Soft gauge algebras

Gauge transformations whose algebra closes only modulo field dependent terms (soft gauge algebras) are studied in detail. The results are explicitly applied to a supersymmetric gauge theory, to gravity and to conformal gravity, all seen as gauge theories overx-space; the obvious applications to supergravity are pointed out. A consistency requirement for the gauge transformations of those fields which appear in the algebra is seen to rule out “local translations” as independent gauge transformations.     

The spacetime of double field theory: Review,remarks, and outlook

We review double field theory (DFT) with emphasis on the doubled spacetime and its generalized coordinate transformations, which unify diffeomorphisms and b‐field gauge transformations. We illustrate how the composition of generalized coordinate transformations fails to associate. Moreover, in dimensional reduction, the O(d,d) T‐duality transformations of fields can be obtained as generalized diffeomorphisms. Restricted to a half‐dimensional subspace, DFT includes ‘generalized geometry’, but is more general in that local patches of the doubled space may be glued together with generalized coordinate transformations. Indeed, we show that for certain T‐fold backgrounds with non‐geometric fluxes, there are generalized coordinate transformations that induce, as gauge symmetries of DFT, the requisite O(d,d;ℤ) monodromy transformations. Finally we review recent results on the α^′ extension of DFT which, reduced to the half‐dimensional subspace, yields intriguing modifications of the basic structures of generalized geometry.     

Supergravity as a gauge theory of supersymmetry

In a new approach to supergravity we consider the gauge theory of the 14-dimensional supersymmetry group. The theory is constructed from 14×4 gauge fields, 4 gauge fields being associated with each of the 14 generators of supersymmetry. The gauge fields corresponding to the 10 generators of the Poincaré subgroup are those normally associated with general relativity, and the gauge fields corresponding to the 4 generators of supersymmetry transformations are identified with a Rarita-Schwinger spinor. The transformation laws of the gauge fields and the Lagrangian of lowest degree are uniquely constructed from the supersymmetry algebra. The resulting action is shown to be invariant under these gauge transformations if the translation associated field strength vanishes. It is shown that the second-order form of the action, which is the same as that previously proposed, is invariant without constraint.     

Modular degeneracy of vacuum zero potential point and gauge transformations

This paper presents an extended gauge theory which can contain the Higgs mechanism, considering ⁴ field theory as an example. It can introduce interaction into different vacuum modular degeneracy states and break modular degeneracy. At the same time we can obtain both massless and massive vector bosons. According to the extended gauge theory, gauge transformations can be classified into two kinds: those with fixed parameter, called simply definite gauge transformations, which have a function of breaking modular degeneracy, and indefinite gauge transformations, which have a function of keeping phase degeneracy.     

A new symmetry group of real self-dual Yang-Mills theory

A new infinite parameter symmetry group is found for real self-dual Yang-Mills theory in four euclidean dimensions. Whereas the gauge potentials transform under a group including local gauge transformations and Kac-Moody-like transformations, the gauge invariant object tr P exp(∮A·dξ) is seen to carry a representation of the Kac-Moody symmetry. Four-dimensional Polyakov loop-space currents restricted to the self-dual sector are constructed from this algebra.     

Finsler gauge transformations and general relativity

The theory of gauge transformations in Finsler space is applied to general relativity. It is seen that the transformations produce new metrics which correspond to the introduction of physical fields. The geodesic equation in the transformed space is equivalent to the equation of motion in the original space where the field is included by a force term. An example is given of a transformation and resulting metric in which the electromagnetic potential is related to parameters of the gauge transformation rather than to gauge potentials. This implies that the electromagnetic field corresponds to a connection instead of a curvature. Another example is given which shows how Weyl or conformal transformations are related to a class of the gauge transformations.     

Trivializing Maps, the Wilson Flow and the HMC Algorithm

In lattice gauge theory, there exist field transformations that map the theory to the trivial one, where the basic field variables are completely decoupled from one another. Such maps can be constructed systematically by integrating certain flow equations in field space. The construction is worked out in some detail and it is proposed to combine the Wilson flow (which generates approximately trivializing maps for the Wilson gauge action) with the HMC simulation algorithm in order to improve the efficiency of lattice QCD simulations.     

BRST invariance and the conical pendulum

The Hamiltonian formulation of the BRST method for quantizing constrained systems developed recently by Nemeschanskyet al is applied to the well-known problem of the conical pendulum in classical mechanics. The similarity of the system to a gauge theory wherein the two constraints serve as generators of local Abelian gauge transformations is also pointed out. The definition of the physical states of the system as a gauge theory and also as a BRST invariant theory is then discussed in some detail.     

Gauge interaction as periodicity modulation

The paper is devoted to a geometrical interpretation of gauge invariance in terms of the formalism of field theory in compact space–time dimensions (Dolce, 2011) [8]. In this formalism, the kinematic information of an interacting elementary particle is encoded on the relativistic geometrodynamics of the boundary of the theory through local transformations of the underlying space–time coordinates. Therefore gauge interactions are described as invariance of the theory under local deformations of the boundary. The resulting local variations of the field solution are interpreted as internal transformations. The internal symmetries of the gauge theory turn out to be related to corresponding space–time local symmetries. In the approximation of local infinitesimal isometric transformations, Maxwell’s kinematics and gauge invariance are inferred directly from the variational principle. Furthermore we explicitly impose periodic conditions at the boundary of the theory as semi-classical quantization condition in order to investigate the quantum behavior of gauge interaction. In the abelian case the result is a remarkable formal correspondence with scalar QED.     

