Conserved Noether Currents Research Articles

Mimetic tensor–vector–scalar cosmology: Incorporating dark matter, dark energy and stiff matter

Phenomenological implications of the Mimetic Tensor–Vector–Scalar theory (MiTeVeS) are studied. The theory is an extension of the vector field model of mimetic dark matter, where a scalar field is also incorporated, and it is known to be free from ghost instability. In the absence of interactions between the scalar field and the vector field, the obtained cosmological solution corresponds to the General theory of Relativity (GR) with a minimally-coupled scalar field. However, including an interaction term between the scalar field and the vector field yields interesting dynamics. There is a shift symmetry for the scalar field with a flat potential, and the conserved Noether current, which is associated with the symmetry, behaves as a dark matter component. Consequently, the solution contains a cosmological constant, dark matter and a stiff matter fluid. Breaking the shift symmetry with a non-flat potential gives a natural interaction between dark energy and dark matter.

The energy–momentum complex in non-local gravity

In General Relativity, the issue of defining the gravitational energy contained in a given spatial region is still unresolved, except for particular cases of localized objects where the asymptotic flatness holds for a given spacetime. In principle, a theory of gravity is not self-consistent, if the whole energy content is not uniquely defined in a specific volume. Here, we generalize the Einstein gravitational energy–momentum pseudotensor to non-local theories of gravity where analytic functions of the non-local integral operator [Formula: see text] are taken into account. We apply the Noether theorem to a gravitational Lagrangian, supposed invariant under the one-parameter group of diffeomorphisms, that is, the infinitesimal rigid translations. The invariance of non-local gravitational action under global translations leads to a locally conserved Noether current, and thus, to the definition of a gravitational energy–momentum pseudotensor, which is an affine object transforming like a tensor under affine transformations. Furthermore, the energy–momentum complex remains locally conserved, thanks to the non-local contracted Bianchi identities. The continuity equations for the gravitational pseudotensor and the energy–momentum complex, taking into account both gravitational and matter components, can be derived. Finally, the weak field limit of pseudotensor is performed to lowest order in metric perturbation in view of astrophysical applications.

Momentum, angular momentum, and spin of waves in an isotropic collisionless plasma

We examine the momentum and angular momentum (including spin) properties of linear waves, both longitudinal (Langmuir) and transverse (electromagnetic), in an isotropic nonrelativistic collisionless electron plasma. We focus on conserved quantities associated with the translational and rotational invariance of the wave fields with respect to the homogeneous medium; these are sometimes called pseudomomenta. There are two types of the momentum and angular momentum densities: (i) the kinetic ones associated with the energy flux density and the symmetrized (Belinfante) energy-momentum tensor and (ii) the canonical ones associated with the conserved Noether currents and canonical energy-momentum tensor. We find that the canonical momentum and spin densities of Langmuir waves are similar to those of sound waves in fluids or gases; they are naturally expressed via the electron velocity field. In turn, the momentum and spin densities of electromagnetic waves can be written either in the forms known for free-space electromagnetic fields, involving only the electric field, or in the dual-symmetric forms involving both electric and magnetic fields, as well as the effective permittivity of plasma. We derive these properties both within the phenomenological macroscopic approach and microscopic Lagrangian field theory for the coupled electromagnetic fields and electrons. Finally, we explore implications of the canonical momentum and spin densities in transport and electrodynamic phenomena: the Stokes drift, the wave-induced magnetization (inverse Faraday effect), etc.

