Noncovariant Gauge Research Articles

Conformal wavefunctions for graviton amplitudes

The extended-BMS algebra of asymptotically flat spacetime contains an SO(3, 1) subgroup that acts by conformal transformations on the celestial sphere. It is of interest to study the representations of this subgroup associated with gravitons. To reduce the equation of motion to a Schrodinger-like equation it is necessary to impose a non-covariant gauge condition. Using these solutions, leading-order gauge invariant Weyl scalars are then computed and decomposed into families of unitary principal series representations. An invertible holographic mapping is constructed between these unitary principal series operators and massless spin-2 perturbations of flat spacetime.

Soldering spin-3 opposite helicities in D=2+1

Here we present the `soldering' of opposite helicity states of a spin-3 particle, in $D=2+1$, into one parity doublet. The starting points may be either the sixth- or the fifth-order (in derivatives) spin-3 self-dual models of opposite helicities. The high number of derivatives avoids the use of auxiliary fields which has been so far an obstacle for a successful soldering procedure. The resulting doublet model is a new Lagrangian with six orders in derivatives and no auxiliary field. It may be regarded as a spin-3 analogue of the linearized `New Massive Gravity'. We check its particle content via a gauge invariant and Lorentz covariant analysis of the analytic structure of the two-point amplitude with the help of spin-3 analogues of the Barnes and Rivers projection operators. The particle content is alternatively confirmed in a specific non-covariant gauge by a decomposition in helicity variables. The soldered model is ghost free and contains two physical states as expected for a parity doublet.

Electroweak splitting functions and high energy showering

We derive the electroweak (EW) collinear splitting functions for the Standard Model, including the massive fermions, gauge bosons and the Higgs boson. We first present the splitting functions in the limit of unbroken SU(2)L × U(1)Y and discuss their general features in the collinear and soft-collinear regimes. These are the leading contributions at a splitting scale (kT ) far above the EW scale (v). We then systematically incorporate EW symmetry breaking (EWSB), which leads to the emergence of additional “ultra-collinear” splitting phenomena and naive violations of the Goldstone-boson Equivalence Theorem. We suggest a particularly convenient choice of non-covariant gauge (dubbed “Goldstone Equivalence Gauge”) that disentangles the effects of Goldstone bosons and gauge fields in the presence of EWSB, and allows trivial book-keeping of leading power corrections in v/kT . We implement a comprehensive, practical EW showering scheme based on these splitting functions using a Sudakov evolution formalism. Novel features in the implementation include a complete accounting of ultra-collinear effects, matching between shower and decay, kinematic back-reaction corrections in multi-stage showers, and mixed-state evolution of neutral bosons (γ/Z/h) using density-matrices. We employ the EW showering formalism to study a number of important physical processes at mathcal{O} (1-10 TeV) energies. They include (a) electroweak partons in the initial state as the basis for vector-boson-fusion; (b) the emergence of “weak jets” such as those initiated by transverse gauge bosons, with individual splitting probabilities as large as mathcal{O} (35%); (c) EW showers initiated by top quarks, including Higgs bosons in the final state; (d) the occurrence of mathcal{O} (1) interference effects within EW showers involving the neutral bosons; and (e) EW corrections to new physics processes, as illustrated by production of a heavy vector boson (W ′) and the subsequent showering of its decay products.

Compressible fluids with Maxwell-type equations, the minimal coupling with electromagnetic field and the Stefan–Boltzmann law

In this work we have obtained a higher-derivative Lagrangian for a charged fluid coupled with the electromagnetic fluid and the Dirac’s constraints analysis was discussed. A set of first-class constraints fixed by noncovariant gauge condition were obtained. The path integral formalism was used to obtain the partition function for the corresponding higher-derivative Hamiltonian and the Faddeev–Popov ansatz was used to construct an effective Lagrangian. Through the partition function, a Stefan–Boltzmann type law was obtained.

Infrared saturation and phases of gauge theories with BRST symmetry.

We investigate the infrared limit of the quantum equation of motion of the gauge boson propagator in various gauges and models with a BRST symmetry. We find that the saturation of this equation at low momenta distinguishes between the Coulomb, Higgs and confining phase of the gauge theory. The Coulomb phase is characterized by a massless gauge boson. Physical states contribute to the saturation of the transverse equation of motion of the gauge boson at low momenta in the Higgs phase, while the saturation is entirely due to unphysical degrees of freedom in the confining phase. This corollary to the Kugo–Ojima confinement criterion in linear covariant gauges also is sufficient for confinement in general covariant gauges with BRST and anti-BRST symmetry, maximal Abelian gauges with an equivariant BRST symmetry, non-covariant Coulomb gauge and in the Gribov–Zwanziger theory.

