Symmetry restoration and the background field method in gauge theories

Spontaneously broken gauge theories in a constant external electromagnetic field are shown to exhibit a first-order phase transition to a restored symmetry phase when the external field exceeds a certain critical value. The effects of fields characterized by various values of the two Lorentz invariants $\text{F}{}_1\text{=}\text{1}\text{2}\text{(B}{}^2\text{? E}{}^2\text{)}$ and F₂ = E · B are discussed. In a simple SU(2) model the critical field strength is found to be g_R²(F₁)_crit = 0.057 m_w⁴, m_w being the vector boson mass. A number of theoretical developments in the background field formalism are presented. A new gauge-fixing term, the background field R gauge, is introduced. The configuration space heat kernel method for evaluating functional determinants, extended to allow the use of dimensional regularization, is employed, and it is shown how to perform background field calculations in a gauge specified by an arbitrary parameter α. Further applications of these methods are discussed.     

Massless phases and symmetry restoration in abelian gauge theories and spin systems

We give a new, elementary proof for the existence of a deconfining transition to a massless (QED) phase in the four-dimensionalU(1) lattice gauge theory and of an intermediate QED phase, accompanied by dynamical restoration of localU(1) invariance, in the four dimensional _N models, withN large. Our methods can also be used to prove the existence of a phase transition in theXY model in three or more dimensions, in three- and four-dimensional abelian Higgs models, and in more general models admitting some local, abelian gauge invariance.Work supported in part by the NSF under grant DMR 81-00417     

Charges in gauge theories

In this article we investigate charged particles in gauge theories. After reviewing the physical and theoretical problems, a method to construct charged particles is presented. Explicit solutions are found in the abelian theory and a physical interpretation is given. These solutions and our interpretation of these variables as the true degrees of freedom for charged particles, are then tested in the perturbative domain and are demonstrated to yield infra-red finite, on-shell Green’s functions at all orders of perturbation theory. The extension to collinear divergences is studied and it is shown that this method applies to the case of massless charged particles. The application of these constructions to the charged sectors of the standard model is reviewed and we conclude with a discussion of the successes achieved so far in this programme and a list of open questions. An erratum to this article is available at .     

Symmetry breaking and restoration for interacting scalar and gauge fields in Lifshitz type theories

We consider the one-loop effective potential at zero and finite temperature in field theories with anisotropic space–time scaling, with critical exponent z=2$z=2$, including both scalar and gauge fields. Depending on the relative strength of the coupling constants for the gauge and scalar interactions, we find that there is a symmetry breaking term induced at one loop at zero temperature and we find symmetry restoration through a first-order phase transition at high temperature.     

Energy-momentum dispersion of glueballs and the restoration of Lorentz invariance in lattice gauge theories

The strong-coupling expansion for the energy-momentum dispersion of the scalar glueball is carried out for euclidean Z₂ and SU(2) lattice gauge theories up to 10th order in 3 dimensions and to 8th order in 4 dimensions. The results are used to study the restoration of Lorentz invariance in the continuum limit.     

Non-abelian gauge couplings in thermal gauge field theories

Properties of the effective gauge couplings renormalized at finite temperature and density in thermal non-abelian gauge field theories are studied within one-loop approximations. Strong and severe vertex dependence is shown to come out both in the temperature and chemical potential dependences. Difficulties appearing in the perturbative calculation of physical quantities, indicated by the above disaster, are discussed. Also discussed is what insight might be gained from the present analysis into the “magnetic” screening of effective charge.     

Quark fragmentation in gauge theories

A theory of quark fragmentation is based on the phenomenon of spontaneous pair creation in a strong Coulomb field, applied to the color field surrounding the leading quarks.     

Soliton quantization in gauge theories

We study the quantization of the SO₃ gauge theory which possesses the 't Hooft-Polyakov monopole as a classical solution. The one-monopole sector of this model is constructed in lowest-order perturbation theory, with \(\sqrt \hbar \) as expansion parameter. Explicit expressions for the fields are given and their properties discussed. We use a manifestly covariant formalism.     