Gauge invariant operators in the SU(2) Higgs model: Ward identities and renormalization

The renormalization properties of two local gauge invariant composite operators $(O,{R}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{a})$ corresponding, respectively, to the gauge invariant description of the Higgs particle and of the massive gauge vector boson, are analyzed to all orders in perturbation theory by means of the algebraic renormalization in the $SU(2)$ Higgs model, with a single scalar in the fundamental representation, when quantized in the Landau gauge in Euclidean space-time. The present analysis generalizes earlier results presented in the case of the $U(1)$ Higgs model. A powerful global Ward identity, related to an exact custodial symmetry, is derived for the first time, with deep consequences at the quantum level. In particular, the gauge invariant vector operators ${R}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{a}$ turn out to be the conserved Noether currents of the above-mentioned custodial symmetry. As such, these composite operators do not renormalize, as expressed by the fact that the renormalization $Z$-factors of the corresponding external sources, needed to define the operators ${R}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{a}$ at the quantum level, do not receive any quantum corrections. Using this Ward identity, one can also prove that the longitudinal component of the two-point correlation function $⟨{R}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{a}(p){R}_{\ensuremath{\nu}}^{b}(\ensuremath{-}p)⟩$ exhibits only a tree level nonvanishing contribution which, moreover, is momentum independent, thus it is not associated to any physical propagating mode. Finally, we point out that the renowned nonrenormalization theorem for the ghost-antighost-vector boson vertex in Landau gauge remains true to all orders, also in the presence of the Higgs field.

The Planar Thirring Model with Kähler-Dirac Fermions

Kähler’s geometric approach in which relativistic fermion fields are treated as differential forms is applied in three spacetime dimensions. It is shown that the resulting continuum theory is invariant under global U(N)⊗U(N) field transformations and has a parity-invariant mass term, which are symmetries shared in common with staggered lattice fermions. The formalism is used to construct a version of the Thirring model with contact interactions between conserved Noether currents. Under reasonable assumptions about field rescaling after quantum corrections, a more general interaction term is derived, sharing the same symmetries but now including terms which entangle spin and taste degrees of freedom, which exactly coincides with the leading terms in the staggered lattice Thirring model in the long-wavelength limit. Finally, truncated versions of the theory are explored; it is found that excluding scalar and pseudoscalar components leads to a theory of six-component fermion fields describing particles with spin 1, with fermion and antifermion corresponding to states with definite circular polarisation. In the UV limit, only transverse states with just four non-vanishing components propagate. Implications for the description of dynamics at a strongly interacting renormalisation group fixed point are discussed.

Acoustic versus electromagnetic field theory: scalar, vector, spinor representations and the emergence of acoustic spin

We construct a novel Lagrangian representation of acoustic field theory that describes the local vector properties of longitudinal (curl-free) acoustic fields. In particular, this approach accounts for the recently-discovered nonzero spin angular momentum density in inhomogeneous sound fields in fluids or gases. The traditional acoustic Lagrangian representation with a scalar potential is unable to describe such vector properties of acoustic fields adequately, which are however observable via local radiation forces and torques on small probe particles. By introducing a displacement vector potential analogous to the electromagnetic vector potential, we derive the appropriate canonical momentum and spin densities as conserved Noether currents. The results are consistent with recent theoretical analyses and experiments. Furthermore, by an analogy with dual-symmetric electromagnetic field theory that combines electric- and magnetic-potential representations, we put forward an acoustic spinor representation combining the scalar and vector representations. This approach also includes naturally coupling to sources. The strong analogies between electromagnetism and acoustics suggest further productive inquiry, particularly regarding the nature of the apparent spacetime symmetries inherent to acoustic fields.

Covariant momentum map for non-Abelian topological BF field theory

We analyze the inherent symmetries associated to the non-Abelian topological BF theory from the geometric and covariant perspectives of the Lagrangian and the multisymplectic formalisms. At the Lagrangian level, we classify the symmetries of the theory as natural and Noether symmetries and construct the associated Noether currents, while at the multisymplectic level the symmetries of the theory arise as covariant canonical transformations. These transformations allowed us to build within the multisymplectic approach, in a complete covariant way, the momentum maps which are analogous to the conserved Noether currents. The covariant momentum maps are fundamental to recover, after the space plus time decomposition of the background manifold, not only the extended Hamiltonian of the BF theory but also the generators of the gauge transformations which arise in the instantaneous Dirac–Hamiltonian analysis of the first-class constraint structure that characterizes the BF model under study. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first non-trivial physical model associated to general relativity for which both natural and Noether symmetries have been analyzed at the multisymplectic level. Our study shed some light on the understanding of the manner in which the generators of gauge transformations may be recovered from the multisymplectic formalism for field theory.

