Dirac Operator Research Articles

Eigenvalue Curves for Generalized MIT Bag Models

We study spectral properties of Dirac operators on bounded domains $\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^3$ with boundary conditions of electrostatic and Lorentz scalar type and which depend on a parameter $\tau\in\mathbb{R}$; the case $\tau = 0$ corresponds to the MIT bag model. We show that the eigenvalues are parametrized as increasing functions of $\tau$, and we exploit this monotonicity to study the limits as $\tau \to \pm \infty$. We prove that if $\Omega$ is not a ball then the first positive eigenvalue is greater than the one of a ball with the same volume for all $\tau$ large enough. Moreover, we show that the first positive eigenvalue converges to the mass of the particle as $\tau \downarrow -\infty$, and we also analyze its first order asymptotics.

Non-perturbative renormalization of the QCD flavour-singlet local vector current

We compute non-perturbatively the renormalization constant of the flavour-singlet local vector current ZV in lattice QCD with 3 massless flavours. Gluons are discretized by the Wilson plaquette action while quarks by the O(a)-improved Wilson–Dirac operator. The constant ZV is fixed by comparing the expectation values (1-point functions) of the conserved and local vector currents at finite temperature in the presence of shifted boundary conditions and at non-zero imaginary chemical potential. Monte Carlo simulations with a moderate computational cost allow us to obtain ZV with an accuracy of about 8‰ for values of the inverse bare coupling constant β=6/g02 in the range 5.3≤β≤11.5.

Color confinement, chiral symmetry breaking, and catalytic effect induced by monopole and instanton creations

Our research reveals the relations among monopoles, color confinement, instantons, and chiral symmetry breaking which experiments can detect, by numerical calculations of lattice gauge theory. We first add a monopole and an anti-monopole varying their magnetic charges to the gauge field configurations in the quenched approximation of quantum chromodynamics, by applying the monopole creation operator and investigate the effects of the added monopoles and anti-monopoles on color confinement. Second, we reveal the quantitative relations among instantons, anti-instantons, and observables using the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the overlap Dirac operator, which are calculated using the normal configurations and the configurations with the additional monopoles and anti-monopoles. Finally, we ascertain the outcomes by comparing them with the predictions. We have already discovered the catalytic effect: the decay width of the charged pion becomes wider and its lifetime becomes shorter than the experimental outcomes by increasing the number density of instantons and anti-instantons. However, the outcomes in the previous study were obtained using one lattice volume and lattice spacing. In this research, we improve the previous study using a variety of configurations of different lattice volumes and values of the lattice spacing from low to finite temperatures. The main purposes of this study are to inspect the influences of the finite lattice volume and discretization on the observables and quantitative relations that we have obtained in our previous research and to acquire the interpolated results at the continuum limit.

Local Dirac energy decay in the 5D Myers-Perry geometry using an integral spectral representation for the Dirac propagator

We consider the massive Dirac equation in the exterior region of the five-dimensional Myers-Perry black hole. Using the resulting ordinary differential equations (ODEs) obtained from the separation of variables of the Dirac equation, we construct an integral spectral representation for the solution of the Cauchy problem with compactly supported smooth initial data. We then prove that the probability of presence of a Dirac particle to be in any compact region of space decays to zero as , in analogy with the case of the Dirac operator in the Kerr–Newman geometry (Finster et al 2003 Adv. Theor. Math. Phys. 7 25–52).

Conformal Dirac–Einstein equations on manifolds with boundary.

In this paper we study Dirac–Einstein equations on manifolds with boundary, restricted to a conformal class with constant boundary volume, under chiral bag boundary conditions for the Dirac operator. We characterize the bubbling phenomenon, also classifying ground state bubbles. Finally, we prove an Aubin-type inequality and a related existence result.