Space-time symmetries in gauge theories

A general definition of symmetries of gauge fields is proposed and a method developed for constructing symmetric fields for an arbitrary gauge group. Scalar fields occur naturally in the formalism and the pure gauge theory reduces to a Higgs model in lower dimensions.Laboratoire propre du C.N.R.S. associé à l'Ecole Normale Supérieure et à l'Université de Paris Sud     

Phase transition in gauge theories

In this short review we present the consequences of the spontaneously broken gauge theories will lead to when describing matter at high temperature and density. It appears various phase transitions should occur leading to the restoration of symmetry at high temperature of the originally broken one. Symmetry behaviour in external magnetic fields and in the early universe has been briefly mentioned.     

Electric-charge quantization in gauge theories

The electric-charge quantization and fixing conditions of particles are found using a number of gauge theories, and it is shown that the presence of Higgs fields is a necessary condition for the electric-charge quantization in the considered models.     

Vacuum stability in gauge theories

The vacuum behaviour in a quantum SU(2) gauge theory is investigated by calculating the one-loop contributions to the effective action in a covariant constant background field. It is found that the vacuum is stable against decay, for a particular nonzero value of the electric field, indicating a dynamical symmetry breaking.     

Quadratic divergences in gauge theories

Quadratic divergences are analysed using dimensional regularisation in gauge theories in general and the standard model in particular. We give a prediction (under dubious assumptions) thatm _t ≈115 GeV andm _H ≈180 GeV.     

Tumbling in two-dimensional gauge theories

The ideas of tumbling and most attractive channel condensation are confronted in two-dimensional chiral gauge theories. We first demonstrate how to perform a gauge-invariant regularization. We then proceed to find exact results about the spectra in both abelian and non-abelian cases. These conflict with the predictions of tumbling and MAC.     

Physical variables in gauge theories

The symplectic method is applied to obtain the physical variables and the physical Hamiltonian in two examples of gauge theories: the electrodynamics in the Coulomb gauge and the two-dimensional bosonic Schwinger model.     

Gribov ambiguity in gauge theories

Gribov ambiguity in gauge field theories is discussed and it is shown that such an ambiguity exists even for Abelian theories in covariant gauge at finite temperature. Both geometric and algebraic proofs are presented. In view of the importance of non-perturbative methods, some special gauges are given in which such ambiguities do not exist or are not relevant. The significance of these in the study of confinement in QCD is pointed out.     

Double-beta decay in gauge theories

Neutrinoless double-beta decay is a very important process both from the particle and nuclear physics point of view. From the elementary particle point of view, it pops up in almost every model, giving rise among others to the following mechanisms: (a) the traditional contributions like the light neutrino mass mechanism as well as the j _L –j _R leptonic interference (λ and η terms), (b) the exotic R-parity-violating supersymmetric (SUSY) contributions. Thus, its observation will severely constrain the existing models and will signal that the neutrinos are massive Majorana particles. From the nuclear physics point of view, it is challenging, because (1) the nuclei, which can undergo double-beta decay, have complicated nuclear structure; (2) the energetically allowed transitions are suppressed (exhaust a small part of all the strength); (3) since in some mechanisms the intermediate particles are very heavy one must cope with the short distance behavior of the transition operators (thus novel effects, like the double-beta decay of pions in flight between nucleons, have to be considered; in SUSY models, this mechanism is more important than the standard two-nucleon mechanism; and (4) the intermediate momenta involved are quite high (about 100 MeV/c). Thus one has to take into account possible momentum-dependent terms of the nucleon current, like modification of the axial current due to PCAC, weak magnetism terms, etc. We find that, for the mass mechanism, such modifications of the nucleon current for light neutrinos reduce the nuclear matrix elements by about 25%, almost regardless of the nuclear model. In the case of heavy neutrino, the effect is much larger and model-dependent. Taking the above effects into account, the needed nuclear matrix elements have been obtained for all the experimentally interesting nuclei A=76, 82, 96, 100, 116, 128, 130, 136, and 150. Then, using the best presently available experimental limits on the half-life of the 0νββ decay, we have extracted new limits on the various lepton-violating parameters. In particular, we find 〈m _ν〉 < 0.3 eV/c ², and, for reasonable choices of the parameters of SUSY models in the allowed SUSY parameter space, we get a stringent limit on the R-parity-violating parameter λ′₁₁₁<4.0×10^?4.