Discrete formulation for the dynamics of rods deforming in space

The movement of rods in an Euclidean space can be described as a field theory on a principal bundle. The dynamics of a rod is governed by partial differential equations that may have a variational origin. If the corresponding smooth Lagrangian density is invariant by some group of transformations, there exist the corresponding conserved Noether currents. Generally, numerical schemes dealing with PDEs fail to reflect these conservation properties. We describe the main ingredients needed to create, from the smooth Lagrangian density, a variational principle for discrete motions of a discrete rod, with the corresponding conserved Noether currents. We describe all geometrical objects in terms of elements on the linear Atiyah bundle using a reduced forward difference operator. We show how this introduces a discrete Lagrangian density that models the discrete dynamics of a discrete rod. The presented tools are general enough to represent a discretization of any variational theory in principal bundles, and its simplicity allows us to perform an iterative integration algorithm to compute the discrete rod evolution in time, starting from any predefined configurations of all discrete rod elements at initial times.

The Noether current in Maxwell's equations and radiation under symmetry breaking

Symmetries in physical systems are defined in terms of conserved Noether Currents of the associated Lagrangian. In electrodynamic systems, global symmetry is defined through conservation of charges, which is reflected in gauge symmetry; however, loss of charges from a radiating system can be interpreted as localized loss of the Noether current which implies that electrodynamic symmetry has been locally broken. Thus, we propose that global symmetries and localized symmetry breaking are interwoven into the framework of Maxwell's equations which appear as globally conserved and locally non-conserved charges in an electrodynamic system and define the geometric topology of the electromagnetic field. We apply the ideas in the context of explaining radiation from dielectric materials with low physical dimensions. We also briefly look at the nature of reversibility in electromagnetic wave generation which was initially proposed by Planck, but opposed by Einstein and in recent years by Zoh.This article is part of the theme issue 'Celebrating 125 years of Oliver Heaviside's 'Electromagnetic Theory''.

Magnetic fields threading black holes: restrictions from general relativity and implications for astrophysical black holes

The idea that black hole spin is instrumental in the generation of powerful jets in active galactic nuclei and X-ray binaries is arguably the most contentious claim in black hole astrophysics. Because jets are thought to originate in the context of electromagnetism, and the modeling of Maxwell fields in curved spacetime around black holes is challenging, various approximations are made in numerical simulations that fall under the guise of 'ideal magnetohydrodynamics'. But the simplifications of this framework may struggle to capture relevant details of real astrophysical environments near black holes. In this work, we highlight tension between analytic and numerical results, specifically between the analytically derived conserved Noether currents for rotating black hole spacetimes and the results of general relativistic numerical simulations (GRMHD). While we cannot definitively attribute the issue to any specific approximation used in the numerical schemes, there seem to be natural candidates, which we explore. GRMHD notwithstanding, if electromagnetic fields around rotating black holes are brought to the hole by accretion, we show from first principles that prograde accreting disks likely experience weaker large-scale black hole-threading fields, implying weaker jets than in retrograde configurations.

Variational approach and deformed derivatives

Recently, we have demonstrated that there exists a possible relationship between q-deformed algebras in two different contexts of Statistical Mechanics, namely, the Tsallis’ framework and the Kaniadakis’ scenario, with a local form of fractional-derivative operators for fractal media, the so-called Hausdorff derivatives, mapped into a continuous medium with a fractal measure. Here, in this paper, we present an extension of the traditional calculus of variations for systems containing deformed-derivatives embedded into the Lagrangian and the Lagrangian densities for classical and field systems. The results extend the classical Euler–Lagrange equations and the Hamiltonian formalism. The resulting dynamical equations seem to be compatible with those found in the literature, specially with mass-dependent and with nonlinear equations for systems in classical and quantum mechanics. Examples are presented to illustrate applications of the formulation. Also, the conserved ​Noether current is worked out.

