Four-dimensional Theory Research Articles

Q-operators are ’t Hooft lines

We study ’t Hooft lines in four-dimensional holomorphic-topological Chern-Simons theory. We relate them to Q-operators in the theory of integrable systems. We give a physical interpretation of the fundamental TQ and QQ relations satisfied by Q-operators and conventional transfer matrices.

Higher gauge theory and integrability

In recent years, significant progress has been made in the study of integrable systems from a gauge theoretic perspective. This development originated with the introduction of four-dimensional Chern-Simons theory with defects, which provided a systematic framework for constructing two-dimensional integrable systems. In this article, we propose a novel approach to studying higher-dimensional integrable models employing techniques from higher category theory. Starting with higher Chern-Simons theory on the 4-manifold R×Y, we complexify and compactify the real line to CP1 and introduce the disorder defect ω=z−1dz. This procedure defines a holomorphic five-dimensional variant of higher Chern-Simons theory, which, when endowed with suitable boundary conditions, allows for the localization to a three-dimensional theory on Y. The equations of motion of the resulting model are equivalent to the flatness of a 2-connection (L,H), that we then use to construct the corresponding higher holonomies. We prove that these are invariants of homotopies relative boundary, which enables the construction of conserved quantities. The latter are labeled by both the categorical characters of a Lie crossed module and the infinite number of homotopy classes of surfaces relative boundary in Y. Moreover, we also demonstrate that the three-dimensional theory has left and right acting symmetries whose current algebra is given by an infinite-dimensional centrally extended affine Lie 2-algebra. Both of these conditions are direct higher homotopy analogs of the properties satisfied by the two-dimensional Wess-Zumino-Witten conformal field theory, which we therefore interpret as facets of integrable structures. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

General quartic β-function at three loops

We determine the three-loop MS¯\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\overline{\ extrm{MS}} $$\\end{document} quartic β-function for the most general renormalisable four-dimensional theories. A general parametrisation of the β-function is compared to known β-functions for specific theories to fix all coefficients. Three-loop β-functions for the cubic coupling and scalar mass terms also follow from the result, which is made available in software packages.

Integrability in gravity from Chern-Simons theory

This paper presents a new perspective on integrability in theories of gravity. We show how the stationary, axisymmetric sector of General Relativity can be described by the boundary dynamics of a four-dimensional Chern-Simons theory. This approach shows promise for simplifying solution generating methods in both General Relativity and higher-dimensional supergravity theories. The four-dimensional Chern-Simons theory presented generalises those for flat space integrable models by introducing a space-time dependent branch cut in the spectral plane. We also make contact with twistor space approaches to integrability, showing how the branch cut defects of four-dimensional Chern-Simons theory arise from a discrete reduction of six-dimensional Chern-Simons theory.

T-duality across non-extremal horizons

When applying T-duality to a generic, non-extreme Killing horizon, T-duality is spacelike on one side and timelike on the other. We show, using simple examples from four-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell theory, that the image of the horizon is a singularity which can be understood as an interface between two different T-dual theories and their solutions. Using an embedding into type-II string theory, we show that the singularity occurs when scalars reach the boundary of moduli space, resulting in a breakdown of the effective field theory due to the presence of tensionless strings.

Dimensional reduction gauge and effective dimensional reduction in four-dimensional Yang-Mills theory

Motivated by one-dimensional color-electric flux-tube formation in four-dimensional (4D) QCD, we investigate a possibility of effective dimensional reduction in the 4D Yang-Mills (YM) theory. We propose a new gauge fixing of “dimensional reduction (DR) gauge” defined so as to minimize RDR≡∫d4sTr[Ax2(s)+Ay2(s)], which has a residual gauge symmetry for the gauge function Ω(t,z) like 2D QCD on the t−z plane. We investigate effective dimensional reduction in the DR gauge using SU(3) quenched lattice QCD at β=6.0. The amplitude of Ax(s) and Ay(s) are found to be strongly suppressed in the DR gauge. We consider “tz-projection” of Ax,y(s)→0 for the gauge configuration generated in the DR gauge, in a similar sense to Abelian projection in the maximally Abelian gauge. By the tz-projection in the DR gauge, the interquark potential is not changed, and At(s) and Az(s) play a dominant role in quark confinement. In the DR gauge, we calculate a spatial correlation ⟨TrA⊥(s)A⊥(s+ra⊥)⟩(⊥=x,y) and estimate the spatial mass of A⊥(s)(⊥=x,y) as M≃1.7 GeV. It is conjectured that this large mass makes A⊥(s) inactive and realizes the dominance of At(s) and Az(s) in infrared region in the DR gauge. We also calculate the spatial correlation of two temporal link-variables and find that the correlation decreases as exp(−mr) with m≃0.6 GeV. Using a crude approximation, the 4D YM theory is reduced into an ensemble of 2D YM systems with the coupling of g2D=gm. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Light-ray sum rules and the c-anomaly

In a four-dimensional quantum field theory that flows between two fixed points under the renormalization group, the change in the conformal anomaly ∆a has been related to the average null energy. We extend this result to derive a sum rule for the other anomaly coefficient, ∆c, in terms of the stress tensor three-point function. While the sum rule for ∆a is an expectation value of the averaged null energy operator, and therefore positive, the result for ∆c involves the off-diagonal matrix elements, so it does not have a fixed sign.

