Vertices and the CJT Effective Potential

The Cornwall-Jackiw-Tomboulis effective potential is modified to include a functional dependence on the fermion-gauge particle vertex, and applied to a quark confining model of chiral symmetry breaking.Comment: 10 pages (latex), PURD-TH-93-1

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThe harm caused to a host (virulence) is an important aspect to any pathogenic infection and is influenced by many different factors. Here I seek to understand how three of these factors, host genetic diversity, transmission, and gut microbial diversity, influence the virulence of a murine specific retrovirus, Friend Virus Complex (FVC). Chapter 1 explores the effect of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) diversity on virulence. Using serial passage of FVC, through either MHC similar or MHC dissimilar mice, I show that there is a significant reduction of both fitness and virulence of FVC when a dissimilar genotype is seen than when FVC is passaged through the same genotype; suggesting that MHC diversity is an impediment to virulence evolution. Furthermore, the alternating patterns reemerged after infection with a virus adapted to resistant animals that initially swamped the alternating effect, providing evidence for negative frequency-dependent selection maintaining MHC diversity in host populations. Chapter 2 elucidates the influences natural transmission, sex, and social status have on virulence using wild-derived contact (initially uninfected) and index (initially infected) animals in seminatural enclosures. Male-male transmission is the predominant mode of transmission as minimal female transmission and no vertical transmission was observed. Moreover, natural transmission is an impediment to FVC replication as infected contact animals had lower viral titer and virulence than index animals. Finally, though dominant and nondominant males contract the virus at similar rates and experience similar virulence, nondominant animals have higher titers. Chapter 3 seeks to understand how the microbiome influences pathogen virulence. After antibiotic treatment, animals of two different MHC congenic genotypes were reconstituted with gut microbiota from a donor of their own MHC genotype (native) or from a donor with a different MHC genotype (novel). After challenge with FVC, significantly higher titers were seen in animals receiving novel microbiota than animals receiving native microbiomes. There was only a shift down in total T-lymphocyte number in novel groups as no other cell subsets tested showed a change in abundance. The work presented here allows us to gain a better understanding of how virulence is impacted by a multitude of different forces, and that many different aspects need to be taken into account when trying to determine the evolution of virulence

Center vortices and confinement vs. screening

We study adjoint and fundamental Wilson loops in the center-vortex picture of confinement, for gauge group SU(N) with general N. There are N-1 distinct vortices, whose properties, including collective coordinates and actions, we study. In d=2 we construct a center-vortex model by hand so that it has a smooth large-N limit of fundamental-representation Wilson loops and find, as expected, confinement. Extending an earlier work by the author, we construct the adjoint Wilson-loop potential in this d=2 model for all N, as an expansion in powers of $\rho/M^2$, where $\rho$ is the vortex density per unit area and M is the vortex inverse size, and find, as expected, screening. The leading term of the adjoint potential shows a roughly linear regime followed by string breaking when the potential energy is about 2M. This leading potential is a universal (N-independent at fixed fundamental string tension $K_F$) of the form $(K_F/M)U(MR)$, where R is the spacelike dimension of a rectangular Wilson loop. The linear-regime slope is not necessarily related to $K_F$ by Casimir scaling. We show that in d=2 the dilute vortex model is essentially equivalent to true d=2 QCD, but that this is not so for adjoint representations; arguments to the contrary are based on illegal cumulant expansions which fail to represent the necessary periodicity of the Wilson loop in the vortex flux. Most of our arguments are expected to hold in d=3,4 also.Comment: 29 pages, LaTex, 1 figure. Minor changes; references added; discussion of factorization sharpened. Major conclusions unchange