Twisted Yang–Mills field theory: connections and Noether currents

Main properties of noncommutative (NC) gauge theory are investigated in a two-dimensional twisted Moyal plane, generated by vector fields Xa = eμa(x)∂μ; the dynamical effects are induced by a nontrivial tensor eμa(x). Connections in such a NC space are defined. Symmetry analysis is performed and related NC action is proved to be invariant under defined NC gauge transformations. A locally conserved Noether current is explicitly computed. Both commuting and noncommutative vector fields Xa are considered.

COVARIANT FORMULATION OF NOETHER'S THEOREM FOR κ-MINKOWSKI TRANSLATIONS

The problem of finding a formulation of Noether's theorem in noncommutative geometry is very important in order to obtain conserved currents and charges for particles in noncommutative space–times. In this paper, we formulate Noether's theorem for translations of κ-Minkowski noncommutative space–time on the basis of the five-dimensional κ-Poincaré covariant differential calculus. We focus our analysis on the simple case of free scalar theory. We obtain five conserved Noether currents, which give rise to five energy–momentum charges. By applying our result to plane waves it follows that the energy–momentum charges satisfy a special-relativity dispersion relation with a generalized mass given by the fifth charge. In this paper, we provide also a rigorous derivation of the equation of motion from Hamilton's principle in noncommutative space–time, which is necessary for the Noether analysis.

Conserved Noether Currents, Utiyama's Theory of Invariant Variation, and Velocity Dependence in Local Gauge Invariance

The paper discusses the mathematical consequences of the application of derived variables in gauge fields. Physics is aware of several phenomena, which depend first of all on velocities (like e.g., the force caused by charges moving in a magnetic field, or the Lorentz transformation). Applying the property of the second Noether theorem, that allowed generalised variables, this paper extends the article by Al-Kuwari and Taha (1991) with a new conclusion. They concluded that there are no extra conserved currents associated with local gauge invariance. We show, that in a more general case, there are further conserved Noether currents. In its method the paper reconstructs the clue introduced by Utiyama (1956, 1959) and followed by Al-Kuwari and Taha (1991) in the presence of a gauge field that depends on the co-ordinates of the velocity space. In this course we apply certain (but not full) analogies with Mills (1989). We show, that handling the space-time coordinates as implicit variables in the gauge field, reproduces the same results that have been derived in the configuration space (i.e., we do not lose information), while the proposed new treatment gives additional information extending those. The result is an extra conserved Noether current.

Hidden Galilean symmetry, conservation laws and emergence of spin current in the soliton sector of chiral helimagnet

An appearance of the transport spin current in chiral helimagnet is mathematically justified based on the symmetry arguments. Although the starting Lagrangian of the chiral magnet with the Berry phase term and the parity-violating Dzyaloshinskii–Morya coupling is not manifestly Galilean invariant, the Lie point group symmetry analysis and the variational symmetry analysis elucidate the hidden Galilean symmetry and the existence of the linear momentum as a conserved Noether current, respectively.

Multiparticle states in deformed special relativity

We investigate the properties of multiparticle states in deformed special relativity (DSR). Starting from the Lagrangian formalism with an energy dependent metric, the conserved Noether current can be derived which is additive in the usual way. The integrated Noether current had previously been discarded as a conserved quantity, because it was correctly realized that it does no longer obey the DSR transformations. We identify the reason for this mismatch in the fact that DSR depends only on the extensive quantity of total four momentum instead of the energy-momentum densities as would be appropriate for a field theory. We argue that the reason for the failure of DSR to reproduce the standard transformation behavior in the well established limits is due to the missing sensitivity to the volume inside which energy is accumulated. We show that the soccer-ball problem is absent if one formulates DSR instead for the field densities. As a consequence, estimates for predicted effects have to be corrected by many orders of magnitude. Further, we derive that the modified quantum field theory implies a locality bound.

