Spontaneous Breaking of the Rotational Symmetry in Dimensionally Reduced Super Yang-Mills Models

Abstract

We investigate the spontaneous breaking of the SO(D) symmetry in matrix models, which can be obtained by the zero-volume limit of pure SU(N) super Yang-Mills theory in D = 6, 10 dimensions. The D = 10 case corresponds to the IIB matrix model, which was proposed as a non-perturbative formulation of type IIB superstring theory, and the spontaneous breaking corresponds to the dynamical compactification of space-time suggested in that model. First we study the D = 6 case by the Gaussian expansion method, which turns out to yield clearer results than the previous results for the D = 10 case for certain technical reasons. By comparing the free energy of the SO(d) symmetric vacua for d = 2, 3, 4, 5, we conclude that the breaking SO(6) \to SO(3) actually occurs. We find that the extent of space-time in the shrunken directions is almost independent of d. In units of this universal scale, the extended directions seem to have large but still finite extents depending on d. We show that these results for the extent of space-time can be explained quantitatively by an argument based on the low-energy effective theory. With these new insights, we reconsider the previous results for the IIB matrix model, and find that they are also consistent with our argument based on the low-energy effective theory. Thus we arrive at comprehensive understanding and some quantitative predictions concerning the nature of the spontaneous symmetry breaking taking place in these models. The space-time picture that emerges from the IIB matrix model and its implication on possible interpretations of the model are also discussed.