Speaker
Description
I show that gauge theory and gravity admit local modifications in which all local symmetries are broken, leading to new gapless modes universally coupled to matter. The new modes have small speed, which suppresses all their interactions with matter, making them compatible with current observations. No new scales or fundamental fields are introduced in this approach, as the new physical modes are the longitudinal components of standard force carriers. The new slow forces provide a conservative channel of new physics beyond the standard model of cosmology and particle physics, as well as a consistent and minimal framework to explore approximate gauge symmetry and departures from relativity. I discuss the phenomenology of these new slow forces in the context of cosmology, astrophysics, and particle physics.