Yang-Mills Research Articles

Transforming the bootstrap: using transformers to compute scattering amplitudes in planar N=4 super Yang–Mills theory

Abstract We pursue the use of deep learning methods to improve state-of-the-art computations in theoretical high-energy physics. Planar N = 4 Super Yang-Mills theory is a close cousin to the theory that describes Higgs boson production at the Large Hadron Collider; its scattering amplitudes are large mathematical expressions containing integer coefficients. In this paper, we apply Transformers to predict these coefficients. The problem can be formulated in a language-like representation amenable to standard cross-entropy training objectives. We design two related experiments and show that the model achieves high accuracy (> 98%) on both tasks. Our work shows that Transformers can be applied successfully to problems in theoretical physics that require exact solutions.

Retrieving Yang–Mills–Higgs fields in Minkowski space from active local measurements

Retrieving Yang–Mills–Higgs fields in Minkowski space from active local measurements

Full QCD with milder topological freezing

We simulate Nf = 2 + 1 QCD at the physical point combining open and periodic boundary conditions in a parallel tempering framework, following the original proposal by M. Hasenbusch for 2d CPN−1 models, which has been recently implemented and widely employed in 4d SU(N) pure Yang-Mills theories too. We show that using this algorithm it is possible to achieve a sizable reduction of the auto-correlation time of the topological charge in dynamical fermions simulations both at zero and finite temperature, allowing to avoid topology freezing down to lattice spacings as fine as a ∼ 0.02 fm. Therefore, this implementation of the Parallel Tempering on Boundary Conditions algorithm has the potential to substantially push forward the investigation of the QCD vacuum properties by means of lattice simulations.

Cohesive self-dual Yang-Mills modules over four manifolds

This research is motivated by Atiyah, Hitchin, and Singers paper Self-duality in Four-Dimensional Riemannian Geometry , which introduced a relationship between self-dual Yang-Mills fields on smooth manifolds and holomorphic vector bundles on their twistor spaces. Here, self-duality is a specific structure in 4-dimensional manifolds and Yang-Mills fields are gauge fields that satisfy Yang-Mills equations in 4-dimensions and are corresponded to the holomorphic bundles on twistor spaces. In this paper, we extend the relationship from vector bundles to a generalization of the Yang-Mills fields. To achieve this purpose, we apply Atiyah, Hitchin, and Singers theorem to cohesive modules, which was originally introduced by Block in in studying coherent sheaves over complex manifolds and the relations between homomorphic torus and its dual non-commutative torus. We introduce the notion of cohesive self-dual Yang-Mills modules and show that the twistor correspondence actually induces the equivalence between the dg category of cohesive self-dual Yang Mills modules P_(A_SD ) and the dg category of holomorphic cohesive modules P_(A_Hol ) on the twistor spaces.

Generating 4-dimensional wormholes with Yang–Mills Casimir sources

This work presents a new static and spherically symmetric traversable wormhole solution in General Relativity, which is supported by the quantum vacuum fluctuations associated with the Casimir effect of the Yang–Mills field confined between perfect chromometallic mirrors in (3+1) dimensions, recently fitted using first-principle numerical simulations. Initially, we employ a perturbative approach for x=mr≪1, where m represents the Casimir mass and r is the radial coordinate. This approach has proven to be a reasonable approximation when compared with the exact case in this regime. To find well-behaved redshift functions, we impose constraints on the free parameters. As expected, this solution recovers the electromagnetic-like Casimir solution for m=0. Analyzing the traversability conditions, we graphically find that all are satisfied for 0≤m≤0.17. On the other hand, all the energy conditions are violated, as usual in this context due to the quantum origin of the source. Stability from Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkov (TOV) equation is guaranteed for all r and from the speed of sound for 0.16≤m≤0.18. Therefore, for 0.16≤m≤0.17, we will have a stable solution that satisfies all traversability conditions.

Confining strings in three-dimensional gauge theories beyond the Nambu-Gotō approximation

We carry out a systematic study of the effective bosonic string describing confining flux tubes in SU(N) Yang-Mills theories in three spacetime dimensions. While their low-energy properties are known to be universal and are described well by the Nambu-Gotō action, a non-trivial dependence on the gauge group is encoded in a series of undetermined subleading corrections in an expansion around the limit of an arbitrarily long string. We quantify the first two of these corrections by means of high-precision Monte Carlo simulations of Polyakov-loop correlators in the lattice regularization. We compare the results of novel lattice simulations for theories with N = 3 and 6 color charges, and report an improved estimate for the N = 2 case, discussing the approach to the large-N limit. Our results are compatible with analytical bounds derived from the S-matrix bootstrap approach. In addition, we also present a new test of the Svetitsky-Yaffe conjecture for the SU(3) theory in three dimensions, finding that the lattice results for the Polyakov-loop correlation function are in excellent agreement with the predictions of the Svetitsky-Yaffe mapping, which are worked out quantitatively applying conformal perturbation theory to the three-state Potts model in two dimensions. The implications of these results are discussed.