Center Vortices, Nexuses, and Fractional Topological Charge

It has been remarked in several previous works that the combination of center vortices and nexuses (a nexus is a monopole-like soliton whose world line mediates certain allowed changes of field strengths on vortex surfaces) carry topological charge quantized in units of 1/N for gauge group SU(N). These fractional charges arise from the interpretation of the standard topological charge integral as a sum of (integral) intersection numbers weighted by certain (fractional) traces. We show that without nexuses the sum of intersection numbers gives vanishing topological charge (since vortex surfaces are closed and compact). With nexuses living as world lines on vortices, the contributions to the total intersection number are weighted by different trace factors, and yield a picture of the total topological charge as a linking of a closed nexus world line with a vortex surface; this linking gives rise to a non-vanishing but integral topological charge. This reflects the standard 2\pi periodicity of the theta angle. We argue that the Witten-Veneziano relation, naively violating 2\pi periodicity, scales properly with N at large N without requiring 2\pi N periodicity. This reflects the underlying composition of localized fractional topological charge, which are in general widely separated. Some simple models are given of this behavior. Nexuses lead to non-standard vortex surfaces for all SU(N) and to surfaces which are not manifolds for N>2. We generalize previously-introduced nexuses to all SU(N) in terms of a set of fundamental nexuses, which can be distorted into a configuration resembling the 't Hooft-Polyakov monopole with no strings. The existence of localized but widely-separated fractional topological charges, adding to integers only on long distance scales, has implications for chiral symmetry breakdown.Comment: 15 pages, revtex, 6 .eps figure

Nexus solitons in the center vortex picture of QCD

It is very plausible that confinement in QCD comes from linking of Wilson loops to finite-thickness vortices with magnetic fluxes corresponding to the center of the gauge group. The vortices are solitons of a gauge-invariant QCD action representing the generation of gluon mass. There are a number of other solitonic states of this action. We discuss here what we call nexus solitons, in which for gauge group SU(N), up to N vortices meet a a center, or nexus, provided that the total flux of the vortices adds to zero (mod N). There are fundamentally two kinds of nexuses: Quasi-Abelian, which can be described as composites of Abelian imbedded monopoles, whose Dirac strings are cancelled by the flux condition; and fully non-Abelian, resembling a deformed sphaleron. Analytic solutions are available for the quasi-Abelian case, and we discuss variational estimates of the action of the fully non-Abelian nexus solitons in SU(2). The non-Abelian nexuses carry Chern-Simons number (or topological charge in four dimensions). Their presence does not change the fundamentals of confinement in the center-vortex picture, but they may lead to a modified picture of the QCD vacuum.Comment: LateX, 24 pages, 2 .eps figure

Center Vortices, Nexuses, and the Georgi-Glashow Model

In a gauge theory with no Higgs fields the mechanism for confinement is by center vortices, but in theories with adjoint Higgs fields and generic symmetry breaking, such as the Georgi-Glashow model, Polyakov showed that in d=3 confinement arises via a condensate of 't Hooft-Polyakov monopoles. We study the connection in d=3 between pure-gauge theory and the theory with adjoint Higgs by varying the Higgs VEV v. As one lowers v from the Polyakov semi- classical regime v>>g (g is the gauge coupling) toward zero, where the unbroken theory lies, one encounters effects associated with the unbroken theory at a finite value v\sim g, where dynamical mass generation of a gauge-symmetric gauge- boson mass m\sim g^2 takes place, in addition to the Higgs-generated non-symmetric mass M\sim vg. This dynamical mass generation is forced by the infrared instability (in both 3 and 4 dimensions) of the pure-gauge theory. We construct solitonic configurations of the theory with both m,M non-zero which are generically closed loops consisting of nexuses (a class of soliton recently studied for the pure-gauge theory), each paired with an antinexus, sitting like beads on a string of center vortices with vortex fields always pointing into (out of) a nexus (antinexus); the vortex magnetic fields extend a transverse distance 1/m. An isolated nexus with vortices is continuously deformable from the 't Hooft-Polyakov (m=0) monopole to the pure-gauge nexus-vortex complex (M=0). In the pure-gauge M=0 limit the homotopy $\Pi_2(SU(2)/U(1))=Z_2$ (or its analog for SU(N)) of the 't Hooft monopoles is no longer applicable, and is replaced by the center-vortex homotopy $\Pi_1(SU)N)/Z_N)=Z_N$.Comment: 27 pages, LaTeX, 3 .eps figure

On the center-vortex baryonic area law

We correct an unfortunate error in an earlier work of the author, and show that in center-vortex QCD (gauge group SU(3)) the baryonic area law is the so-called $Y$ law, described by a minimal area with three surfaces spanning the three quark world lines and meeting at a central Steiner line joining the two common meeting points of the world lines. (The earlier claim was that this area law was a so-called $\Delta$ law, involving three extremal areas spanning the three pairs of quark world lines.) We give a preliminary discussion of the extension of these results to $SU(N), N>3$. These results are based on the (correct) baryonic Stokes' theorem given in the earlier work claiming a $\Delta$ law. The $Y$-form area law for SU(3) is in agreement with the most recent lattice calculations.Comment: 5 pages, RevTeX4, 5 .eps figure

