Ghost Fields Research Articles

Decoupling of degenerate positive-norm states in Witten’s string field theory

We show that the degenerate positive-norm physical propagating fields of the open bosonic string can be gauged to the higher rank fields at the same mass level. As a result, their scattering amplitudes can be determined from those of the higher spin fields. This phenomenon arises from the existence of two types of zero-norm states with the same Young representations as those of the degenerate positive-norm states in the old covariant first quantized (OCFQ) spectrum. This is demonstrated by using the lowest order gauge transformation of Witten's string field theory (WSFT) up to the fourth massive level (spin-five), and is found to be consistent with conformal field theory calculation based on the first quantized generalized sigma-model approach. In particular, on-shell conditions of zero-norm states in OCFQ stringy gauge transformation are found to correspond, in a one-to-one manner, to the background ghost fields in off-shell gauge transformation of WSFT. The implication of decoupling of scalar modes on Sen's conjectures was also briefly discussed.

QCD effective action with dressing functions: Consistency checks in the perturbative regime

In a previous paper, we presented solution to the Slavnov--Taylor identity for the QCD effective action, and argued that the action terms containing (anti)ghost fields are unique. These terms have the same form as those in the classical action, but the gluon and (anti)ghost effective fields are convoluted with gluon and ghost dressing functions G_A and G_c, the latter containing perturbative and nonperturbative effects (but not including the soliton-like vacuum effects). In the present work we show how the perturbative QCD (pQCD) can be incorporated into the framework of this action, and we present explicit one-loop pQCD expressions for G_A and G_c. We then go on to check the consistency of the obtained results by considering an antighost Dyson--Schwinger equation (DSE). By solving the relations that result from the Legendre transformation leading to the effective action, we obtain the effective fields as power expansions of sources. We check explicitly that the aforementioned one-loop functions G_A and G_c fulfil the antighost DSE at the linear source level. We further explicitly check that these one-loop G_A and G_c have the regularization-scale and momentum dependence consistent with the antighost DSE at the quadratic source level. These checks suggest that the the effective action with dressing functions represents a consistent framework for treating QCD, at least at the one-loop level.

Social percolation and the influence of mass media

In the marketing model of Solomon and Weisbuch, people buy a product only if their neighbours tell them of its quality, and if this quality is higher than their own quality expectations. Now we introduce additional information from the mass media, which is analogous to the ghost field in percolation theory. The mass media shift the percolative phase transition observed in the model, and decrease the time after which the stationary state is reached.

Open String Field Theory around Universal Solutions

We study the physical spectrum of cubic open string field theory around universal solutions, which are constructed using the matter Virasoro operators and the ghost and anti-ghost fields. We find the cohomology of the new BRS charge around the solutions, which appear with a ghost number that differs from that of the original theory. Considering the gauge-unfixed string field theory, we conclude that open string excitations perturbatively disappear after the condensation of the string field to the solutions.

Electromagnetic interconnects and passives modeling: software implementation issues

This is the second paper in a series on the simulation of on-chip high-frequency effects. A computer-aided approach in three dimensions is advocated, describing high-frequency effects such as current redistribution due to the skin-effect or eddy currents and the occurrence of slow-wave modes. The electromagnetic environment is described by an electric scalar potential and a magnetic vector potential as well as a ghost field. The latter one guarantees a stable numerical implementation. This paper deals with the software implementation, the treatment of interfaces and domain boundaries, scaling considerations, numbering schemes, and solver requirements. Some illustrative examples are shown.

QCD, gauge-fixing, and the Gribov problem

The standard techniques of gauge-fixing, such as covariant gauge fixing, are entirely adequate for the purposes of studies of perturbative QCD. However, they fail in the nonperturbative regime due to the presence of Gribov copies. These copies arise because standard local gauge fixing methods do not completely fix the gauge. Known Gribov-copy-free gauges, such as Laplacian gauge, are manifestly non-local. These issues are examined and the implications of non-local gauge-fixing for ghost fields, BRST invariance, and the proof of renormalizability of QCD are considered.

Ghost fields in classical gauge theories.

It is shown that ghost fields, characterized as unphysical entities, are a valuable tool in finding numerical solutions of the Euler-Lagrange equations of gauge field theories.

