Dynamical supersymmetry breaking and gauge anomalies

Some aspects of supersymmetric gauge theories and discussed. It is shown that dynamical supersymmetry breaking does not occur in supersymmetric QED in higher dimensions. The cancellation of both local (perturbative) and global (non-perturbative) gauge anomalies are also discussed in supersymmetric gauge theories. We argue that there is no dynamical supersymmetry breaking in higher dimensions in any supersymmetric gauge theories free of gauge anomalies. It is also shown that for supersymmetric gauge theories in higher dimensions with a compact connected simple gauge group, when the local anomaly-free condition is satisfied, there can be at most a possibleZ ₂ global gauge anomaly in extended supersymmetricSO(10) (or spin (10)) gauge theories inD=10 dimensions containing additional Weyl fermions in a spinor representation ofSO(10) (or spin (10)). In four dimensions with local anomaly-free condition satisfied, the only possible global gauge anomalies in supersymmetric gauge theories areZ ₂ global gauge anomalies for extended supersymmetricSP(2N) (N=rank) gauge theories containing additional Weyl fermions in a representation ofSP(2N) with an odd 2nd-order Dynkin index.     

The trinification model <Emphasis Type="Italic">SU</Emphasis>(3)<Superscript>3</Superscript> from orbifolds for fuzzy spheres

In this review, we consider an N = 4 supersymmetric SU(3N) gauge theory defined on the Minkowski spacetime. Then we apply an orbifold projection leading to an N = 1 supersymmetric SU(N)³ model, with a truncated particle spectrum. Then, we present the dynamical generation of (twisted) fuzzy spheres as vacuum solutions of the projected field theory, breaking the SU(N)³ spontaneously to a chiral effective theory with unbroken gauge group the trinification group, SU(3)³.     

Appearance of gauge potentials in atomic collision physics

The dynamical equations obtained from the method of perturbed stationary states (PSS) are shown to be formally equivalent to the dynamical equations of a particle with N internal degrees of freedom minimally coupled to U (N) static gauge potentials. Several examples are given that illustrate the appearance of non-abelian and magnetic monopole gauge potentials in simple systems. Advantages of expressing the PSS equations as a gauge theory are discussed.     

Quantum vortex strings: A review

The quantum worldsheet dynamics of vortex strings contains information about the 4d non-Abelian gauge theory in which the string lives. Here I tell this story. The string worldsheet theory is typically some variant of the CP^N-1 sigma-model, describing the orientation of the string in a U(N) gauge group. Qualitative parallels between 2d sigma-models and 4d non-Abelian gauge theories have been known since the 1970s. The vortex string provides a quantitative link between the two. In 4d theories with N=2 supersymmetry, the exact BPS spectrum of the worldsheet coincides with the bulk spectrum in 4d. Moreover, by tuning parameters, the CP^N-1 sigma-model can be coaxed to flow to an interacting conformal fixed point which is related to the 4d Argyres-Douglas fixed point. For theories with N=1 supersymmetry, the worldsheet theory suffers dynamical supersymmetry breaking and, more interestingly, supersymmetry restoration, in a way which captures the physics of Seiberg’s quantum deformed moduli space.     

Finite matrix models with continuous local gauge invariance

We construct a hamiltonian lattice gauge theory which possesses local SU (2) gauge invariance and yet is defined on a Hilbert space of 5-dimensional real vectors for every link. This construction does not allow for generalization to arbitrary SU(N), but a small variation of it can be generalized to an SU(N) × U(1) local gauge invariant model. The latter is solvable in simple gauge sectors leading to trivial spectra. We display these by studying a U(1) local gauge invariant model with similar characteristics.     

A study of fermions coupled to gauge and gravitational fields on a cylinder

Fermions on a cylinder coupled to background gravitation and gauge fields are examined by studying the geometric action associated with the symmetries of such a system. We are able to show that the gauge coupling constant is constrained to a value of 1/N where N is an integer. Furthermore, in direct analogy with a Yang-Mills theory a new gravitational theory is introduced which couples to the fermions by promoting the coadjoint vector of the diffeomorphism sector to a dynamical variable. The classical dynamics of this theory are examined by displaying its symplectic structure and showing that it is equivalent to a one-dimensional system.     