Vacuum structure of an eight-dimensional SU(3) gauge theory on a magnetized torus

We analyze the vacuum structure of an eight-dimensional non-Abelian gauge theory with a compactified four-dimensional torus as the extra dimensions. As a nontrivial background configuration of the gauge field of an SU(n) gauge group, we suppose a magnetic flux in two extra dimensions, and continuous Wilson line phases are also involved. We introduce matter fields and calculate the mass spectrum of low-energy modes appearing in a four-dimensional effective theory in an SU(3) model as an explicit example. As expected, potentially tachyonic states in four-dimensional modes appear from extra-dimensional gauge fields that couple to the flux background since the gauge group is simply connected. The Wilson line phases give a nonvanishing contribution to their masses, and we have a low-energy mass spectrum without tachyonic states, given that these phases take an appropriate value. To verify the validity of the values of the Wilson line phases, we examine the one-loop effective potential for these phases and explicitly show the contribution from each type of field present in our model. It is clarified that, although there seems to be no local minimum in the potential for the Wilson line phases in the pure Yang-Mills case, by including matter fields, we could find a vacuum configuration where tachyonic states disappear. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Anomalies of 4d SpinG theories

We consider ’t Hooft anomalies of four-dimensional gauge theories whose fermion matter content admits SpinG(4) generalized spin structure, with G either gauged or a global symmetry. We discuss methods to directly compute w2 ∪ w3 ’t Hooft anomalies involving Stiefel-Whitney classes of gauge and flavor symmetry bundles that such theories can have on non-spin manifolds, e.g. M4 = ℂℙ2. Such anomalies have been discussed for SU(2) gauge theory with adjoint fermions, where they were shown to give an effect that was originally found in the Donaldson-Witten topological twist of N\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{N} $$\\end{document} = 2 SYM theory. We directly compute these anomalies for a variety of theories, including general G gauge theories with adjoint fermions, SU(2) gauge theory with fermions in general representations, and Spin(N) gauge theories with fundamental matter. We discuss aspects of matching these and other ’t Hooft anomalies in the IR phase where global symmetries are spontaneously broken, in particular for general Ggauge theory with Nf adjoint Weyl fermions. For example, in the case of Nf = 2 we discuss anomaly matching in the IR phase consisting of hGgauge∨\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {h}_{G_{\ extrm{gauge}}}^{\\vee } $$\\end{document} copies of a ℂℙ1 non-linear sigma model, including for the w2w3 anomalies when formulated with SpinSU2global4\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {\ extrm{Spin}}_{\ extrm{SU}{(2)}_{\ extrm{global}}}(4) $$\\end{document} structure.

Tracy-Widom Distribution in Four-Dimensional Supersymmetric Yang-Mills Theories.

Various observables in different four-dimensional superconformal Yang-Mills theories can be computed exactly as Fredholm determinants of truncated Bessel operators. We exploit this relation to determine their dependence on the 't Hooft coupling constant. Unlike the weak coupling expansion, which has a finite radius of convergence, the strong coupling expansion is factorially divergent, necessitating the inclusion of nonperturbative, exponentially small corrections. We develop a method to systematically compute these corrections and discuss the resurgent properties of the resulting transseries.

Gravitational duals from equations of state

Holography relates gravitational theories in five dimensions to four-dimensional quantum field theories in flat space. Under this map, the equation of state of the field theory is encoded in the black hole solutions of the gravitational theory. Solving the five-dimensional Einstein’s equations to determine the equation of state is an algorithmic, direct problem. Determining the gravitational theory that gives rise to a prescribed equation of state is a much more challenging, inverse problem. We present a novel approach to solve this problem based on physics-informed neural networks. The resulting algorithm is not only data-driven but also informed by the physics of the Einstein’s equations. We successfully apply it to theories with crossovers, first- and second-order phase transitions.

Higher-point gauge-theory couplings of massive spin-2 states in four-dimensional string theories

We explicitly compute the Neveu-Schwarz sector conventional type-I superstring tree-level amplitudes at five points after compactifying to 4D, express the QFT building block in the helicity basis, and give several attempts toward arbitrary n points. More specifically, we consider the interaction of one first excited level and otherwise massless states of conventional type-I superstrings, where the four-dimensional states can, for instance, be realized via D3 branes. We construct the amplitude by using the Berends-Giele currents. From the recursion of Berends-Giele currents, we can generate the higher point amplitude. We also apply the BCFW recursion with massive external legs shifted and get the amplitude for arbitrary n points. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

The Standard Model from String Theory: What Have We Learned?