Exact Solutions to Pauli–Villars-Regulated Field Theories

We present a new class of quantum field theories which are exactly solvable. The theories are generated by introducing Pauli–Villars (PV) fermionic and bosonic fields with masses degenerate with the physical positive metric fields. An algorithm is given to compute the spectrum and corresponding eigensolutions. We also give the operator solution for a particular case and use it to illustrate some of the tenets of light-cone quantization. Since the solutions of the solvable theory contain ghost quanta, these theories are unphysical. However, the existence of an exact solution provides an important check on the implementation of PV-regulated discretized light-cone quantization (DLCQ). In the limit of exact mass degeneracy of the ghost and physical fields, the numerical DLCQ solutions are constrained to reduce to the explicit forms we give here. We also discuss how perturbation theory in the difference between the masses of the physical and PV particles could be developed, thus generating physical theories. The existence of explicit solutions of the solvable theory also allows one to study the relationship between the equal-time and light-cone vacua and eigensolutions.

Dilatonic wormholes: Construction, operation, maintenance, and collapse to black holes

The CGHS two-dimensional dilaton gravity model is generalized to include a ghost Klein-Gordon field, i.e. with negative gravitational coupling. This exotic radiation supports the existence of static traversible wormhole solutions, analogous to Morris-Thorne wormholes. Since the field equations are explicitly integrable, concrete examples can be given of various dynamic wormhole processes, as follows. (i) Static wormholes are constructed by irradiating an initially static black hole with the ghost field. (ii) The operation of a wormhole to transport matter or radiation between the two universes is described, including the back-reaction on the wormhole, which is found to exhibit a type of neutral stability. (iii) It is shown how to maintain an operating wormhole in a static state, or return it to its original state, by turning up the ghost field. (iv) If the ghost field is turned off, either instantaneously or gradually, the wormhole collapses into a black hole.

Lagrangian for the t–J Model Constructed from the Generators of the Supersymmetric Hubbard Algebra

In order to describe the dynamics of the t–J model, two different families of first-order Lagrangians in terms of the generators of the Hubbard algebra are found. Such families correspond to different dynamical second-class constrained systems. The quantization is carried out by using the path-integral formalism. In this context the introduction of proper ghost fields is needed to render the model renormalizable. In each case the standard Feynman diagrammatics is obtained and the renormalized physical quantities are computed and analyzed. In the first case a nonperturbative large-N expansion is considered with the purpose of studying the generalized Hubbard model describing N-fold-degenerate correlated bands. In this case the 1/N correction to the renormalized boson propagator is computed. In the second case the perturbative Lagrangian formalism is developed and it is shown how propagators and vertices can be renormalized to each order. In particular, the renormalized ferromagnetic magnon propagator coming from our formalism is studied in details. As an example the thermal softening of the magnon frequency is computed. The antiferromagnetic case is also analyzed, and the results are confronted with previous one obtained by means of the spin-polaron theories.

Ghost structure and closed strings in vacuum string field theory

We complete the construction of vacuum string field theory by proposing a canonical choice of ghost kinetic term – a local insertion of the ghost field at the string midpoint with an infinite normalization. This choice, supported by level expansion studies in the Siegel gauge,

Covariant quantization of the CBS superparticle

The quantization of the Brink-Schwarz-Casalbuoni superparticle is performed in an explicitly covariant way using the antibracket formalism. Since an infinite number of ghost fields are required, within a suitable off-shell twistor-like formalism, we are able to fix the gauge of each ghost sector without modifying the physical content of the theory. The computation reveals that the antibracket cohomology contains only the physical degrees of freedom.

A cohomological approach to the non-abelian Seiberg-Witten map

We present a cohomological method for obtaining the non-Abelian Seiberg-Witten map for any gauge group and to any order in theta. By introducing a ghost field, we are able to express the equations defining the Seiberg-Witten map through a coboundary operator, so that they can be solved by constructing a corresponding homotopy operator.

