On the new representation of the antisymmetric tensor gauge field

A formalism is presented which provides a framework for analysis of the abelian gauge theory of a second-rank anti-symmetric tensor in terms of the mutually dual auxiliary fields. This new formalism illustrates how the different gauge fixing conditions are related to the different field representations exhibiting the rich dynamical features of the antisymmetric tensor gauge fields. The derivation relies upon an analogy with the simpler case of the two-dimensional Maxwell field.     

Hamiltonian BRST quantization of the interacting antisymmetric tensor field

We study the hamiltonian BRST quantization of the non-abelian antisymmetric tensor field. We find the constrained system which arises from the standard action by Dirac's procedure, and eliminate the second-class constraints by introducing Dirac brackets. Having isolated the underlying first-class constrained system, we quantize it using the hamiltonian BRST techniques of Batalin and Fradkin. We study the Lorentz covariant gauge fixing of this system, and discuss the relationship between our results and other recent studies of the interacting antisymmetric tensor field.     

Anomaly-free supergravity theories remain anomaly-free after dimensional reduction

We show that the anomaly after compactification of a supergravity theory coupled to Yang-Mills matter is usually given by an integral of the original anomaly over the compact space, as long as there are no isometries for the compact space. This means that a supergravity theory, whose anomaly vanishes identically (i.e., without the addition of local counter terms to the action), will remain anomaly-free after compactification to any lower dimension, subject to some restrictions on self-dual antisymmetric tensors. We next consider the case where the original anomaly cancels by the Green-Schwarz mechanism. In this case, again subject to the restrictions on self-dual antisymmetric tensors, the anomaly will still cancel after compactification to any lower dimension D > 2, provided that: (1) There are no U(1) gauge groups after compactification. (2) There exists a three-form field strength H such that dH = (TrR₀² + kTrF₀²), or that the compact space is chosen such that (TrR₀² + kTrF₀²) = 0.     

N=3 supersymmetry multiplets with vanishing trace anomaly: Building blocks of the N>3 supergravities

N?3 supergravity theories with vanishing one-loop trace anomaly may be constructed fron three basic N=3 multiplets, one of which contains an antisymmetric tensor gauge field. As an example we construct the N=4 theory and discuss its relationship to ten-dimensional supergravity.     

Gauge theories of Josephson junction arrays

We show that the zero-temperature physics of planar Josephson junction arrays in the self-dual approximation is governed by an Abelian gauge theory with a periodic mixed Chern-Simons term describing the charge-vortex coupling. The periodicity requires the existence of (Euclidean) topological excitations which determine the quantum phase structure of the model. The electric-magnetic duality leads to a quantum phase transition between a superconductor and a superinsulator at the self-dual point. We also discuss in this framework the recently proposed quantum Hall phases for charges and vortices in presence of external offset charges and magnetic fluxes: we show how the periodicity of the charge-vortex coupling can lead to transitions to anyon superconductivity phases. We finally generalize our results to three dimensions, where the relevant gauge theory is the so-called BF system with an antisymmetric Kalb-Ramond gauge field.     

Self-Dual Strings in Six Dimensions: Anomalies,the <Emphasis Type="Italic">ADE</Emphasis>-Classification,and the World-Sheet <Emphasis Type="Italic">WZW</Emphasis>-Model

We consider the (2,0) supersymmetric theory of tensor multiplets and self-dual strings in six space-time dimensions. Space-time diffeomorphisms that leave the string world-sheet invariant appear as gauge transformations on the normal bundle of the world-sheet. The naive invariance of the model under such transformations is however explicitly broken by anomalies: The electromagnetic coupling of the string to the two-form gauge field of the tensor multiplet suffers from a classical anomaly, and there is also a one-loop quantum anomaly from the chiral fermions on the string world-sheet. Both of these contributions are proportional to the Euler class of the normal bundle of the string world-sheet, and consistency of the model requires that they cancel. This imposes strong constraints on possible models, which are found to obey an ADE-classification. We then consider the decoupled world-sheet theory that describes low-energy fluctuations (compared to the scale set by the string tension) around a configuration with a static, straight string. The anomaly structure determines this to be a supersymmetric version of the level one Wess-Zumino-Witten model based on the group      

Six-Dimensional Superconformal Field Theories from Principal 3-Bundles over Twistor Space

We construct manifestly superconformal field theories in six dimensions which contain a non-Abelian tensor multiplet. In particular, we show how principal 3-bundles over a suitable twistor space encode solutions to these self-dual tensor field theories via a Penrose–Ward transform. The resulting higher or categorified gauge theories significantly generalise those obtained previously from principal 2-bundles in that the so-called Peiffer identity is relaxed in a systematic fashion. This transform also exposes various unexplored structures of higher gauge theories modelled on principal 3-bundles such as the relevant gauge transformations. We thus arrive at the non-Abelian differential cohomology that describes principal 3-bundles with connective structure.     

Hermitian Geometry and Complex Space-Time

We consider a complex Hermitian manifold of complex dimensions four with a Hermitian metric and a Chern connection. It is shown that the action that determines the dynamics of the metric is unique, provided that the linearized Einstein action coupled to an antisymmetric tensor is obtained, in the limit when the imaginary coordinates vanish. The unique action is of the Chern-Simons type when expressed in terms of the Kähler form. The antisymmetric tensor field has gauge transformations coming from diffeomorphism invariance in the complex directions. The equations of motion must be supplemented by boundary conditions imposed on the Hermitian metric to give, in the limit of vanishing imaginary coordinates, the low-energy effective action for a curved metric coupled to an antisymmetric tensor.     

