The non-minimal coupling of fermions to a background responsible for the breaking of Lorentz symmetry is introduced in Dirac's equation; the non-relativistic regime is contemplated, and the Pauli's equation is used to show how an Aharonov-Casher phase may appear as a natural consequence of the Lorentz violation, once the particle is placed in a region where there is an electric field. Different ways of implementing the Lorentz breaking are presented and, in each case, we show how to relate the Aharonov-Casher phase to the particular components of the background vector or tensor that realises the violation of Lorentz symmetry. * Electronic address: belich@cce.ufes.br † Electronic address: tcsoares@cbpf.br ‡ Electronic address: manojr@ufma.br § Electronic address: helayel@cbpf.br

The influence of a Lorentz-violating fixed background on fermions is considered by means of a torsion-free non-minimal coupling. The non-relativistic regime is assessed and the Lorentz-violating Hamiltonian is determined. The effect of this Hamiltonian on the hydrogen spectrum is determined to first-order evaluation (in the absence of external magnetic field), revealing that there appear some energy shifts that modify the fine structure of the spectrum. In the case the non-minimal coupling is torsion-like, no first order correction shows up in the absence of an external field; in the presence of an external field, a secondary Zeeman effect is implied. Such effects are then used to set up stringent bounds on the parameters of the model.

This paper deals with situations that illustrate how the violation of Lorentz symmetry in the gauge sector may contribute to magnetic moment generation of massive neutral particles with spin-1 2 and spin-1. The procedure we adopt here is based on Relativistic Quantum Mechanics. We work out the non-relativistic regime that follows from the wave equation corresponding to a certain particle coupled to an external electromagnetic field and a background that accounts for the Lorentz symmetry violation, and we read thereby the magnetic dipole moment operator for the particle under consideration.We keep track of the parameters that govern the non-minimal electromagnetic coupling and the breaking of Lorentz symmetry in the expressions we get for the magnetic moments in the different cases we contemplate. Our claim is that the tiny magnetic dipole moment of truly elementary neutral particles might signal Lorentz symmetry violation.