Atmospheric Neutrino Constraints on Lorentz Violation

Sensitive tests of Lorentz invariance can emerge from the study of neutrino oscillations, particularly for atmospheric neutrinos where the effect is conveniently near-maximal and has been observed over a wide range of energies. We assume these oscillations to be described in terms of two neutrinos with different masses and (possibly) different maximal attainable velocities (MAVs). It suffices to examine limiting cases in which neutrino velocity eigenstates coincide with either their mass or flavor eigenstates. We display the modified νμ-ντ transition probability for each case. Data on atmospheric neutrino oscillations at the highest observed energies and pathlengths can yield constraints on neutrino MAV differences (i.e., tests of special relativity) more restrictive than any that have been obtained to date on analogous Lorentz-violating parameters in other sectors of particle physics.