The Einstein–Maxwell-particle system in the York canonical basis of ADM tetrad gravity. Part 1. The equations of motion in arbitrary Schwinger time gauges 1This paper is one of three companion papers published in the same issue of Can. J. Phys.

We study the coupling of N charged scalar particles plus the electromagnetic field to Arnowitt–Deser–Misner (ADM) tetrad gravity and its canonical formulation in asymptotically Minkowskian space–times without super-translations. To regularize the self-energies, both the electric charge and the sign of the energy of the particles are Grassmann-valued. The introduction of the noncovariant radiation gauge allows reformulation of the theory in terms of transverse electromagnetic fields and to extract the generalization of the Coulomb interaction among the particles in the riemannian instantaneous 3-spaces of global noninertial frames, the only ones allowed by the equivalence principle. Then we make the canonical transformation to the York canonical basis, where there is a separation between the inertial (gauge) variables and the tidal ones inside the gravitational field and a special role of the eulerian observers associated with the 3+1 splitting of space–time. The Dirac hamiltonian is weakly equal to the weak ADM energy. The Hamilton equations in Schwinger time gauges are given explicitly. In the York basis they are naturally divided into four sets: (i) the contracted Bianchi identities; (ii) the equations for the inertial gauge variables; (iii) the equations for the tidal ones; and (iv) the equations for matter. Finally, we give the restriction of the Hamilton equations and of the constraints to the family of nonharmonic 3-orthogonal gauges, in which the instantaneous riemannian 3-spaces have a nonfixed trace 3K of the extrinsic curvature but a diagonal 3-metric. The inertial gauge variable 3K (the general-relativistic remnant of the freedom in the clock synchronization convention) gives rise to a negative kinetic term in the weak ADM energy vanishing only in the gauges with 3K = 0: is it relevant for dark energy and back-reaction? In the second paper will appear the linearization of the theory in these nonharmonic 3-orthogonal gauges to obtain hamiltonian post-minkowskian gravity (without post-newtonian approximations) with asymptotic Minkowski background, nonflat instantaneous 3-spaces and no post-newtonian expansion. This will allow the exploration of the inertial effects induced by the York time 3K in nonflat 3-spaces (they do not exist in newtonian gravity) and to check how well dark matter can be explained as an inertial aspect of Einstein’s general relativity: this will be done in a third paper on the post-minkowskian 2-body problem in the absence of the electromagnetic field and on its 0.5 post-newtonian limit.

General Lagrangian of non-covariant self-dual gauge field

We present the general formulation of non-covariant Lagrangian of self-dual gauge theory. After specifying the parameters therein the previous Lagrangian in the decomposition of spacetime into $6=D_1+D_2$ and $6=D_1+D_2+D_3$ can be obtained. The self-dual property of the general Lagrangian is proved in detail. We furthermore show that the new non-covariant actions give field equations with 6d Lorentz invariance. The method can be straightforward extended to any dimension and we also give a short discussion about the 10D self-dual gauge theory.

Weyl-Weyl correlator in de Donder gauge on de Sitter space

We compute the linearized Weyl-Weyl correlator using a new solution for the graviton propagator on de Sitter background in de Donder gauge. The result agrees exactly with a previous computation in a noncovariant gauge. We also use dimensional regularization to compute the one-loop expectation value of the square of the Weyl tensor.

Publisher's Note: Noncovariant gauge fixing in the quantum Dirac field theory of atoms and molecules [Phys. Rev. A86, 012511 (2012)

Publisher's Note: Noncovariant gauge fixing in the quantum Dirac field theory of atoms and molecules [Phys. Rev. A<b>86</b>, 012511 (2012)

Noncovariant gauge fixing in the quantum Dirac field theory of atoms and molecules

Starting from the Weyl gauge formulation of quantum electrodynamics (QED), the formalism of quantum-mechanical gauge fixing is extended using techniques from nonrelativistic QED. This involves expressing the redundant gauge degrees of freedom through an arbitrary functional of the gauge-invariant transverse degrees of freedom. Particular choices of functional can be made to yield the Coulomb gauge and Poincar\'{e} gauge representations. The Hamiltonian we derive therefore serves as a good starting point for the description of atoms and molecules by means of a relativistic Dirac field. We discuss important implications for the ontology of noncovariant canonical QED due to the gauge freedom that remains present in our formulation.

The graviton propagator in de Donder gauge on de Sitter background

We construct the graviton propagator on de Sitter background in exact de Donder gauge. We prove that it must break de Sitter invariance, just like the propagator of the massless, minimally coupled scalar. Our explicit solutions for its two scalar structure functions preserve spatial homogeneity and isotropy so that the propagator can be used within the larger context of inflationary cosmology; however, it is simple to alter the residual symmetry. Because our gauge condition is de Sitter invariant (although no solution for the propagator can be) renormalization should be simpler using this propagator than one based on a noncovariant gauge. It remains to be seen how other computational steps compare.

