Yang-Mills theories and quadratic forms

We show that the Hamiltonian of (N=1;d=10) super Yang-Mills can be expressed as a quadratic form in a very similar manner to that of the (N=4;d=4) theory. We find a similar quadratic form structure for pure Yang-Mills theory but this feature, in the non-supersymmetric case, seems to be unique to four dimensions. We discuss some consequences of this feature.Comment: 12 page

Superspace Gauge Fixing of Topological Yang-Mills Theories

We revisit the construction of topological Yang-Mills theories of the Witten type with arbitrary space-time dimension and number of ``shift supersymmetry'' generators, using a superspace formalism. The super-BF structure of these theories is exploited in orderto determine their actions uniquely, up to the ambiguities due to the fixing of the Yang-Mills and BF gauge invariance. UV finiteness to all orders of perturbation theory is proved in a gauge of the Landau type.Comment: 26 pages, no figures, Late

BF Actions for the Husain-Kuchar Model

We show that the Husain-Kuchar model can be described in the framework of BF theories. This is a first step towards its quantization by standard perturbative QFT techniques or the spin-foam formalism introduced in the space-time description of General Relativity and other diff-invariant theories. The actions that we will consider are similar to the ones describing the BF-Yang-Mills model and some mass generating mechanisms for gauge fields. We will also discuss the role of diffeomorphisms in the new formulations that we propose.Comment: 21 pages (in DIN A4 format), minor typos corrected; to appear in Phys. Rev.

Black Holes, Branes and Superconformal Symmetry

The main focus of this lecture is on extended objects in adS*S bosonic backgrounds with unbroken supersymmetry. The backgrounds are argued to be exact, special consideration are given to the non-maximal supersymmetry case. The near horizon superspace construction is explained. The superconformal symmetry appears in the worldvolume actions as the superisometry of the near horizon superspace, like the superPoincare symmetry of GS superstring and BST supermembrane in the flat superspace. The issues in gauge fixing of local kappa-symmetry are reviewed. We describe the features of the gauge-fixed IIB superstring in adS(5)*S(5) background with RR 5-form. From a truncated boundary version of it we derive an analytic N=2 off shell harmonic superspace of Yang-Mills theory. The reality condition of the analytic subspace, which includes the antipodal map on the sphere, has a simple meaning of the symmetry of the string action in the curved space. The relevant issues of black holes and superconformal mechanics are addressed.Comment: 34 pages, Latex. To be published in the Proceedings of a conference held in Corfu, Greece in September 1998. Improvement in Sec. 3.

Quadratic s-Form Field Actions with Semi-bounded Energy

We give in this paper a partial classification of the consistent quadratic gauge actions that can be written in terms of s-form fields. This provides a starting point to study the uniqueness of the Yang-Mills action as a deformation of Maxwell-like theories. We also show that it is impossible to write kinetic 1-form terms that can be consistently added to other 1-form actions such as tetrad gravity in four space-time dimensions even in the presence of a Minkowskian metric background.Comment: 1+35 papes in (DIN A4 format

Symmetry Principle Preserving and Infinity Free Regularization and renormalization of quantum field theories and the mass gap

Through defining irreducible loop integrals (ILIs), a set of consistency conditions for the regularized (quadratically and logarithmically) divergent ILIs are obtained to maintain the generalized Ward identities of gauge invariance in non-Abelian gauge theories. Overlapping UV divergences are explicitly shown to be factorizable in the ILIs and be harmless via suitable subtractions. A new regularization and renormalization method is presented in the initial space-time dimension of the theory. The procedure respects unitarity and causality. Of interest, the method leads to an infinity free renormalization and meanwhile maintains the symmetry principles of the original theory except the intrinsic mass scale caused conformal scaling symmetry breaking and the anomaly induced symmetry breaking. Quantum field theories (QFTs) regularized through the new method are well defined and governed by a physically meaningful characteristic energy scale (CES) $M_c$ and a physically interesting sliding energy scale (SES) $\mu_s$ which can run from $\mu_s \sim M_c$ to a dynamically generated mass gap $\mu_s=\mu_c$ or to $\mu_s =0$ in the absence of mass gap and infrared (IR) problem. It is strongly indicated that the conformal scaling symmetry and its breaking mechanism play an important role for understanding the mass gap and quark confinement.Comment: 59 pages, Revtex, 4 figures, 1 table, Erratum added, published versio

Unusual identities for QCD at tree-level

We discuss a set of recently discovered quadratic relations between gauge theory amplitudes. Such relations give additional structural simplifications for amplitudes in QCD. Remarkably, their origin lie in an analogous set of relations that involve also gravitons. When certain gluon helicities are flipped we obtain relations that do not involve gravitons, but which refer only to QCD.Comment: Talk given at XIV Mexican School on Particles and Fields, Morelia, Nov. 201