Topological superconductor from the quantum Hall phase: Effective field theory description

We derive low-energy effective field theories for the quantum anomalous Hall and topological superconducting phases. The quantum Hall phase is realized in terms of free fermions with nonrelativistic dispersion relation, possessing a global $U(1)$ symmetry. We couple this symmetry with a background gauge field and compute the effective action by integrating out the gapped fermions. In spite of the fact that the corresponding Dirac operator governing the dynamics of the original fermions is nonrelativistic, the leading contribution in the effective action is a usual Abelian $U(1)$ Chern-Simons term. The proximity to a conventional superconductor induces a pairing potential in the quantum Hall state, favoring the formation of Cooper pairs. When the pairing is strong enough, it drives the system to a topological superconducting phase, hosting Majorana fermions. Even though the continuum $U(1)$ symmetry is broken down to a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ one, we can forge fictitious $U(1)$ symmetries that enable us to derive the effective action for the topological superconducting phase, also given by a Chern-Simons theory. To eliminate spurious states coming from the artificial symmetry enlargement, we demand that the fields in the effective action are $O(2)$ instead of $U(1)$ gauge fields. In the $O(2)$ case we have to sum over the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ bundles in the partition function, which projects out the states that are not $\mathbb{Z}_2$ invariants. The corresponding edge theory is the $U(1)/\mathbb{Z}_2$ orbifold, which contains Majorana fermions in its operator content.

On the discrete Dirac spectrum of a point electron in the zero-gravity Kerr–Newman spacetime

The discrete spectrum of the Dirac operator for a point electron in the maximal analytically extended Kerr–Newman spacetime is determined in the zero-G limit (zGKN), under some restrictions on the electrical coupling constant and on the radius of the ring-singularity of the zGKN spacetime. The spectrum is characterized by a triplet of integers, associated with winding numbers of orbits of dynamical systems on cylinders. A dictionary is established that relates the spectrum with the known hydrogenic Dirac spectrum. Numerical illustrations are presented. Open problems are listed.

Topological susceptibility of Nf = 2 + 1 QCD from staggered fermions spectral projectors at high temperatures

We compute the topological susceptibility of Nf = 2 + 1 QCD with physical quark masses in the high-temperature phase, using numerical simulations of the theory discretized on a space-time lattice. More precisely we estimate the topological susceptibility for five temperatures in the range from ∼ 200 MeV up to ∼ 600 MeV, adopting the spectral projectors definition of the topological charge based on the staggered Dirac operator. This strategy turns out to be effective in reducing the large lattice artifacts which affect the standard gluonic definition, making it possible to perform a reliable continuum extrapolation. Our results for the susceptibility in the explored temperature range are found to be partially in tension with previous determinations in the literature.

On the spectral sets of Inoue surfaces

The Inoue surfaces are certain non-Kaehler complex surfaces that have the structure of a $T^3$ bundle over the circle. We study the Inoue surfaces $S_M$ with the Tricerri metric and the canonical spin$^c$ structure, and the corresponding chiral Dirac operators twisted by a flat $\mathbb C^*$--connection. The twisting connection is determined by $z \in \mathbb C^*$, and the points for which the twisted Dirac operators $\mathcal D^{\pm}_z$ are not invertible are called spectral points. We show that there are no spectral points inside the annulus $\alpha^{-1/4} < |z| < \alpha^{1/4}$, where $\alpha >1$ is the only real eigenvalue of the matrix $M$ that determines $S_M$, and find the spectral points on its boundary. Via Taubes' theory of end-periodic operators, this implies that the corresponding Dirac operators are Fredholm on any end-periodic manifold whose end is modeled on $S_M$.

The Relative Index Theorem for General First-Order Elliptic Operators

The relative index theorem is proved for general first-order elliptic operators that are complete and coercive at infinity over measured manifolds. This extends the original result by Gromov–Lawson for generalised Dirac operators as well as the result of Bär–Ballmann for Dirac-type operators. The theorem is seen through the point of view of boundary value problems, using the graphical decomposition of elliptically regular boundary conditions for general first-order elliptic operators due to Bär–Bandara. Splitting, decomposition and the Phi-relative index theorem are proved on route to the relative index theorem.