Generalised BRST symmetry and gaugeon formalism for perturbative quantum gravity: Novel observation

In this paper the novel features of Yokoyama gaugeon formalism are stressed out for the theory of perturbative quantum gravity in the Einstein curved spacetime. The quantum gauge transformations for the theory of perturbative gravity are demonstrated in the framework of gaugeon formalism. These quantum gauge transformations lead to renormalised gauge parameter. Further, we analyse the BRST symmetric gaugeon formalism which embeds more acceptable Kugo–Ojima subsidiary condition. Further, the BRST symmetry is made finite and field-dependent. Remarkably, the Jacobian of path integral under finite and field-dependent BRST symmetry amounts to the exact gaugeon action in the effective theory of perturbative quantum gravity.     

A unified approach to conservation laws in general relativity,gauge theories,and elementary particle physics

A unified treatment of conservation laws in general relativity, gauge theories, and elementary particle physics is formulated in the setting of principal fiber bundles. The group AUT(P) is introduced as the general gauge transformation group that covers space-time coordinate transformations. A set of master equations is exhibited for any Lagrangian density generally covariant with respect to AUT(P). The symmetry group for elementary particle theory is shown to be the structure group of the bundle only in the special case when the gauge potential is flat and the space-time is simply connected. In the general case, the symmetry group is reduced to the symmetry group of the gauge potential. This natural mechanism for a reduction of the symmetry group is speculated on as a model for spontaneous symmetry breaking.This essay received an honorable mention from the Gravity Research Foundation for the year 1981-Ed.Partially supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation.     

Local internal supersymmetry of the free Maxwell theory

The free Maxwell theory is shown to possess an extended gauge invariance consisting of local internal supersymmetry transformations in addition to the usual local phase transformations. The Maxwell lagrangian is derived as a particular gauge choice in the extended theory.     

Quantum gauge equivalence in QED

We discuss gauge transformations in QED coupled to a charged spinor field, and examine whether we can gauge-transform the entire formulation of the theory from one gauge to another, so that not only the gauge and spinor fields, but also the forms of the operator-valued Hamiltonians are transformed. The discussion includes the covariant gauge, in which the gauge condition and Gauss's law are not primary constraints on operator-valued quantities; it also includes the Coulomb gauge, and the spatial axial gauge, in which the constraints are imposed on operator-valued fields by applying the Dirac-Bergmann procedure. We show how to transform the covariant, Coulomb, and spatial axial gauges to what we call “common form,” in which all particle excitation modes have identical properties. We also show that, once that common form has been reached, QED in different gauges has a common time-evolution operator that defines time-translation for states that represent systems of electrons and photons. By combining gauge transformations with changes of representation from standard to common form, the entire apparatus of a gauge theory can be transformed from one gauge to another.     

Action Principle and Algebraic Approach to Gauge Transformations in Gauge Theories

The action principle is used to derive, by an entirely algebraic approach, gauge transformations of the full vacuum-to-vacuum transition amplitude (generating functional) from the Coulomb gauge to arbitrary covariant gauges and in turn to the celebrated Fock–Schwinger (FS) gauge for the Abelian (QED) gauge theory without recourse to path integrals or to commutation rules and without making use of delta functionals. The interest in the FS gauge, in particular, is that it leads to Faddeev–Popov ghosts-free non-Abelian gauge theories. This method is expected to be applicable to non-Abelian gauge theories including supersymmetric ones.     

Determination of a gauge transformation group in gauge field theory

The existence of different types of gauge transformations in gauge theory and the theory of gravitation is established and they are defined in the language of fiber bundles.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 12, pp. 52–57, December, 1984.     

Gauge theory of the conformal and superconformal group

We show that the locally scale invariant Weyl theory of gravity is the gauge theory of the conformal group. Proper conformal transformations are gauged by a non-propagating gauge field.A gauge theory for the superconformal group is obtained which is locally scale, Lorentz, and chiral invariant but not locally supersymmetric despite remarkable cancellations.     

Lie algebroids,Lie groupoids and TFT

We construct the moduli spaces associated to the solutions of equations of motion (modulo gauge transformations) of the Poisson sigma model with target being an integrable Poisson manifold. The construction can be easily extended to a case of a generic integrable Lie algebroid. Indeed for any Lie algebroid one can associate a BF-like topological field theory which localizes on the space of algebroid morphisms, that can be seen as a generalization of flat connections to the groupoid case. We discuss the finite gauge transformations and discuss the corresponding moduli spaces. We consider the theories both without and with boundaries.     

Generalized coulomb gauges for the free photon field

We point out that the classical notion of gauge transformations can be interpreted in two different ways in the quantum theory. Beside the transformation of the field operator appearing in the Gupta-Bleuler theory, the gauge transformations can be viewed as acting on the wave functions in a generalization of the Coulomb gauge.     

On the Definition of Gauge Transformations in Gauge Theory

The different types of gauge transformations in gauge theory are discerned and defined in fiber bundle terms. The gauge gravitation case is analysed in order to examine various versions of the gauge gravitation theory.