1817006
Curves of marginal stability, and weak- and strong-coupling BPS spectra in N = 2 supersymmetric QCD
We explicitly determine the global structure of the SL(2, Z) bundle over the Coulomb branch of the moduli space of asymptotically free N = 2 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories with gauge group SU(2) when massless hypermultiplets are present. For each relevant number of flavours, we show that there is a curve of marginal stability of the Coulomb branch, diffeomorphic to a circle, across which the BPS spectrum is discontinuous. We determine rigorously and completely the BPS spectra inside and outside the curve. In all cases, the spectrum inside the curve consists of only those BPS states that are responsible for the singularities of the low energy effective action (in addition to the massless abelian gauge multiplet which is always present). The predicted decay patterns across the curve of marginal stability are perfectly consistent with all quantum numbers carried by the BPS states. As a byproduct, we also show that the electric and magnetic quantum numbers of the massless states at the singularities proposed by Seiberg and Witten are the only possible ones.
119685691
Gravitational actions in two dimensions and the Mabuchi functional
Abstract The Mabuchi energy is an interesting geometric functional on the space of Kahler metrics that plays a crucial role in the study of the geometry of Kahler manifolds. We show that this functional, as well as other related geometric actions, contribute to the effective gravitational action when a massive scalar field is coupled to gravity in two dimensions in a small mass expansion. This yields new theories of two-dimensional quantum gravity generalizing the standard Liouville models.
119318242
Partial Gauge Fixing and Equivariant Cohomology
Given a gauge theory with gauge group G, it is sometimes useful to find an equivalent formulation in terms of a nontrivial gauge subgroup H⊂G. This amounts to fixing the gauge partially from G down to H. We study this problem systematically, both from the algebraic and from the path integral points of view. We find that the usual BRST cohomology must be replaced by an equivariant version and that the ghost Lagrangian must always include quartic ghost terms, even at tree level. Both the Cartan and Weil models for equivariant cohomology play a role and find natural interpretations within the physics framework. Applications include the construction of D-brane models of emergent space, the 't Hooft Abelian projection scenario in quantum chromodynamics and the formulation of the low-energy effective theories of grand unified models. © 2014 American Physical Society.
119574064
Multi-loop zeta function regularization and spectral cutoff in curved spacetime
Abstract We emphasize the close relationship between zeta function methods and arbitrary spectral cutoff regularizations in curved spacetime. This yields, on the one hand, a physically sound and mathematically rigorous justification of the standard zeta function regularization at one loop and, on the other hand, a natural generalization of this method to higher loops. In particular, to any Feynman diagram is associated a generalized meromorphic zeta function. For the one-loop vacuum diagram, it is directly related to the usual spectral zeta function. To any loop order, the renormalized amplitudes can be read off from the pole structure of the generalized zeta functions. We focus on scalar field theories and illustrate the general formalism by explicit calculations at one-loop and two-loop orders, including a two-loop evaluation of the conformal anomaly.
14626342
Exact amplitudes in four-dimensional non-critical string theories
Abstract The large N expansion of N =2 supersymmetric Yang–Mills theory with gauge group SU( N ) has recently been shown to break down at singularities on the moduli space. We conjecture that by taking N →∞ and approaching the singularities in a correlated way, all the observables of the theory have a finite universal limit yielding amplitudes in string theories dual to field theories describing the light degrees of freedom. We explicitly calculate the amplitudes corresponding to the Seiberg–Witten period integrals for an A n −1 series of multicritical points as well as for other critical points exhibiting a scaling reminiscent of the c =1 matrix model. Our results extend the matrix model approach to non-critical strings in less than one dimension to non-critical strings in four dimensions.