Axially Harmonic Functions and the Harmonic Functional Calculus on the S-spectrum

The spectral theory on the S-spectrum was introduced to give an appropriate mathematical setting to quaternionic quantum mechanics, but it was soon realized that there were different applications of this theory, for example, to fractional heat diffusion and to the spectral theory for the Dirac operator on manifolds. In this seminal paper we introduce the harmonic functional calculus based on the S-spectrum and on an integral representation of axially harmonic functions. This calculus can be seen as a bridge between harmonic analysis and the spectral theory. The resolvent operator of the harmonic functional calculus is the commutative version of the pseudo S-resolvent operator. This new calculus also appears, in a natural way, in the product rule for the F-functional calculus.

Dirac operators on foliations with invariant transverse measures

We extend the groundbreaking results of Gromov and Lawson, [13], to Dirac operators defined along the leaves of foliations of non-compact complete Riemannian manifolds which admit invariant transverse measures. We prove a relative measured index theorem for pairs of such manifolds, foliations and operators, which are identified off compact subsets of the manifolds. We assume that the spectral projections of the leafwise operators for some interval [0,ϵ], ϵ>0, have finite dimensional images when paired with the invariant transverse measures. As a prime example, we show that if the zeroth order operators in the associated Bochner Identities are uniformly positive off compact subsets of the manifolds, then they satisfy the hypotheses of our relative measured index theorem. Using these results, we show that for a large collection of spin foliations, the space of positive scalar curvature metrics on each foliation has infinitely many path connected components.

Reduced-quaternionic Mathieu functions, time-dependent Moisil-Teodorescu operators, and the imaginary-time wave equation

We construct a one-parameter family of generalized Mathieu functions, which are reduced quaternion-valued functions of a pair of real variables lying in an ellipse, and which we call λ-reduced quaternionic Mathieu functions. We prove that the λ-RQM functions, which are in the kernel of the Moisil-Teodorescu operator D+λ (D is the Dirac operator and λ∈R∖{0}), form a complete orthogonal system in the Hilbert space of square-integrable λ-metamonogenic functions with respect to the L2-norm over confocal ellipses. Further, we introduce the zero-boundary λ-RQM-functions, which are λ-RQM functions whose scalar part vanishes on the boundary of the ellipse. The limiting values of the λ-RQM functions as the eccentricity of the ellipse tends to zero are expressed in terms of Bessel functions of the first kind and form a complete orthogonal system for λ-metamonogenic functions with respect to the L2-norm on the unit disk. A connection between the λ-RQM functions and the time-dependent solutions of the imaginary-time wave equation in the elliptical coordinate system is shown.

Dirac synchronization is rhythmic and explosive

Topological signals defined on nodes, links and higher dimensional simplices define the dynamical state of a network or of a simplicial complex. As such, topological signals are attracting increasing attention in network theory, dynamical systems, signal processing and machine learning. Topological signals defined on the nodes are typically studied in network dynamics, while topological signals defined on links are much less explored. Here we investigate Dirac synchronization, describing locally coupled topological signals defined on the nodes and on the links of a network, and treated using the topological Dirac operator. The dynamics of signals defined on the nodes is affected by a phase lag depending on the dynamical state of nearby links and vice versa. We show that Dirac synchronization on a fully connected network is explosive with a hysteresis loop characterized by a discontinuous forward transition and a continuous backward transition. The analytical investigation of the phase diagram provides a theoretical understanding of this topological explosive synchronization. The model also displays an exotic coherent synchronized phase, also called rhythmic phase, characterized by non-stationary order parameters which can shed light on topological mechanisms for the emergence of brain rhythms.

