Weak associativity and deformation quantization

Non-commutativity and non-associativity are quite natural in string theory. For open strings it appear due to the presence of non-vanishing background two-form in the world volume of Dirichlet brane, while in closed string theory the flux compactifications with non-vanishing three-form also lead to non-geometric backgrounds. In this paper, working in the framework of deformation quantization, we study the violation of associativity imposing the condition that the associator of three elements should vanish whenever each two of them are equal. The corresponding star products are called alternative and satisfy an important for physical applications properties like the Moufang identities, alternative identities, Artin's theorem, etc. The condition of alternativity is invariant under the gauge transformations, just like it happens in the associative case. The price to pay is the restriction on the non-associative algebra which can be represented by the alternative star product, it should satisfy the Malcev identity. The example of nontrivial Malcev algebra is the algebra of imaginary octonions. For this case we construct an explicit expression of the non-associative and alternative star product. We also discuss the quantization of Malcev-Poisson algebras of general form, study its properties and provide the lower order expression for the alternative star product. To conclude we define the integration on the algebra of the alternative star products and show that the integrated associator vanishes.Comment: 24 pages, V2, examples corrected, discussion extended, refferences adde

Non-commutative deformation of Chern-Simons theory

The problem of the consistent definition of gauge theories living on the non-commutative (NC) spaces with a non-constant NC parameter $\Theta(x)$ is discussed. Working in the L$_\infty$ formalism we specify the undeformed theory, $3$d abelian Chern-Simons, by setting the initial $\ell_1$ brackets. The deformation is introduced by assigning the star commutator to the $\ell_2$ bracket. For this initial set up we construct the corresponding L$_\infty$ structure which defines both the NC deformation of the abelian gauge transformations and the field equations covariant under these transformations. To compensate the violation of the Leibniz rule one needs the higher brackets which are proportional to the derivatives of $\Theta$. Proceeding in the slowly varying field approximation when the star commutator is approximated by the Poisson bracket we derive the recurrence relations for the definition of these brackets for arbitrary $\Theta$. For the particular case of $su(2)$-like NC space we obtain an explicit all orders formulas for both NC gauge transformations and NC deformation of Chern-Simons equations. The latter are non-Lagrangian and are satisfied if the NC field strength vanishes everywhere.Comment: 33 pages, published version, exposition improved, new material regarding the definition of the non-commutative field strength and the treatment of the non-commutativity of general form adde

Dirac equation on coordinate dependent noncommutative space-time

We consider the consistent deformation of the relativistic quantum mechanics introducing the noncommutativity of the space-time and preserving the Lorentz symmetry. The relativistic wave equation describing the spinning particle on coordinate dependent noncommutative space-time (noncommutative Dirac equation) is proposed. The fundamental properties of this equation, like the Lorentz covariance and the continuity equation for the probability density are verified. To this end using the properties of the star product we derive the corresponding probability current density and prove its conservation. The energy-momentum tensor for the free noncommutative spinor field is calculated. We solve the free noncommutative Dirac equation and show that the standard energy-momentum dispersion relation remains valid in the noncommutative case.Comment: Published versio

Strongly anharmonic current-phase relation in ballistic graphene Josephson junctions

Motivated by a recent experiment directly measuring the current-phase relation (CPR) in graphene under the influence of a superconducting proximity effect, we here study the temperature dependence of the CPR in ballistic graphene SNS Josephson junctions within the the self-consistent tight-binding Bogoliubov-de Gennes (BdG) formalism. By comparing these results with the standard Dirac-BdG method, where rigid boundary conditions are assumed at the SN interfaces, we show on a crucial importance of both proximity effect and depairing by current for the CPR. The proximity effect grows with temperature and reduces the skewness of the CPR towards the harmonic result. In short junctions ($L<\xi$) current depairing is also important and gives rise to a critical phase $\phi_c<\pi/2$ over a wide range of temperatures and doping levels.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures. v2 contains very minor change

Position-dependent noncommutativity in quantum mechanics

The model of the position-dependent noncommutativety in quantum mechanics is proposed. We start with a given commutation relations between the operators of coordinates [x^{i},x^{j}]=\omega^{ij}(x), and construct the complete algebra of commutation relations, including the operators of momenta. The constructed algebra is a deformation of a standard Heisenberg algebra and obey the Jacobi identity. The key point of our construction is a proposed first-order Lagrangian, which after quantization reproduces the desired commutation relations. Also we study the possibility to localize the noncommutativety.Comment: published version, references adde