Baryon number non-conservation and phase transitions at preheating

Certain inflation models undergo pre-heating, in which inflaton oscillations can drive parametric resonance instabilities. We discuss several phenomena stemming from such instabilities, especially in weak-scale models; generically, these involve energizing a resonant system so that it can evade tunneling by crossing barriers classically. One possibility is a spontaneous change of phase from a lower-energy vacuum state to one of higher energy, as exemplified by an asymmetric double-well potential with different masses in each well. If the lower well is in resonance with oscillations of the potential, a system can be driven resonantly to the upper well and stay there (except for tunneling) if the upper well is not resonant. Another example occurs in hybrid inflation models where the Higgs field is resonant; the Higgs oscillations can be transferred to electroweak (EW) gauge potentials, leading to rapid transitions over sphaleron barriers and consequent B+L violation. Given an appropriate CP-violating seed, we find that preheating can drive a time-varying condensate of Chern-Simons number over large spatial scales; this condensate evolves by oscillation as well as decay into modes with shorter spatial gradients, eventually ending up as a condensate of sphalerons. We study these examples numerically and to some extent analytically. The emphasis in the present paper is on the generic mechanisms, and not on specific preheating models; these will be discussed in a later paper.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures included, revtex, epsf, references adde

Exact Nonperturbative Unitary Amplitudes for 1->N Transitions

I present an extension to arbitrary N of a previously proposed field theoretic model, in which unitary amplitudes for $1->8$ processes were obtained. The Born amplitude in this extension has the behavior $A(1->N)^{tree}\ =\ g^{N-1}\ N!$ expected in a bosonic field theory. Unitarity is violated when $|A(1->N)|>1$, or when $N>\N_crit\simeq e/g.$ Numerical solutions of the coupled Schr\"odinger equations shows that for weak coupling and a large range of N>\ncrit, the exact unitary amplitude is reasonably fit by a factorized expression |A(1->N)| \sim (0.73 /N) \cdot \exp{(-0.025/\g2)}. The very small size of the coefficient 1/\g2 , indicative of a very weak exponential suppression, is not in accord with standard discussions based on saddle point analysis, which give a coefficient $\sim 1.\$ The weak dependence on $N$ could have experimental implications in theories where the exponential suppression is weak (as in this model). Non-perturbative contributions to few-point correlation functions in this theory would arise at order $K\ \simeq\ \left((0.05/\g2)+ 2\ ln{N}\right)/ \ ln{(1/\g2)}$in an expansion in powers of$\g2.$Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures (not included

Behind the success of the quark model

The ground-state three-quark (3Q) potential $V_{\rm 3Q}^{\rm g.s.}$ and the excited-state 3Q potential $V_{\rm 3Q}^{\rm e.s.}$ are studied using SU(3) lattice QCD at the quenched level. For more than 300 patterns of the 3Q systems, the ground-state potential $V_{\rm 3Q}^{\rm g.s.}$ is investigated in detail in lattice QCD with $12^3\times 24$ at $\beta=5.7$ and with $16^3\times 32$ at $\beta=5.8, 6.0$. As a result, the ground-state potential $V_{\rm 3Q}^{\rm g.s.}$ is found to be well described with Y-ansatz within the 1%-level deviation. From the comparison with the Q-$\rm\bar Q$ potential, we find the universality of the string tension as $\sigma_{\rm 3Q}\simeq\sigma_{\rm Q\bar Q}$ and the one-gluon-exchange result as $A_{\rm 3Q}\simeq\frac12 A_{\rm Q\bar Q}$. The excited-state potential $V_{\rm 3Q}^{\rm e.s.}$ is also studied in lattice QCD with $16^3\times 32$ at $\beta=5.8$ for 24 patterns of the 3Q systems.The energy gap between $V_{\rm 3Q}^{\rm g.s.}$ and $V_{\rm 3Q}^{\rm e.s.}$, which physically means the gluonic excitation energy, is found to be about 1GeV in the typical hadronic scale, which is relatively large compared with the excitation energy of the quark origin. This large gluonic excitation energy justifies the great success of the simple quark model.Comment: Talk given at 16th International Conference on Particles and Nuclei (PANIC 02), Osaka, Japan, 30 Sep - 4 Oct 200