Date of Award

2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Colladay, Donald

Keywords

Finsler Geometry, Photons, Physics, Computer Modeling

Area of Concentration

Physics

Abstract

The Standard Model (SM) of Particle Physics, as it stands today, is invariant under the Lorentz and CPT symmetries. Although the SM has become an extremely successful physical theory, it is believed to be incomplete. The Standard Model Extension (SME), is a theory constructed to preserve desirable features of the conventional SM and General Relativity while allowing violations of Lorentz and CPT symmetry. Recently, the Standard Model Extension (SME) has been found to be incompatible with Riemannian geometry, but it is believed that the SME should fit within the framework of Finsler geometry. We compute examples of Finsler-type structures in the pure-photon sector of the SME. This allows us to develop an analogy between Lorentz violating electrodynamics and Maxwell's equations in macroscopic media.

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