Amid all candidates of physics beyond the Standard Model, string theory provides a unique proposal for incorporating gauge and gravitational interactions. In string theory, a four-dimensional theory that unifies quantum mechanics and gravity is obtained automatically if one posits that the additional dimensions predicted by the theory are small and curled up—a concept known as compactification. The gauge sector of the theory is specified by the topology and geometry of the extra dimensions, and the challenge is to reproduce all of the features of the Standard Model of particle physics from them. We review the state of the art in reproducing the Standard Model from string compactifications and summarize the lessons drawn from this fascinating quest. We describe novel scenarios and mechanisms that string theory provides to address some of the Standard Model puzzles as well as the most frequent signatures of new physics that could be detected in future experiments. We then comment on recent developments that connect, in a rather unexpected way, the Standard Model with quantum gravity and that may change our field theory notion of naturalness.

A positive metric over DGKT vacua

We study the notion of a metric over the space of AdS solution in string theory, leading to an associated distance between them. Such a distance is the idea underlying the AdS distance conjecture. We utilise the previously developed prescription for extracting such a metric: taking an off-shell quadratic variation of the string theory effective action and then evaluating it over the space of on-shell solutions. It was shown that this prescription leads to a well-defined positive metric over M-theory Freund-Rubin vacua. In this work, we use the same prescription to calculate the metric over type IIA DGKT vacua. These are much more involved, they have multiple flux parameters and exhibit scale separation. While it remains an open question whether these vacua exist as fully localised solutions of string theory, they are well-defined within the four-dimensional effective theory, which is all that is required for the calculation. We find that they also have a positive metric over them. Interestingly, this metric turns out to be independent of the many flux parameters in the solution, similarly to what happens for metrics over scalar field spaces. This non-trivial flux cancellation, as well as results from explicit vacua, lead us to propose a Swampland condition: that the metric over the space of vacua in quantum gravity, as defined by the above prescription, is always positive.

BPS Spectra and Algebraic Solutions of Discrete Integrable Systems

This paper extends the correspondence between discrete Cluster Integrable Systems and BPS spectra of five-dimensional N=1\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$${\\mathcal {N}}=1$$\\end{document} QFTs on R4×S1\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$${\\mathbb {R}}^4\ imes S^1$$\\end{document} by proving that algebraic solutions of the integrable systems are exact solutions for the system of TBA equations arising from the BPS spectral problem. This statement is exemplified in the case of M-theory compactifications on local del Pezzo Calabi–Yau threefolds, corresponding to q-Painlevé equations and SU(2) gauge theories with matter. A degeneration scheme is introduced, allowing to obtain closed-form expression for the BPS spectrum also in systems without algebraic solutions. By studying the example of local del Pezzo 3, it is shown that when the region in moduli space associated to an algebraic solution is a “wall of marginal stability”, the BPS spectrum contains states of arbitrarily high spin, and corresponds to a 5d uplift of a four-dimensional nonlagrangian theory.

Reissner-Nordström black holes surrounded by perfect fluid dark matter: Testing the viability of weak gravity conjecture and weak cosmic censorship conjecture simultaneously

A possible violation of the weak gravity conjecture (WGC) by cosmic censorship is one of the major challenges in the field of general relativity. The cosmic censorship is a fundamental principle that ensures the consistency of the theory of gravity. According to this principle, a charged black hole in four dimensions cannot violate the weak cosmic censorship conjecture (WCCC) under normal conditions. However, in this paper, we explore the possibility of reconciling the WGC and the WCCC by considering Reissner-Nordström (R-N) black holes embedded in perfect fluid dark matter (PFDM) in asymptotically flat spacetimes. These two conjectures are seemingly unrelated, but a recent proposal suggested that they are connected surprisingly. In particular, We argue a promising class of valid counterexamples to the WCCC in the four-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell theory, considering a charged black hole when WGC is present. We demonstrate that by imposing certain constraints on the parameters of the metric, the WGC and the WCCC can be compatible. Furthermore, we investigate the properties of the charged black hole in the presence of PFDM for Q>M and present some intriguing figures to test the validity of the WGC and the WCCC simultaneously. When PFDM is absent (γ=0), the RN black hole either has two event horizons if Q2/M2≤1 or none if Q2/M2>1. The second scenario results in a naked singularity, which contradicts the WCCC. But when PFDM is present (γ≠0), the RN black hole has event horizons with regard to Q and M. This implies that the singularity is always covered, and the WGC and the WCCC are fulfilled. Furthermore, we demonstrate that there is a critical value of γ, called γext, that makes the RN black hole extremal when γ=γext. In this situation, the black hole has an event horizon, and the WGC and the WCCC are still fulfilled. We infer that PFDM can make the WGC and the WCCC compatible with the RN black hole and that the WGC and the WCCC agree with each other when PFDM is present.