Graviton as a Goldstone boson: Nonlinear sigma model for tensor field gravity

Spontaneous Lorentz invariance violation (SLIV) realized through a nonlinear tensor field constraint Hμν2=±M2 (M is the proposed scale for Lorentz violation) is considered in tensor field gravity theory, which mimics linearized general relativity in Minkowski space–time. We show that such a SLIV pattern, due to which the true vacuum in the theory is chosen, induces massless tensor Goldstone modes some of which can naturally be associated with the physical graviton. When expressed in terms of the pure Goldstone modes, this theory looks essentially nonlinear and contains a variety of Lorentz and CPT violating couplings. Nonetheless, all SLIV effects turn out to be strictly canceled in all the lowest order processes considered, provided that the tensor field gravity theory is properly extended to general relativity (GR). So, as we generally argue, the measurable effects of SLIV, induced by elementary vector or tensor fields, are related to the accompanying gauge symmetry breaking rather than to spontaneous Lorentz violation. The latter appears by itself to be physically unobservable, only resulting in a non-covariant gauge choice in an otherwise gauge invariant and Lorentz invariant theory. However, while Goldstonic vector and tensor field theories with exact local invariance are physically indistinguishable from conventional gauge theories, there might appear some principal distinctions if this local symmetry were slightly broken at very small distances in a way that could eventually allow one to differentiate between them observationally.

GAUGE FIXING IDENTITY IN THE BACKGROUND FIELD METHOD OF QCD IN PURE GAUGE

In this paper we derive a gauge fixing identity by varying the covariant gauge fixing term in [Formula: see text] in the background field method of QCD in pure gauge. Using this gauge fixing identity, we establish a relation between [Formula: see text] in QCD and [Formula: see text] in background field method of QCD in pure gauge. We show the validity of this gauge fixing identity, in general noncovariant and general Coulomb gauge fixings respectively. This gauge fixing identity is used to prove factorization theorem in QCD at high energy colliders and in nonequilibrium QCD at high energy heavy-ion colliders.

WORLDSHEET COVARIANT PATH INTEGRAL QUANTIZATION OF STRINGS

We discuss a covariant functional integral approach to the quantization of the bosonic string. In contrast to approaches relying on noncovariant operator regularizations, interesting operators here are true tensor objects with classical transformation laws, even on target spaces where the theory has a Weyl anomaly. Since no implicit noncovariant gauge choices are involved in the definition of the operators, the anomaly is clearly separated from the issue of operator renormalization and can be understood in isolation, instead of infecting the latter as in other approaches. Our method is of wider applicability to covariant theories that are not Weyl invariant, but where covariant tensor operators are desired. After constructing covariantly regularized vertex operators, we define a class of background-independent path integral measures suitable for string quantization. We show how gauge invariance of the path integral implies the usual physical state conditions in a very conceptually clean way. We then discuss the construction of the BRST action from first principles, obtaining some interesting caveats relating to its general covariance. In our approach, the expected BRST related anomalies are encoded somewhat differently from other approaches. We conclude with an unusual but amusing derivation of the value D = 26 of the critical dimension.

Infrared analysis of propagators and vertices of Yang-Mills theory in Landau and Coulomb gauge

The infrared behavior of gluon and ghost propagators, ghost-gluon vertex, and three-gluon vertex is investigated for both the covariant Landau and the noncovariant Coulomb gauge. Assuming infrared ghost dominance, we find a unique infrared exponent in the $d=4$ Landau gauge, while in the $d=3+1$ Coulomb gauge we find two different infrared exponents. We also show that a finite dressing of the ghost-gluon vertex has no influence on the infrared exponents. Finally, we determine the infrared behavior of the three-gluon vertex analytically and calculate it numerically at the symmetric point in the Coulomb gauge.

Nonlinear QED and physical Lorentz invariance

The spontaneous breakdown of 4-dimensional Lorentz invariance in the framework of QED with the nonlinear vector potential constraint ${A}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{2}={M}^{2}$ (where $M$ is a proposed scale of the Lorentz violation) is shown to manifest itself only as some noncovariant gauge choice in the otherwise gauge invariant (and Lorentz invariant) electromagnetic theory. All the contributions to the photon-photon, photon-fermion, and fermion-fermion interactions violating the physical Lorentz invariance happen to be exactly cancelled with each other in the manner observed by Nambu long ago for the simplest tree-order diagrams---the fact which we extend now to the one-loop approximation and for both the timelike (${M}^{2}&gt;0$) and spacelike (${M}^{2}&lt;0$) Lorentz violations. The way to reach the physical breaking of the Lorentz invariance in the pure QED case (and beyond) treated in the flat Minkowskian space-time is also discussed in some detail.