What can abelian gauge theories teach us about kinematic algebras?

The phenomenon of BCJ duality implies that gauge theories possess an abstract kinematic algebra, mirroring the non-abelian Lie algebra underlying the colour information. Although the nature of the kinematic algebra is known in certain cases, a full understanding is missing for arbitrary non-abelian gauge theories, such that one typically works outwards from well-known examples. In this paper, we pursue an orthogonal approach, and argue that simpler abelian gauge theories can be used as a testing ground for clarifying our understanding of kinematic algebras. We first describe how classes of abelian gauge fields are associated with well-defined subalgebras of the diffeomorphism algebra. By considering certain special subalgebras, we show that one may construct interacting theories, whose kinematic algebras are inherited from those already appearing in a related abelian theory. Known properties of (anti-)self-dual Yang-Mills theory arise in this way, but so do new generalisations, including self-dual electromagnetism coupled to scalar matter. Furthermore, a recently obtained non-abelian generalisation of the Navier-Stokes equation fits into a similar scheme, as does Chern-Simons theory. Our results provide useful input to further conceptual studies of kinematic algebras.

A Scaling Relation, Zm-Type Deconfinement Phases, and Imaginary Chemical Potentials in Finite Temperature Large-N Gauge Theories

Abstract We show that the effective potentials for the Polyakov loops in finite temperature SU$(N)$ gauge theories obey a certain scaling relation with respect to temperature in the large-N limit. This scaling relation strongly constrains the possible terms in the Polyakov loop effective potentials. Moreover, by using the effective potentials in the presence of imaginary chemical potentials or imaginary angular velocities in several models, we find that phase transitions to $Z_m$-type deconfinement phases ($Z_m$ phase) occur, where the eigenvalues of the Polyakov loop are distributed $Z_m$ symmetrically. Physical quantities in the $Z_m$ phase obey the scaling properties of the effective potential. The models include Yang–Mills (YM) theories, the bosonic BFSS matrix model, and ${\mathcal {N}}=4$ supersymmetric YM theory on $S^3$. Thus, the phase diagrams of large-N gauge theories with imaginary chemical potentials are very rich and the stable $Z_m$ phase would be ubiquitous. Monte-Carlo calculations also support this. As a related topic, we discuss the phase diagrams of large-N YM theories with real angular velocities in finite volume spaces.

Conservation laws of stress–energy tensor in Yang–Mills theory

In this paper we present a new identity to associate the conservation laws of stress–energy tensor with the field equations in Yang–Mills theory. The Lorentz force is included with a consistent formulation as in Maxwell theory.

Kinematic Hopf algebra and Bern-Carrasco-Johansson numerators at finite α′

We significantly extend recent work on the kinematic Hopf algebra, a structure that was shown to underlie the color-kinematics duality in Yang-Mills (YM) theory coupled to two heavy scalars, known as the heavy-mass effective theory (HEFT) limit. First, staying in the HEFT limit, we show the same kinematic Hopf algebra can be used to obtain Bern-Carrasco-Johansson (BCJ) numerators in DF2+YM theory, a theory containing an infinite number of higher derivative corrections to YM, used to obtain string amplitudes via the double copy. Second, we exploit the intricate structure induced by the massive poles to obtain an efficient and direct expression for local BCJ numerators in pure YM based on the same kinematic Hopf algebra. This demonstrates that the kinematic Hopf algebra works even beyond the HEFT limit, strongly suggesting this structure universally underlies the color-kinematics duality. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

The Casimir Effect in Finite-Temperature and Gravitational Scenarios

In this paper, we review some recent findings related to the Casimir effect. Initially, the thermal corrections to the vacuum Casimir energy density are calculated, for a quantum scalar field, whose modes propagate in the (3+1)-dimensional Euclidean spacetime, subject to a nontrivial compact boundary condition. Next, we analyze the Casimir effect induced by two parallel plates placed in a weak gravitational field background. Finally, we review the three-dimensional wormhole solutions sourced by the Casimir density and pressures associated with the quantum vacuum fluctuations of the Yang-Mills field.