One-Way Wave Operator

The second-order partial differential wave Equation (Cauchy’s first equation of motion), derived from Newton’s force equilibrium, describes a standing wave field consisting of two waves propagating in opposite directions, and is, therefore, a “two-way wave equation”. Due to the second order differentials analytical solutions only exist in a few cases. The “binomial factorization” of the linear second-order two-way wave operator into two first-order one-way wave operators has been known for decades and used in geophysics. When the binomial factorization approach is applied to the spatial second-order wave operator, this results in complex mathematical terms containing the so-called “Dirac operator” for which only particular solutions exist. In 2014, a hypothetical “impulse flow equilibrium” led to a spatial first-order “one-way wave equation” which, due to its first order differentials, can be more easily solved than the spatial two-way wave equation. To date the conversion of the spatial two-way wave operator into spatial one-way wave operators is unsolved. By considering the one-way wave operator containing a vector wave velocity, a “synthesis” approach leads to a “general vector two-way wave operator” and the “general one-way/two-way equivalence”. For a constant vector wave velocity the equivalence with the d’Alembert operator can be achieved. The findings are transferred to commonly used mechanical and electromagnetic wave types. The one-way wave theory and the spatial one-way wave operators offer new opportunities in science and engineering for advanced wave and wave field calculations.

Massless fermions on a half-space: the curious case of 2+1-dimensions

Boundary conditions for a massless Dirac fermion in 2+1 dimensions where the space is a half-plane are discussed in detail. It is argued that linear boundary conditions that leave the Hamiltonian Hermitian generically break C P and T symmetries as well as Lorentz and conformal symmetry. We show that there is essentially one special case where a single species of fermion has C PT and the full Poincare and conformal symmetry of the boundary. We show that, with doubled fermions, there is a second special case which respects C PT but still violates Lorentz and conformal symmetry. This second special case is essentially the unique boundary condition where the Dirac operator has fermion zero mode edge states. We discuss how the edge states lead to exotic representations of scale, phase and translation symmetries and how imposing a symmetry requirement leads to edge ferromagnetism of the system. We prove that the exotic ferromagnetic representations are indeed carried by the ground states of the system perturbed by a class of interaction Hamiltonians which includes the non-relativistic Coulomb interaction.

Existence and asymptotics of ground states to the nonlinear Dirac equation with Coulomb potential

In this paper we study the Dirac equation with Coulomb potential − i α · ∇ u + a β u − μ | x | u = f ( x , | u | ) u , x ∈ R 3 where a is a positive constant, μ is a positive parameter, α = ( α 1 , α 2 , α 3 ), α i and β are 4 × 4 Pauli–Dirac matrices. The Dirac operator is unbounded from below and above so the associate energy functional is strongly indefinite. Under some suitable conditions, we prove that the problem possesses a ground state solution which is exponentially decay, and the least energy has continuous dependence about μ. Moreover, we are able to obtain the asymptotic property of ground state solution as μ → 0 + , this result can characterize some relationship of the above problem between μ &gt; 0 and μ = 0.

Dirac operator spectrum in tubes and layers with a zigzag-type boundary

We derive a number of spectral results for Dirac operators in geometrically nontrivial regions in mathbb {R}^2 and mathbb {R}^3 of tube or layer shapes with a zigzag-type boundary using the corresponding properties of the Dirichlet Laplacian.

The abstract Birman—Schwinger principle and spectral stability

We discuss abstract Birman—Schwinger principles to study spectra of self-adjoint operators subject to small non-self-adjoint perturbations in a factorised form. In particular, we extend and in part improve a classical result by Kato which ensures that the spectrum does not change under small perturbations. As an application, we revisit known results for Schrödinger and Dirac operators in Euclidean spaces and establish new results for Schrödinger operators in three-dimensional hyperbolic space.

Particle models from special Jordan backgrounds and spectral triples

We put forward a definition for spectral triples and algebraic backgrounds based on Jordan coordinate algebras. We also propose natural and gauge-invariant bosonic configuration spaces of fluctuated Dirac operators and compute them for general, almost-associative, Jordan, coordinate algebras. We emphasize that the theory so obtained is not equivalent with usual associative noncommutative geometry, even when the coordinate algebra is the self-adjoint part of a C*-algebra. In particular, in the Jordan case, the gauge fields are always unimodular, thus curing a long-standing problem in noncommutative geometry.