Quantum Gravity Phenomenology and Lorentz Violation

In most fields of physics it goes without saying that observation and prediction play a central role, but unfortunately quantum gravity (QG) has so far not fit that mold. Many intriguing and ingenious ideas have been explored, but it seems safe to say that without both observing phenomena that depend on QG, and extracting reliable predictions from candidate theories that can be compared with observations, the goal of a theory capable of incorporating quantum mechanics and general relativity will remain unattainable. Besides the classical limit, there is one observed phenomenon for which quantum gravity makes a prediction that has received encouraging support: the scale invariant spectrum of primordial cosmological perturbations. The quantized longitudinal linearized gravitational mode, albeit slave to the inflaton and not a dynamically independent degree of freedom, plays an essential role in this story [1]. What other types of phenomena might be characteristic of a quantum gravity theory? Motivated by tentative theories, partial calculations, intimations of symmetry violation, hunches, philosophy, etc, some of the proposed ideas are: loss of quantum coherence or state collapse, QG imprint on initial cosmological perturbations, scalar moduli or other new fields, extra dimensions and low-scale QG, deviations from Newton’s law, black holes produced in colliders, violation of global internal symmetries, and violation of spacetime symmetries. It is this last item, more specifically the possibility of Lorentz violation (LV), that is the focus of this article.