Dimensional regularization of gauge theories in spherical spacetime: Free field trace anomalies

The O(n + 1) covariant formulation of massless quantum electrodynamics in spherical spacetime is further developed to allow a calculation of the energy-momentum tensor trace anomalies for the free Dirac, electromagnetic, and SU(2) gauge fields. The principal technical development is the construction of the Faddeev-Popov ghosts for electrodynamics and SU(2) Yang-Mills theory. This construction is unconventional first in that the gauge fixing term in the Lagrangian is not a perfect square, and second because it is necessary to remove radial as well as gauge degrees of freedom from the measure of the functional integral. The ghost fields are shown to satisfy a minimal scalar field equation. The free field effective action is found to be divergent in four dimensions, and is renormalized by the inclusion in the Lagrangian of a counterterm local in the gravitational fields. The energy-momentum tensor calculated from this renormalized effective action is shown to have a trace anomaly.     

Inconsistencies of the U(1) Theory of Electrodynamics: Stress Energy Momentum Tensor

The internal gauge space of electrodynamics considered as a U(1) gauge field theory is a scalar. This leads to the result that in free space, and for plane waves, the Poynting vector and energy vanish. This result is consistent with the fact that U(1) gauge field theory results in a null third Stokes parameter, meaning again that the field energy vanishes in free space. A self consistent definition of the stress energy momentum tensor is obtained with a Yang Mills theory applied with an O(3) symmetry internal gauge space. This theory produces the third Stokes parameter self consistently in terms of the self-dual Evans-Vigier fields B(3).     

Global gravitational anomalies

A general formula for global gauge and gravitational anomalies is derived. It is used to show that the anomaly free supergravity and superstring theories in ten dimensions are all free of global anomalies that might have ruined their consistency. However, it is shown that global anomalies lead to some restrictions on allowed compactifications of these theories. For example, in the case of O(32) superstring theory, it is shown that a global anomaly related to ₇(O(32)) leads to a Dirac-like quantization condition for the field strength of the antisymmetric tensor field.Related to global anomalies is the question of the number of fermion zero modes in an instanton field. It is argued that the relevant gravitational instantons are exotic spheres. It is shown that the number of fermion zero modes in an instanton field is always even in ten dimensional supergravity.Supported in part by NSF Grant No. PHY80-19754     

Self-duality in superspace

The absence of local divergences in the vacuum functional of supergravity at all loop orders in a self-dual gravitational or supergravitational background is discussed. It is also shown that the first variational derivative of the generating functional of supergravity has no gauge independent divergences in a self-dual background, in particular that the gauge independent part of the energy momentum tensor is finite in a self-dual background. Simple expressions defining the corresponding half-flat superspace are presented.     

Supersymmetric instantons and topological quantum field theory

We present an action which generates the supersymmetric self-dual equations corresponding to euclidean super Yang-Mills theory in four dimensions. By adding additional constraint fields with new local symmetries, the classical equations of this system are the usual super self-dual equations when a gauge is chosen for the constraint fields. This construction is a supersymmetric generalization of the Labastida-Pernici action which corresponds to a gauge unfixed version of Witten's topological quantum field theory. We discuss some topological prospects for this model, and the role of supersymmetric instantons in Donaldson theory.     

Gravitational anomalies

It is shown that in certain parity-violating theories in 4k+2 dimensions, general covariance is spoiled by anomalies at the one-loop level. This occurs when Weyl fermions of $\text{spin}\text{-}\text{1}\text{2}\text{or}\text{-3}\text{2}$ or self-dual antisymmetric tensor fields are coupled to gravity. (For Dirac fermions there is no trouble.) The conditions for anomaly cancellation between fields of different spin is investigated. In six dimensions this occurs in certain theories with a fairly elaborate field content. In ten dimensions there is a unique theory with anomaly cancellation between fields of different spin. It is the chiral n = 2 supergravity theory, which is the low-energy limit of one of the superstring theories. Beyond ten dimensions there is no way to cancel anomalies between fields of different spin.     

Collective excitations of gluons

Three gauge invariant antisymmetric tensor fields are introduced in the nonabelian gauge theories. They are certain non-linear combinations of the conjugate field tensor and they obey O(3) algebra. An effective chiral lagrangian for these fields is derived. It describes 3 vector and 3 axial mesons with vacuum quantum numbers. The masses are generated by spontaneous restoration of Lorentz invariance.     

Approaches to a non-abelian antisymmetric tensor gauge field theory

Two distinct attempts at constructing a theory of non-abelian antisymmetric tensor gauge fields (ATGF's) are considered. First, a recently proposed geometry of abelian ATGF's is reviewed and then generalized to the non-abelian case. The resulting geometric action is non-local and is invariant under non-local gauge transformations; in the local limit the action describes free fields. Lattice actions for both the abelian and non-abelian ATGF theories are also presented. In the second approach, a lattice action for non-abelian ATGF's is constructed using a plaquette variables that carry four internal indices. The continuum limit is also a non-interacting theory.     

Radiative corrections in a vector-tensor model

In a recently proposed model in which a vector non-Abelian gauge field interacts with an antisymmetric tensor field, it has been shown that the tensor field possesses no physical degrees of freedom. This formal demonstration is tested by computing the one-loop contributions of the tensor field to the self-energy of the vector field. It is shown that despite the large number of Feynman diagrams in which the tensor field contributes, the sum of these diagrams vanishes, confirming that it is not physical. Furthermore, if the tensor field were to couple with a spinor field, it is shown at one-loop order that the spinor self-energy is not renormalizable, and hence this coupling must be excluded. In principle though, this tensor field does couple to the gravitational field.