Dirac quantization of a supersymmetric field theory

The superfield of one-space dimensional field theory is quantized using Dirac's method of quantization of systems with constraints. The quantization is shown to be consisted with that of the component fields.     

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.     

Pseudo-classical phase space description of the relativistic electron

Several versions exist of pseudo-classical models of the electron using Grassmann variables. Most of these require additional constraints on the variables, and it is these which, when quantized, lead to Dirac's equation. In addition, the Grassmann variables do not have physical interpretations. In this article a model is constructed which does not require constraints and in which the Grassmann variables can be interpreted as observables. Dirac's equation is obtained directly from quantization.     

Equivalence of Dirac quantization and Schwinger's action principle quantization

We show that the method of Dirac quantization is equivalent to Schwinger's action principle quantization. The relation between the Lagrange undetermined multipliers in Schwinger's method and Dirac's constraint bracket matrix is established and it is explicitly shown that the two methods yield identical (anti)commutators. This is demonstrated in the non-trivial example of supersymmetric quantum mechanics in superspace.     

Elementary algebra of the Euclidean group,with application to magnetic charge quantization

A simple treatment of the algebra of the Euclidean group E3 is based on the introduction of a second group of rotations. Dirac's quantization of magnetic charge appears as the quantization of the generator of rotations about the axis connecting the electric and magnetic charges.     

Lorentz invariant exact solution of the anomalous chiral Schwinger model

We present an exact solution of the anomalous chiral Schwinger model using Fermionic variables. We implement infrared regularization by considering the model on a spatial circleS ¹. Quantum effects modify the gauge constraints through the appearance of Schwinger terms in the gauge algebra. We perform a careful analysis of the resulting second class gauge constraints by implementing Dirac's method at the quantum level and obtain the spectrum of the theory. We get a consistent unitary Lorentz invariant theory for particular values of the counterterms. We find that when we regulate the fermionic sector of the model without reference to the gauge fields Lorentz invariance requires that we add both Lorentz variant and gauge variant counterterms.     

Dynamical symmetry breaking due to vacuum misalignment

We show that under a certain assumption systems with second-class constraints can be regarded as gauge-fixed systems with first-class constraints. The massive Yang-Mills theory, a point particle on a sphere and theO(N) symmetric non-linear σ-model are considered as concrete examples.     

Coordinate-free quantization of second-class constraints

The conversion of second-class constraints into first-class constraints is used to extend the coordinate-free path-integral quantization, achieved by a flat-space Brownian motion regularization of the coherent-state path-integral measure, to systems with second-class constraints.     

The gauged O(3) sigma model: Schrödinger representation and Hamilton-Jacobi formulation

We first study a free particle on an (n−1)-sphere in an extended phase space, where the originally second-class Hamiltonian and constraints are now in strong involution. This allows for a Schrödinger representation and a Hamilton-Jacobi formulation of the model. We thereby obtain the free particle energy spectrum corresponding to that of a rigid rotator. We extend these considerations to a modified version of the field theoretical O(3) nonlinear sigma model, and obtain the corresponding energy spectrum as well as BRST Lagrangian.     

Star Products and Branes in Poisson-Sigma Models

We prove that non-coisotropic branes in the Poisson-Sigma model are allowed at the quantum level. When the brane is defined by second-class constraints, the perturbative quantization of the model yields Kontsevich’s star product associated to the Dirac bracket on the brane. Finally, we present the quantization for a general brane.Research supported by grant FPU, MEC (Spain).Research supported by grant FPA2003-02948, MEC (Spain).     

Gauge-invariant charged,monopole and dyon fields in gauge theories

We propose explicit recipes to construct the Euclidean Green functions of gauge-invariant charged, monopole and dyon fields in four-dimensional gauge theories whose phase diagram contains phases with deconfined electric and/or magnetic charges. In theories with only either abelian electric or magnetic charges, our construction is an Euclidean version of Dirac's original proposal, the magnetic dual of his proposal, respectively. Rigorous mathematical control is achieved for a class of abelian lattice theories. In theories where electric and magnetic charges coexist, our construction of Green functions of electrically or magnetically charged fields involves taking an average over Mandelstam strings or the dual magnetic flux tubes, in accordance with Dirac's flux quantization condition. We apply our construction to 't Hooft-Polyakov monopoles and Julia-Zee dyons. Connections between our construction and the semiclassical approach are discussed.     

