Operators In Yang-Mills Theory Research Articles

Renormalization of gluonic leading-twist operators in covariant gauges

We provide the all-loop structure of gauge-variant operators required for the renormalisation of Green’s functions with insertions of twist-two operators in Yang-Mills theory. Using this structure we work out an explicit basis valid up to 4-loop order for an arbitrary compact simple gauge group. To achieve this we employ a generalised gauge symmetry, originally proposed by Dixon and Taylor, which arises after adding to the Yang-Mills Lagrangian also operators proportional to its equation of motion. Promoting this symmetry to a generalised BRST symmetry allows to generate the ghost operator from a single exact operator in the BRST-generalised sense. We show that our construction complies with the theorems by Joglekar and Lee. We further establish the existence of a generalised anti-BRST symmetry which we employ to derive non-trivial relations among the anomalous dimension matrices of ghost and equation-of-motion operators. For the purpose of demonstration we employ the formalism to compute the N = 2, 4 Mellin moments of the gluonic splitting function up to 4 loops and its N = 6 Mellin moment up to 3 loops, where we also take advantage of additional simplifications of the background field formalism.

All-order bounds for correlation functions of gauge-invariant operators in Yang-Mills theory

We give a complete, self-contained, and mathematically rigorous proof that Euclidean Yang-Mills theories are perturbatively renormalisable, in the sense that all correlation functions of arbitrary composite local operators fulfil suitable Ward identities. Our proof treats rigorously both all ultraviolet and infrared problems of the theory and provides, in the end, detailed analytical bounds on the correlation functions of an arbitrary number of composite local operators. These bounds are formulated in terms of certain weighted spanning trees extending between the insertion points of these operators. Our proofs are obtained within the framework of the Wilson-Wegner-Polchinski-Wetterich renormalisation group flow equations, combined with estimation techniques based on tree structures. Compared with previous mathematical treatments of massless theories without local gauge invariance [R. Guida and Ch. Kopper, arXiv:1103.5692; J. Holland, S. Hollands, and Ch. Kopper, Commun. Math. Phys. 342 (2016) 385] our constructions require several technical advances; in particular, we need to fully control the BRST invariance of our correlation functions.

Peculiarities in the spectrum of the adjoint scalar kinetic operator in Yang-Mills theory

We study the spectrum of low-lying eigenmodes of the kinetic operator for scalar particles, in the color adjoint representation of Yang-Mills theory. The kinetic operator is the covariant Laplacian, plus a constant which serves to renormalize mass. In the pure gauge theory, our data indicates that the interval between the lowest eigenvalue and the mobility edge tends to infinity in the continuum limit. On these grounds, it is suggested that the perturbative expression for the scalar propagator may be misleading even at distance scales that are small compared to the confinement scale. We also measure the density of low-lying eigenmodes, and find a possible connection to multicritical matrix models of order $m=1$.

Integrability in Yang-Mills Theory on the Light Cone Beyond Leading Order

The one-loop dilatation operator in Yang-Mills theory possesses a hidden integrability symmetry in the sector of maximal-helicity Wilson operators. We calculate two-loop corrections to the dilatation operator and demonstrate that, while integrability is broken for matter in the fundamental representation of the SU(3) gauge group, for the ajoint SU(N(c)) matter it survives the conformal symmetry breaking and persists in supersymmetric N=1, N=2, and N=4 Yang-Mills theories.

Publisher's Note: Four-impurity operators and string field theory vertex in the Berenstein-Maldacena-Nastase correspondence [Phys. Rev. D71, 026001 (2005)

In the context of the Penrose/BMN limit of the AdS/CFT correspondence, we consider four-impurity BMN operators in Yang-Mills theory, and demonstrate explicitly their correspondence to four-oscillator states in string theory. Using the dilatation operator on the gauge-theory side of the correspondence, we calculate matrix elements between four-impurity states. Since conformal dimensions of gauge-theory operators correspond to light-cone energies of string states, these matrix elements may be compared with the string-theory light-cone Hamiltonian matrix elements calculated in the plane-wave background using the string field theory vertex. We find that the two calculations agree, extending the cases of two- and three-impurity operators considered in the literature using BMN gauge-theory quantum mechanics. The results are also in agreement with calculations in the literature based on perturbative gauge-theory methods.

Four-impurity operators and string field theory vertex in the Berenstein-Maldacena-Nastase correspondence

In the context of the Penrose/Berenstein-Maldacena-Nastase (BMN) limit of the AdS/CFT correspondence, we consider four-impurity BMN operators in Yang-Mills theory and demonstrate explicitly their correspondence to four-oscillator states in string theory. Using the dilatation operator on the gauge-theory side of the correspondence, we calculate matrix elements between four-impurity states. Since conformal dimensions of gauge-theory operators correspond to light-cone energies of string states, these matrix elements may be compared with the string-theory light-cone Hamiltonian matrix elements calculated in the plane-wave background using the string field theory vertex. We find that the two calculations agree, extending the cases of two- and three-impurity operators considered in the literature using BMN gauge-theory quantum mechanics. The results are also in agreement with calculations in the literature based on perturbative gauge-theory methods.

Remarks on the renormalization of gauge invariant operators in Yang-Mills theory

A simplified proof of a theorem by Joglekar and Lee on the renormalization of local gauge invariant operators in Yang-Mills theory is given. It is based on (i) general properties of the antifield-antibracket formalism and (ii) well-established results on the cohomology of semi-simple Lie algebras.

Definition of the Dirac isotopic current operator in Yang-Mills theory

The isotopic current operator for a Dirac field in the presence of an external Yang-Mills field is examined. The current is viewed as the limit of a well-defined operator where the points at which the Dirac fields are evaluated have been separated infinitesimally and appropriate line integrals inserted to maintain the correct gauge transformation properties. It is shown that the matrix elements of the current operator then obey the correct conservation law to arbitrary order in the Yang-Mills field as the separation between the Dirac field points limits to zero.

Definition of the Dirac isotopic current operator in Yang-Mills theory: L. Kannenberg and R. Arnowitt. Department of Physics, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts

In Minkowski spacetime, we consider an isolated system made of two pointlike bodies interacting at a distance in the nonradiative approximation. Our framework is the covariant and a priori Hamiltonian formalism of “predictive relativistic mechanics”, founded on the equal-time condition. The issue of an equivalent one-body description is discussed. We distinguish two different concepts: on the one hand an almost purely kinematic relative particle, on the other hand an effective particle which involves an explicit dynamical formulation; several versions of the latter are possible. Relative and effective particles have the same orbit, but may differ by their schedules.