51,254 research outputs found
Vacuum Geometry
We analyse symmetry breaking in general gauge theories paying particular
attention to the underlying geometry of the theory. In this context we find two
natural metrics upon the vacuum manifold: a Euclidean metric associated with
the scalar sector, and another generally inequivalent metric associated with
the gauge sector. Physically, the interplay between these metrics gives rise to
many of the non-perturbative features of symmetry breaking.Comment: 20 pages. no figure
Electroweak Vacuum Geometry
We analyse symmetry breaking in the Weinberg-Salam model paying particular
attention to the underlying geometry of the theory. In this context we find two
natural metrics upon the vacuum manifold: an isotropic metric associated with
the scalar sector, and a squashed metric associated with the gauge sector.
Physically, the interplay between these metrics gives rise to many of the
non-perturbative features of Weinberg-Salam theory.Comment: 20 pages. Late
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