcal{M } | = 119.7\mbox{~MeV}\) that, coincidentally, is close to the mass of the muon mμ=105.7 MeV.