Noncommutative two-dimensional gauge theories

We elaborate on the dynamics of noncommutative two-dimensional gauge field theories. We consider U(N) gauge theories with fermions in either the fundamental or the adjoint representation. Noncommutativity leads to a rather non-trivial dependence on theta (the noncommutativity parameter) and to a rich dynamics. In particular the mass spectrum of the noncommutative U(1) theory with adjoint matter is similar to that of ordinary (commutative) two-dimensional large-NSU(N) gauge theory with adjoint matter. The noncommutative version of the ?t Hooft model receives a non-trivial contribution to the vacuum polarization starting from three-loops order. As a result the mass spectrum of the noncommutative theory is expected to be different from that of the commutative theory.     

Infinite-parameter symmetries and the Higgs effect in gravity-coupled sigma models in D+4 dimensions

We compute the mass spectra of small fluctuations of four-dimensional fields for Kaluza-Klein models in which the compactification from D+4 to 4 (flat) dimensions is induced by the scalar fields of a nonlinear sigma model defined on an S^N or CP^N manifold. The compactifications are stable for all values of N. The fact that the spectra contain no massless vector fields is traced to the absence of a local gauge invariance for the sigma-model action. We introduce a complete basis for the infinite-parameter symmetries that arise from the harmonic analysis of the higher-dimensional dynamical invariances. The spectrum of spin-one and spin-two fields is consistent with the Higgs effect associated with the breaking of the local symmetries corresponding to these generators. The commutation relations of the infinite parameter algebra for the case of CP¹ are also given. The algebra includes the spectrum-generating algebra SO(1,3) of Salam and Strathdee.     

Dynamical generation of topologically massive three-dimensional gauge fields and composite fermions

Phase transition, non-perturbative particle spectra including fermion-boson bound states and dynamical generation of topological gauge-invariant mass terms for the gauge fields in the general class of three-dimensional Higgs models with fermions are derived within the 1/N expansion.     

The effective potential and the bound states for a class of two dimensional gauge theories

The effective potential is calculated for a two dimensionalU(N) gauge theory with scalar quarks to leading order in the 1/N expansion. If there is noφ ⁴ interaction present, the potential is unbounded from below. If theφ ⁴ interaction is present, the potential is bounded from below and there is an unbroken and a spontaneously broken symmetry phase. The bound state spectrum of the unbroken phase is very similar to that of anU(N) gauge theory without theφ ⁴ term.     

Chern–Simons theory with vector fermion matter

We study three-dimensional conformal field theories described by U(N) Chern?CSimons theory at level k coupled to massless fermions in the fundamental representation. By solving a Schwinger?CDyson equation in light-cone gauge, we compute the exact planar free energy of the theory at finite temperature on ?² as a function of the ??t?Hooft coupling ??=N/k. Employing a dimensional reduction regularization scheme, we find that the free energy vanishes at |??|=1; the conformal theory does not exist for |??|>1. We analyze the operator spectrum via the anomalous conservation relation for higher spin currents, and in particular show that the higher spin currents do not develop anomalous dimensions at leading order in 1/N. We present an integral equation whose solution in principle determines all correlators of these currents at leading order in 1/N and present explicit perturbative results for all three-point functions up to two loops. We also discuss a light-cone Hamiltonian formulation of this theory where a W _?? algebra arises. The maximally supersymmetric version of our theory is ABJ model with one gauge group taken to be U(1), demonstrating that a pure higher spin gauge theory arises as a limit of string theory.     

Vacuum mass spectra for SU(N) self-dual Chern-Simons-Higgs systems

We study the SU(N) self-dual Chem-Simons-Higgs systems with adjoint matter coupling, and show that the sixth-order self-dual potential has p(N) gauge inequivalent degenerate minima, where p(N) is the number of partitions of N. We compute the masses of the gauge and scalar excitations in these different vacua, revealing an intricate mass structure which reflects the self-dual nature of the model.     

Nekrasov prepotential with fundamental matter from the quantum spin chain

Nekrasov functions were conjectured in Mironov and Morozov (2009) [1] to be related to exact Bohr-Sommerfeld periods of quantum integrable systems. This statement was thoroughly checked for the case of the pure SU(Nc) gauge theory in Mironov and Morozov (2009) [2] and Popolitov (2010) [3]. Here we successfully perform a set of checks in the case of gauge group SU(Nc) with additional Nf fundamental hypermultiplets. We show that the Baxter equation for the spin chain gives the same quantum periods as the one for the Gaudin system in this case.     