Magnetic charge quantization and generalized imprimitivity systems

The quantum mechanical concept of an active translation operation in an external magnetic field is discussed, and an integral version of the kinetic momentum components' commutation relations in terms of a generalized imprimitivity system is formulated. Magnetic charge quantization then follows from a cocyclelike identity in complete analogy with Dirac's original derivation. A generalized system of imprimitivity for the Dirac monopole is explicitly constructed with no strings attached.     

Spectrum of Schrödinger field in a noncommutative magnetic monopole

The energy spectrum of a nonrelativistic particle on a noncommutative sphere in the presence of a magnetic monopole field is calculated. The system is treated in the field theory language, in which the one-particle sector of a charged Schrödinger field coupled to a noncommutative U(1) gauge field is identified. It is shown that the Hamiltonian is essentially the angular momentum squared of the particle, but with a nontrivial scaling factor appearing, in agreement with the first-quantized canonical treatment of the problem. Monopole quantization is recovered and identified as the quantization of a commutative Seiberg–Witten mapped monopole field.     

Path integral quantization of field theories with second-class constraints

Faddeev's Hamiltonian path integral method for singular Lagrangians is generalized to the case when second-class constraints appear in the theory. The general formalism is then applied to several problems: quantization of the massive Yang-Mills field theory, light-cone quantization of the self-interacting scalar field theory, and quantization of a local field theory of magnetic monopoles.     

BFV quantization on hermitian symmetric spaces

Gauge-invariant BFV approach to geometric quantization is applied to the case of hermitian symmetric spaces G/H. In particular, gauge invariant quantization on the Lobachevski plane and sphere is carried out. Due to the presence of symmetry, master equations for the first-class constraints, quantum observables and physical quantum states are exactly solvable. BFV-BRST operator defines a flat G-connection in the Fock bundle over G/H. Physical quantum states are covariantly constant sections with respect to this connection and are shown to coincide with the generalized coherent states for the group G. Vacuum expectation values of the quantum observables commuting with the quantum first-class constraints reduce to the covariant symbols of Berezin. The gauge-invariant approach to quantization on symplectic manifolds synthesizes geometric, deformation and Berezin quantization approaches.     

Reduced Order Podolsky Model

We perform the canonical and path integral quantizations of a lower-order derivatives model describing Podolsky’s generalized electrodynamics. The physical content of the model shows an auxiliary massive vector field coupled to the usual electromagnetic field. The equivalence with Podolsky’s original model is studied at classical and quantum levels. Concerning the dynamical time evolution, we obtain a theory with two first-class and two second-class constraints in phase space. We calculate explicitly the corresponding Dirac brackets involving both vector fields. We use the Senjanovic procedure to implement the second-class constraints and the Batalin-Fradkin-Vilkovisky path integral quantization scheme to deal with the symmetries generated by the first-class constraints. The physical interpretation of the results turns out to be simpler due to the reduced derivatives order permeating the equations of motion, Dirac brackets and effective action.     

Coherent-state quantization of constrained fermion systems

The quantization of systems with first- and second-class constraints within the coherent-state path-integral approach is extended to quantum systems with fermionic degrees of freedom. As in the bosonic case the importance of path-integral measures for Lagrange multipliers, which in this case are in general expected to be elements of a Grassmann algebra, is emphasized. Several examples with first- and second-class constraints are discussed. Received: 28 May 1997 / Revised version: 23 July 1997     

Hamiltonian formulation of the modified Hasegawa–Mima equation

We derive the Hamiltonian structure of the modified Hasegawa–Mima equation from the ion fluid equations applying Dirac's theory of constraints. We discuss the Casimirs obtained from the corresponding Poisson structure.     

One-dimensional model of a quantum nonlinear harmonic oscillator

In this paper we study the quantization of the nonlinear oscillator introduced by Mathews and Lakshmanan. This system with position-dependent mass allows a natural quantization procedure and is shown to display shape invariance. Its energy spectrum is found by factorization. The linear harmonic oscillator appears as the λ → 0 limit of this nonlinear oscillator, whose energy spectrum and eigenfunctions are compared to the linear ones.     

S Q E D 4 and Q E D 4 on the Null-Plane

We study the scalar electrodynamics (S Q E D ₄) and the spinor electrodynamics (Q E D ₄) in the null-plane formalism. We follow Dirac’s technique for constrained systems to analyze the constraint structure in both theories in detail. We impose the appropriate boundary conditions on the fields to fix the hidden subset first class constraints that generate improper gauge transformations and obtain a unique inverse of the second-class constraint matrix. Finally, choosing the null-plane gauge condition, we determine the generalized Dirac brackets of the independent dynamical variables, which via the correspondence principle give the (anti)-commutators for posterior quantization.