A relationship between two-dimensional and four-dimensional space-time by comparing generalized two-dimensional Yang–Mills theory and Maxwell construction

Some important problems in science do not have analytical solutions in four dimensions including QCD, but they are integrable in two dimensions. For many years, scientists have been trying to find a relation between two-dimensional and four-dimensional space-time to explain the real problem in four dimensions by accurately solving the appropriate model in two dimensions. In this paper, an interesting relation between gYM2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$gY M_2$$\\end{document} (generalized two-dimensional Yang–Mills) and Maxwell construction has been found, which can be a starting point for finding more relations between two-dimensional and four-dimensional space-time, so this paper can play an important role in the advancement of science. For this purpose, first, the large-N behavior of the quartic-cubic generalized two-dimensional Yang–Mills U(N) on a sphere is investigated for finite cubic couplings. It is shown that there are two phase transitions one of which is of third order, which is similar to previous papers, and the other one is of second order, which is a novel result. Second, gYM2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$gY M_2$$\\end{document} (for G(z)=zm+λzn;m=4,6;n<m\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ G(z) = z^ m + \\lambda \\, z^n; m = 4, 6; n < m$$\\end{document}) and Maxwell construction are compared with each other and a relationship between two-dimensional space-time, which is integrable, and four-dimensional space-time is obtained.

Twisted circle compactification 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} = 4 SYM and its holographic dual

We consider a compactification of 4D 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} = 4 SYM, with SU(N) gauge group, on a circle with anti-periodic boundary conditions for the fermions. We couple the theory to a constant background gauge field along the circle for an abelian subgroup of the R-symmetry which allows to preserve four supersymmetries. The 3D effective theory exhibits gapped and ungapped phases, which we argue are holographically dual, respectively, to a supersymmetric soliton in AdS5 × S5, and a particular quotient of AdS5 × S5. The gapped phase corresponds to an IR 3D 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 supersymmetric Yang-Mills-Chern-Simons theory at level N, while the ungapped phase is naturally identified with the root of a Higgs branch in the 3D theory. We discuss the extension of the twisting procedure to maximally SUSY Yang-Mills theories in different dimensions, obtaining the relevant duals for 2D and 6D, and comment on the odd dimensional cases.

Domain walls in super Yang-Mills: worldvolume TQFTs and deconfinement from semiclassics on ℝ3× \U0001d54a1

This work studies domain walls between chirally-separated vacua in supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory (SYM) on ℝ3× \U0001d54a1 in the semiclassical limit. For all gauge groups we explicitly find the electric fluxes of all BPS domain walls and fully characterize the representation that they form under the global symmetry of SYM. We compute the characters of these representations formed by the semiclassical domain walls. We also compute these characters for the worldvolume TQFTs appearing in the literature for SU(N) and Sp(N) gauge groups. We find complete agreement between the two computations, providing thus a dynamical test of the proposed worldvolume TQFTs. We also propose a new worldvolume TQFT for E6 domain walls, subjecting it to the same tests. Finally, we study deconfinement of quarks on domain walls for all gauge groups. We show that for all gauge groups confining strings (stable in the abelianized regime) can end on domain walls, regardless of whether or not the group has a center.

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

Leading order track functions in a hot and dense QGP

We study the modifications to the fragmentation pattern of partons into charged particles in the presence of a hot and dense quark gluon plasma. To this end, we analyze the perturbative renormalization group equations of the track functions, which describe the energy fraction carried by charged hadrons. Focusing on pure Yang-Mills theory, we compute the lowest-order moments of the medium-modified track functions, which are found to be sensitive to the reduced phase space for emissions in the medium and to energy loss. We use the extracted moments to calculate the energy energy correlator (EEC) on tracks in the collinear limit. The EEC on medium-evolved tracks does not differ qualitatively from the EEC on vacuum tracks despite being sensitive to the color decoherence transition and suppressing the distribution due to quenching, as seen in other jet observables. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Exact degeneracy of Casimir energy for 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} = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory on ADE singularities and S-duality

Classically, the ground states 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} = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory on ℝ × S3/Γ where Γ is a discrete ADE subgroup of SU(2) are represented by flat Wilson lines winding around the ADE singularity. By a duality relating such ground states to WZW conformal blocks, the ground state degeneracy cannot be lifted by quantum corrections. Using the superconformal index, we compute the supersymmetric Casimir energy of each flat Wilson line for SU(2) SYM on different ADE singularities and find that the flat Wilson lines all have the same supersymmetric Casimir energy. We argue that this exact degeneracy is peculiar to 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} = 4 supersymmetry and show that the degeneracy is lifted when the number of supersymmetry is reduced. In particular, we uncover a surprising result for the ground state structure of the conformal 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 SU(2) four-flavor theory on S3/Γ. For 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} = 4 SYM, S-duality maps the ground state Wilson lines to ground state t’ Hooft lines taking values in the Langlands dual group. We show that the supersymmetric Casimir energy of the t’ Hooft line ground states is the same as the Wilson line ground states. This can be viewed as a ground state test of S-duality.