QUANTIZATION OF NEVEU–SCHWARZ–RAMOND SUPERSTRING MODEL IN (10+2)-DIMENSIONAL SPACE–TIME

We construct a Neveu–Schwarz–Ramond superstring model which is invariant under supersymmetric U (1)V× U (1)Agauge transformations as well as the supergeneral coordinate, the superlocal Lorentz and the super-Weyl transformations on the string worldsheet. We quantize the superstring model by covariant BRST formulation á la Batalin and Vilkovisky and noncovariant lightcone gauge formulation. Upon the quantizations the model turns out to be formulated consistently in (10+2)-dimensional background space–time involving two time dimensions.

QUANTUM GAUGE BOSON PROPAGATORS IN THE LIGHT FRONT

Gauge fields in the light front are traditionally addressed via the employment of an algebraic condition n·A=0 in the Lagrangian density, where Aμ is the gauge field (Abelian or non-Abelian) and nμ is the external, light-like, constant vector which defines the gauge proper. However, this condition though necessary is not sufficient to fix the gauge completely; there still remains a residual gauge freedom that must be addressed appropriately. To do this, we need to define the condition (n·A)(∂·A)=0 with n·A=0=∂·A. The implementation of this condition in the theory gives rise to a gauge boson propagator (in momentum space) leading to conspicuous nonlocal singularities of the type (k·n)-α where α=1,2. These singularities must be conveniently treated, and by convenient we mean not only mathemathically well-defined but physically sound and meaningful as well. In calculating such a propagator for one and two noncovariant gauge bosons those singularities demand from the outset the use of a prescription such as the Mandelstam–Leibbrandt (ML) one. We show that the implementation of the ML prescription does not remove certain pathologies associated with zero modes. However we present a causal, singularity-softening prescription and show how to keep causality from being broken without the zero mode nuisance and letting only the propagation of physical degrees of freedom.

QUANTIZATION OF BOSONIC STRING MODEL IN (26+2)-DIMENSIONAL SPACE–TIME

We investigate the quantization of the bosonic string model which has a local U (1)V× U (1)Agauge invariance as well as the general coordinate and Weyl invariance on the world-sheet. The model is quantized by Lagrangian and Hamiltonian BRST formulations á la Batalin, Fradkin and Vilkovisky and noncovariant light-cone gauge formulation. Upon the quantization the model turns out to be formulated consistently in (26+2)-dimensional background space–time involving two time-like coordinates.

Relativistic Quantum Mechanics

The aim of relativistic quantum mechanics is to describe the finer details of the structure of atoms and molecules, where relativistic effects become nonnegligible. It is a sort of intermediate realm, between the familiar nonrelativistic quantum mechanics and fully relativistic quantum field theory, and thus it lacks the simplicity and elegance of both. Yet it is a necessary tool, mostly for quantum chemists. Pilkuhn's book offers to this audience an up-to-date survey of these methods, which is quite welcome since most previous textbooks are at least ten years old. The point of view of the author is to start immediately in the relativistic domain, following the lead of Maxwell's equations rather than classical mechanics, and thus to treat the nonrelativistic version as an approximation. Thus Chapter 1 takes off from Maxwell's equations (in the noncovariant Coulomb gauge) and gradually derives the basic aspects of Quantum Mechanics in a rather pedestrian way (states and observables, Hilbert space, operators, quantum measurement, scattering,. Chapter 2 starts with the Lorentz transformations, then continues with the Pauli spin equation and the Dirac equation and some of their applications (notably the hydrogen atom). Chapter 3 is entitled `Quantum fields and particles', but falls short of treating quantum field theory properly: only creation/annihilation operators are considered, for a particle in a box. The emphasis is on two-electron states (the Pauli principle, the Foldy--Wouthuysen elimination of small components of Dirac spinors, Breit projection operators. Chapter 4 is devoted to scattering theory and the description of relativistic bound states. Chapter 5, finally, covers hyperfine interactions and radiative corrections. As we said above, relativistic quantum mechanics is by nature limited in scope and rather inelegant and Pilkuhn's book is no exception. The notation is often heavy (mostly noncovariant) and the mathematical level rather low. The central topic is the description of atoms and molecules, including relativistic effects. The author fulfils this program in a reasonable way and offers a valuable tool to the targeted audience. I am not overly enthusiastic about the end result, but I might be prejudiced. Clearly, going further would require the full power of quantum field theory, but this is clearly beyond the scope of the book.