On the Faddeev–Popov determinant in Regge calculus

The functional integral measure in the 4D Regge calculus normalised w.r.t. the DeWitt supermetric on the space of metrics is considered. The Faddeev–Popov factor in the measure is shown according to the previous author's work on the continuous fields in Regge calculus to be generally ill-defined due to the conical singularities. Possible resolution of this problem is discretisation of the gravity ghost (gauge) field by, e.g., confining ourselves to the affine transformations of the affine frames in the simplices. This results in the singularity of the functional measure in the vicinity of the flat background, where part of the physical degrees of freedom connected with link lengths become the gauge ones.

Ghost imaging in MRI.

Needle biopsies and other interventions done under MR Fluoroscopy sometimes do not show the target well, either because the rapid sequence does not have adequate contrast or because a contrast agent may have washed out of the target. In these cases, an image that shows the target can be saved and scaled to match the spatial parameters of the fluoroscopic sequence, and used as a virtual or ghost field upon which the fluoroscopic images are superimposed, thus providing a view of the target, useful for needle pre-localization and for monitoring its progress as it is inserted.

Superspace formulation of general massive gauge theories and geometric interpretation of mass-dependent Becchi–Rouet–Stora–Tyutin symmetries

A superspace formulation is proposed for the osp(1,2)-covariant Lagrangian quantization of general massive gauge theories. The superalgebra osp(1,2) is considered as subalgebra of the superalgebra sl(1,2)∼osp(2,2) which may be considered as the algebra of generators of the conformal group in a superspace with two anticommuting coordinates. The mass-dependent (anti)Becchi–Rouet–Stora–Tyutin symmetries of proper solutions of the quantum master equations in the osp(1,2)-covariant formalism are realized in that superspace as invariance under translations combined with mass-dependent special conformal transformations. The Sp(2) symmetry—in particular the ghost number conservation—and the new ghost number conservation are realized in the superspace as invariance under symplectic rotations and dilatations, respectively. The new ghost number conservation is generally broken by the choice of a gauge. The transformations of the gauge fields and the full set of necessarily required (anti)ghost and auxiliary fields under the superalgebra sl(1,2) are determined both for irreducible and first-stage reducible theories with closed gauge algebra.

Casimir energy in the axial gauge

The zero-point energy of a conducting spherical shell is studied by imposing the axial gauge via path-integral methods, with boundary conditions on the electromagnetic potential and ghost fields. The coupled modes are then found to be the temporal and longitudinal modes for the Maxwell field. The resulting system can be decoupled by studying a fourth-order differential equation with boundary conditions on longitudinal modes and their second derivatives. The exact solution of such an equation is found by using a Green-function method, and is obtained from Bessel functions and definite integrals involving Bessel functions. Complete agreement with a previous path-integral analysis in the Lorenz gauge, and with Boyer's value, is proved in detail.

BRST algebra on quantum bundles

A quantum analogue of the BRST algebra is given. The method is based on the construction of a differential algebra of generalized quantum forms carrying a bigraduation. This is realized over the base quantum space of a quantum vector bundle associated to a quantum principal bundle. Using this approach, we introduce the quantum gauge, ghost and matter fields via connections and sections. Imposing constraints on the curvatures leads to the quantum BRST transformations of these fields.

QCD from a five-dimensional point of view

We propose a 5-dimensional definition for the physical 4D-Yang-Mills theory. The fifth dimension corresponds to the Monte-Carlo time of numerical simulations of QCD_4. The 5-dimensional theory is a well-defined topological quantum field theory that can be renormalized at any given finite order of perturbation theory. The relation to non-perturbative physics is obtained by expressing the theory on a lattice, a la Wilson. The new fields that must be introduced in the context of a topological Yang-Mills theory have a simple lattice expression. We present a 5-dimensional critical limit for physical correlation functions and for dynamical auto-correlations, which allows new Monte-Carlo algorithm based on the time-step in lattice units given by $\e = g_0^{-13/11}$ in pure gluodynamics. The gauge-fixing in five dimensions is such that no Gribov ambiguity occurs. The weight is strictly positive, because all ghost fields have parabolic propagators and yield trivial determinants. We indicate how our 5-dimensional description of the Yang-Mills theory may be extended to fermions.

Chiral quark model with topological ghost

A nonlinear chiral quark model with topological ghost terms is proposed. The couplings among the light-flavor quarks, the Goldstone boson nonet and the topological ghost field are consistently incorporated in the model. Some features of the model are discussed.