Rolling Down the Throat in NS5-brane Background: The Case of Electrified D-Brane

We study rolling radion dynamics of electrified D-brane in NS5-brane background, both in effective field theory and in full open string theory. We construct exact boundary states and, from them, extract conserved Noether currents. We argue that T-duality and Lorentz boost offer an intuitive approach. In the limit of large number of NS5-branes, both boundary wave functions and conserved currents are sharply peaked and agree with those deduced from the effective field theory. As the number of NS5-branes is reduced, width around the peak becomes wider by string corrections. We also study radiative decay process. By applying Lorentz covariance, we show how the decay of electrified D-brane is related to that of bare D-brane. We compute spectral moments of final state energy and winding quantum number. Using Lorentz covariance argument, we explain in elementary way why winding quantum number should be included and derive rules how to do so. We conclude that Kutasov's "geometric realization" between radion rolling dynamics and tachyon rolling dynamics holds universally, both for bare and electrified D-branes.

The spectrum of strings on BTZ black holes and spectral flow in the SL(2, R) WZW model

We study the spectrum of bosonic string theory on rotating BTZ black holes, using a SL(2, R) WZW model. Previously, Natsuume and Satoh have analyzed strings on BTZ black holes using orbifold techniques. We show how an appropriate spectral flow in the WZW model can be used to generated the twisted sectors, emphasizing how the spectral flow works in the hyperbolic basis natural for the BTZ black hole. We discuss the projection condition which leads to the quantization condition for the allowed quantum numbers for the string excitations, and its connection to the anomaly in the corresponding conserved Noether current.

Local BRST cohomology in Einstein-Yang-Mills theory

We analyse in detail the local BRST cohomology in Einstein-Yang-Mills theory using the antifield formalism. We do not restrict the Lagrangian to be the sum of the standard Hilbert and Yang-Mills Lagrangians, but allow for more general diffeomorphism and gauge invariant (normal) actions. The analysis is carried out in spacetimes with R n topology, for all spacetime dimensions strictly larger than 2 and for all ghost numbers. This covers the classification of all candidate anomalies, of all consistent deformations of the action, as well as the computation of the (equivariant) characteristic cohomology, i.e. the cohomology of the spacetime exterior derivative in the space of (gauge invariant) local differential forms modulo forms that vanish on-shell. We show in particular that for a semi-simple Yang-Mills gauge group the antifield dependence can be entirely removed both from the consistent deformations of the Lagrangian and from the candidate anomalies. Thus, the allowed deformations of the action necessarily preserve the gauge structure, while the only candidate anomalies are those provided by previous works not dealing with antifields, and by “topological” candidate anomalies related to the non-triviality of the manifold of the gravitational variables. This result no longer holds in presence of abelian factors where new candidate anomalies and deformations of the action can be constructed out of the conserved Noether currents (if any). The Noether currents themselves are shown to be covariantizable, i.e. they can be chosen to be invariant under local Lorentz and Yang-Mills transformations and covariant under diffeomorphisms, with a few exceptions discussed as well.

Explicit Construction of Supercharges of Supersymmetric Nonlinear Sigma Models in 1 + 1 Spacetime Dimensions

Considering the N = 1 supersymmetry transformations of supersymmetric nonlinear sigma models in 1 + 1 dimensions we construct explicitly conserved Noether currents associated with supersymmetry transformations and derive the associated conserved charges in terms of the basic fields. We compare this result with superspace calculations. Finally we review the connection between extended supersymmetry and the geometry of the target space and derive an explicit form of the supercharges for extended supersymmetry.