Gauge-symmetric approach to effective lagrangians: The η′ meson from QCD

Abstract

We present a general scheme for extracting effective degrees of freedom from an underlying fundamental lagrangian, through a series of well-defined transformations in the functional integral of the cut-off theory. This is done by introducing collective fields in a gauge-symmetric manner. Through appropriate gauge fixings of this symmetry one can remove long-distance degrees of freedom from the underlying theory, replacing them by the collective fields. Applying this technique to QCD, we set out to extract the long-distance dynamics in the pseudoscalar flavour singlet sector through a gauging (and subsequent gauge fixing) of the U (1) A flavour symmetry which is broken by the anomaly. By this series of exact transformations of a cut-off generating functional for QCD, we arrive at a theory describing the long-distance physics of a pseudoscalar flavour singlet meson coupled to the residual quark-gluon degrees of freedom. As an example we show how to derive a Witten-Veneziano-like relation between the η′ mass and the topological susceptibility. The resulting effective lagrangian contains an axial vector field, which shares the relevant features with the Veneziano ghost. This field is responsible for removing the η′ degree of freedom from the fundamental QCD lagrangian.