A hidden 2d CFT for self-dual Yang-Mills on the celestial sphere

Self-dual Yang-Mills theory admits an underlying infinite dimensional symmetry algebra, which has been obtained from mode expansion of Mellin transformed 4d scattering amplitudes and separately, Koszul duality on twistor space. In this paper, we propose to derive an explicit 2d realization of the algebra by performing a particular gauge transformation on the twistor action for self-dual Yang-Mills. The gauge parameter used in the transformation generates pure gauge connections corresponding to large gauge transformations on 4d Minkowski space, which localises part of the twistor action to a ℂℙ1 on ℂ* reduction of twistor space. Under a projection, it can be mapped to the celestial sphere at the light-cone cut of the origin on I\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{I} $$\\end{document}. Geometrically, this is the common boundary celestial sphere shared by Euclidean AdS3 or Lorentzian dS3 slices of Minkowski space. We comment on the geometric meaning of the derivation from the perspective of minitwistor spaces of the 3d slices embedded in 4d Minkowski space. Using the action functional of this 2d CFT, we compute its stress-energy tensor and central charge. By a further marginal deformation, we calculate correlation functions of current algebra generators purely from the 2d side which reproduce full 4d tree-level form factors.

Non-compact gauge groups, tensor fields and Yang-Mills-Einstein amplitudes

Scattering amplitudes in Yang-Mills-Einstein theories have been investigated mostly for compact gauge groups. While non-compact gauge groups are not physically viable in Yang-Mills theory, non-compact gaugings feature prominently in the supergravity literature, where any choice of perturbative vacuum spontaneously breaks the gauge group to a compact subgroup. In this paper, we formulate double-copy constructions for several five-dimensional 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 supergravities with non-compact gauge groups. On one side of the double copy, we employ amplitudes from a super-Yang-Mills theory with a massive hypermultiplet. On the other, we use amplitudes from particular non-supersymmetric Yang-Mills-scalar theories with massive fermions, chosen to obey constraints coming from color/kinematics duality. Supergravities with massive self-dual tensors in five dimensions are also considered, showing that tensors are straightforwardly realized as double copies of gauge-theory fermions with suitable choices of signs in the corresponding solutions of the Dirac equation. We present several examples of these constructions, noting in particular the appearance of Heisenberg groups in the supergravity gauge symmetry and, in some cases, the possibility of exotic tensor-vector matter couplings.

The spectrum of an operator associated with G 2-instantons with 1-dimensional singularities and Hermitian Yang–Mills connections with isolated singularities

abstract: This is the first step in an attempt at a deformation theory for $G_{2}$-instantons with $1$-dimensional conic singularities. Under a set of model data, the linearization yields a Dirac operator $P$ on a certain bundle over $\mathbb{S}^{5}$, called the \textit{link operator}. As a dimension reduction, the link operator also arises from Hermitian Yang--Mills connections with isolated conic singularities on a Calabi--Yau $3$-fold. Using the quaternion structure in the Sasakian geometry of $\mathbb{S}^{5}$, we describe the set of all eigenvalues of $P$, denoted by $\Spec P$. We show that $\Spec P$ consists of finitely many integers induced by certain sheaf cohomologies on $\mathbb{P}^{2}$, and infinitely many real numbers induced by the spectrum of the rough Laplacian on the pullback endomorphism bundle over $\mathbb{S}^{5}$. The multiplicities and the form of an eigensection can be described fairly explicitly. In particular, there is a relation between the spectrum on $\mathbb{S}^{5}$ to certain sheaf cohomologies on~$\mathbb{P}^{2}$. Moreover, on a Calabi--Yau $3$-fold, the index of the linearized operator for admissible singular Hermitian Yang--Mills connections is also calculated, in terms of these sheaf cohomologies. Using the representation theory of $\SU(3)$ and the subgroup $S[U(1)\times U(2)]$, we show an example in which $\Spec P$ and the multiplicities can be completely determined.