Anomalies in string-inspired nonlocal extensions of QED

We investigate anomalies in the class of nonlocal field theories that have been proposed as an ultraviolet completion of four-dimensional quantum field theory with generalizing the kinetic energy operators to an infinite series of higher derivatives inspired by the string field theory and ghost-free nonlocal approaches to quantum gravity. We explicitly calculate the vector and chiral anomalies in a string-inspired nonlocal extension of QED. We show that the vector anomaly vanishes as required by gauge invariance and the Ward identity. On the other hand, although the chiral anomaly vanishes to the leading order with massless fermions, it nonetheless does not vanish with the massive fermions and we calculate it to the leading order in the scale of nonlocality. We also calculate the nonlocal vector and axial currents explicitly and present an illustrative example by applying our results to the decay of π0→γγ. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Black hole graviton and quantum gravity

Drawing from a thought experiment that we conduct, we propose that a virtual graviton gives rise to a black hole geometry when its momentum surpasses a certain threshold value on the Planck scale. This hypothesis implies that the propagator of a virtual graviton, that possesses momentum surpassing this threshold, vanishes. Consequently, a Feynman diagram containing this type of graviton propagator does not add to the overall amplitude. This mechanism suggests the feasibility of formulating an ultraviolet-finite four-dimensional quantum gravitational theory. The elementary particles including the gravitons are treated as point particles in this formulation.

Universal IR holography, scalar fluctuations, and glueball spectra

We show that the d’Alembertian operator with a possible mass term in the anti–de Sitter (AdS) soliton and more general confining gravity dual backgrounds admits infinitely many different spectra. These can be interpreted as different theories in the infrared and correspond to multitrace deformations of either the Dirichlet or the Neumann theory. We prove that all these fluctuations are normalizable and provide examples of their spectra. Therefore, the AdS soliton can be interpreted as giving a holographic Renormalization Group flow between a universal UV theory at the AdS boundary and these infinitely many possibilities in the IR, obtained by deformations. The massive spectrum of the double trace deformation in AdS5 allows the matching of the large-N glueball masses of lattice QCD3; the ratio of the ground states of the 2++ and 0++ channels are in full agreement with the lattice prediction. When considering AdS7 and the four-dimensional pure glue theory, a remarkably general picture emerges, where we can write formulas for the fluctuations that are in agreement with ones from holographic high-energy scattering and from AdS/CFT with IR and UV cutoff. We point out that this log branch in the IR in D dimensions can be seen as the usual logarithmic branch of scalar fields saturating the Breitenlohner-Freedman bound in a conformally rescaled metric, with AdSD−1×S1 asymptotics. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

ЭФФЕКТ САНЬЯКА В ПРОСТРАНСТВЕ-ВРЕМЕНИ ВРАЩАЮЩЕЙСЯ ЧЕРНОЙ ДЫРЫ В ЧЕТЫРЕХМЕРНОЙ ТЕОРИИ ЭЙНШТЕЙНА–ГАУССА–БОННЕ

Recently, Glavan and Lin proposed a new four-dimensional theory of Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet (EGB) gravity by rescaling the Gauss-Bonnet (GB) coupling constant ߙ→ ܦ(/ߙ− 4) and adopting the ܦ→ 4 constraint at the level of the equations of motion. The GB coupling constant contributes to the field equations and thus bypasses Lovelock's theorem. This theory preserves the number of degrees of freedom and avoids Ostrogradsky instability. Glavan and Lin obtained an exact solution for nonsingular static and spherically symmetric black holes in the four-dimensional EGB theory of gravity. Later, Kumar and Ghosh applied the Newman-Janis algorithm to the static solution and constructed a solution for a rotating black hole in the 4-dimensional EGB theory of gravity. Since the theory solves many observational problems in astrophysics and is promising for research, the influence of the GB coupling parameter on astrophysical effects is actively studied in the literature. However, this theory has not been tested previously using time effects. The work examines one of the most interesting time effects – the Sagnac effect. Thus, the goal of the work is to study the Sagnac effect in the space-time of a rotating black hole in the four-dimensional EGB theory and obtain a constraint on the GB coupling parameter using observational data of the Sagnac effect. In the most general case, the Sagnac effect is understood as the difference in the time it takes light beams moving in opposite directions to pass through a closed circle. The effect has many applications, is observable on Earth and is taken into account in satellite navigation systems (GPS, GLONASS) when synchronizing time signals.