119513982
Super Yang-Mills, matrix models and geometric transitions
Super Yang-Mills, modeles de matrices et transitions geometriques. J'expose deux applications de la relation entre les theories de jauge supersymetriques N = 1 a quatre dimensions, les modeles de matrices jauges a zero dimension, et les transitions geometriques en theorie des cordes. La premiere traite du spectre des parois ou branes BPS. Il est demontre qu'un etat de type D-brane, dont la tension en couplage faible est proportionnelle a N ∼ 1/g s , et un etat de type soliton de corde fermee, dont la tension en couplage faible est proportionnelle a N 2 ∼ 1/g 2 s , peuvent etre continument deformes l'un en l'autre. Ceci est un aspect de la theorie plus generale des espaces quantiques de parametres N = 1. La deuxieme est une nouvelle methode, purement geometrique, pour calculer exactement la somme sur les diagrammes planaires en zero dimension. C'est un exemple de dualite entre cordes ouvertes et cordes fermees.
12681174
Operator formalism for bosonic beta gamma fields on general algebraic curves
An operator formalism for bosonic β–γ system on arbitrary algebraic curves is introduced. The classical degrees of freedom are identified and their commutation relations are postulated. The explicit realization of the algebra formed by the fields is given in the Hilbert space equipped with a bilinear form. The construction is based on the “Gaussian” representation for β–γ system on the complex sphere [Alvarez-Gaume et al., Nucl. Phys. B 311, 333 (1988)]. Detailed computations are provided for two- and four-point correlation functions.
123165628
ON THE PARTITION FUNCTION OF STRING THEORIES DEFINED ON ALGEBRAIC CURVES
In this paper the amplitudes of bosonic string theory on Riemann surfaces are studied taking the branch points as moduli. The case of a general Riemann surface of genus three is completely worked out, constructing the chiral determinants and the propagators. The chiral determinants and the partition function are given explicitly in terms of the moduli and of the parameters of the curve apart from a factor which is essentially a theta constant. The Beilinson-Manin formulae for Riemann surfaces whose moduli space is parametrized by branch points are discussed.
119796011
On a path integral description of the dynamics of an inextensible chain and its connection to constrained stochastic dynamics
The dynamics of a freely jointed chain in the continuous limit is described by a field theory which closely resembles the nonlinear sigma model. The generating functional Ψ[J] of this field theory contains nonholonomic constraints, which are imposed by inserting in the path integral expressing Ψ[J] a suitable product of delta functions. The same procedure is commonly applied in statistical mechanics in order to enforce topological conditions on a system of linked polymers. The disadvantage of this method is that the contact with the stochastic process governing the diffusion of the chain is apparently lost. The main goal of this work is to re-establish this contact. For this purpose, it is shown here that the generating functional Ψ[J] coincides with the generating functional of the correlation functions of the solutions of a constrained Langevin equation. In the discrete case, this Langevin equation describes as expected the Brownian motion of beads connected together by links of fixed length.
16431838
PERTURBATIVE ANALYSIS OF CHERN–SIMONS FIELD THEORY IN THE COULOMB GAUGE
In this paper, we analyse the perturbative aspects of Chern–Simons field theories in the Coulomb gauge. We show that in the perturbative expansion of the Green functions there are neither ultraviolet nor infrared divergences. Moreover, all the radiative corrections are zero at any loop order. Some problems connected with the Coulomb gauge fixing, like the appearance of spurious singularities in the computation of the Feynman diagrams, are discussed and solved. The regularization used here for the spurious singularities can be easily applied also to the Yang–Mills case, which is affected by similar divergences.
15099856
Topologically nontrivial sectors of the Maxwell field theory on algebraic curves
Abstract In this paper a large family of nondegenerate metrics is derived on general algebraic curves. In this way, it is possible to treat many differential equations arising in quantum mechanics and field theories on Riemann surfaces as differential equations on the complex sphere. The case of the Maxwell field theories on curves with Z n group of automorphisms is studied in details. These curves are particularly important because they cover the entire moduli space spanned by the Riemann surfaces of genus g ≤ 2. All the classical solutions of the Maxwell equations are explicitly constructed. Also the examples of the scalar fields and of an electron immersed in a constant magnetic field will be briefly investigated.