Light quarks and instantons

Instantons and anti-instantons can profoundly influence the structure of a non-Abelian gauge theory involving N flavors of massless quarks. Interactions of the quarks with these pseudoparticles can spontaneously generate a quark mass, break the theory's SU(N) × SU(N) chiral symmetry and bind quark-antiquark pairs to form N² ? 1 Goldstone bosons. If the spontaneously generated quark mass is small, multipseudoparticle configurations can be treated in a dilute gas approximation.     

Chiral gauge theories in the 1/N expansion

We study the large-N limit of various (SU(N) gauge theories with chiral fermion content. Assuming that the leading N → ∞ behavior is given by a sum of planar diagrams, we find that the gauge interactions must fail to confine color in some models. Other models, assuming both a planar diagram limit and confinement, must contain massless composite fermions.     

The baryon spectrum in low order QCD with Migdal regularization

The 2-point functions of local gauge invariant baryonic operators in QCD are continued from the Euclidean to the hadronic region using the Migdal regularization procedure to orders α _s . The knowledge of the anomalous dimensions of baryonic operators allows to derive the mass spectrum of the leading δ- and of the first twoN-resonances.     

Leading large N modification of QCD2 on a cylinder by dynamical fermions

We consider two-dimensional QCD on a cylinder, where space is a circle. We find the ground state of the system in case of massless quarks in a 1/Nexpansion. We find that coupling to fermions nontrivially modifies the large N saddle point of the gauge theory due to the phenomenon of “decompactification” of eigenvalues of the gauge field. We calculate the vacuum energy and the vacuum expectation value of the Wilson loop operator both of which show a nontrivial dependence on the number of quarks flavours at the leading order in 1/N.     

Fundamental length hypothesis and new concept of gauge vector field

Through an analysis of quantum field theory with “fundamental length” l[1–10], a new concept of gauge vector field is determined. The electromagnetic field is considered in detail. The new electromagnetic potential turns out to be a 5-vector associated with the De Sitter group SO(4,1). The extra fifth component, called τ-photon, similar to the scalar and longitudinal photons, does not correspond to an independent dynamical degree of freedom. Gauge-invariant equations of motion for all components of the electromagnetic 5-potential are found. Though the new gauge group remains Abelian, it is nevertheless larger than the conventional gauge group. In particular, the new gauge transformations intrinsically depend on the fundamental length l. Therefore one can consider them as a base for modification of QED at small distances (?l) in a profound way. The underlying physics becomes much richer due to the appearance of new interactions mediated by the τ-photons [14].     

Progress in lattice gauge theory

Two topics of lattice gauge theory are reviewed. They include string tension and β-function calculations by strong coupling Hamiltonian methods for SU(3) gauge fields in 3 + 1 dimensions, and a 1/N-expansion for discrete gauge and spin systems in all dimensions. The SU(3) calculations give solid evidence for the coexistence of quark confinement and asymptotic freedom in the renormalized continuum limit of the lattice theory. The crossover between weak and strong coupling behavior in the theory is seen to be a weak coupling but non-perturbative effect. Quantitative relationships between perturbative and non-perturbative renormalization schemes are obtained for the O(N) nonlinear sigma models in 1 + 1 dimensions as well as the range theory in 3 + 1 dimensions. Analysis of the strong coupling expansion of the β-function for gauge fields suggests that it has cuts in the complex 1/g²-plane. A toy model of such a cut structure which naturally explains the abruptness of the theory's crossover from weak to strong coupling is presented. The relation of these cuts to other approaches to gauge field dynamics is discussed briefly.The dynamics underlying first order phase transitions in a wide class of lattice gauge theories is exposed by considering a class of models-P(N) gauge theories - which are soluble in the N → ∞ limit and have non-trivial phase diagrams. The first order character of the phase transitions in Potts spin systems for N #62; 4 in 1 + 1 dimensions is explained in simple terms which generalizes to P(N) gauge systems in higher dimensions. The phase diagram of Ising lattice gauge theory coupled to matter fields is obtained in a $\text{1}\text{N}$ expansion. A one-plaquette model (1 time-0 space dimensions) with a first-order phase transitions in the N → ∞ limit is discussed.