Wilson Loop and the Treatment of Axial Gauge Poles

We consider the question of gauge invariance of the Wilson loop in the light of a new treatment of axial gauge propagator proposed recently based on a finite field-dependent BRS (FFBRS) transformation. We remark that as under the FFBRS transformation the vacuum expectation value of a gauge invariant observable remains unchanged, our prescription automatically satisfies the Wilson loop criterion. Further, we give an argument for {\it direct} verification of the invariance of Wilson loop to O(g^4) using the earlier work by Cheng and Tsai. We also note that our prescription preserves the thermal Wilson loop to O(g^2).Comment: 8 pages, LaTex; some typos related to equation (18) correcte

Correct Treatment of 1/(\eta\cdot k)^p Singularities in the Axial Gauge Propagator

The propagators in axial-type, light-cone and planar gauges contain 1/(\eta\cdot k)^p-type singularities. These singularities have generally been treated by inventing prescriptions for them. In this work, we propose an alternative procedure for treating these singularities in the path integral formalism using the known way of treating the singularities in Lorentz gauges. To this end, we use a finite field-dependent BRS transformation that interpolates between Lorentz-type and the axial-type gauges. We arrive at the $\epsilon$-dependent tree propagator in the axial-type gauges. We examine the singularity structure of the propagator and find that the axial gauge propagator so constructed has {\it no} spurious poles (for real $k$). It however has a complicated structure in a small region near $\eta\cdot k=0$. We show how this complicated structure can effectively be replaced by a much simpler propagator.Comment: 34 pages, LaTex, 2 ps figures; some comments on Wilson loop and two references added; (this) revised version to appear in Int.J.Mod.Phys.

Gauge-Independent Off-Shell Fermion Self-Energies at Two Loops: The Cases of QED and QCD

We use the pinch technique formalism to construct the gauge-independent off-shell two-loop fermion self-energy, both for Abelian (QED) and non-Abelian (QCD) gauge theories. The new key observation is that all contributions originating from the longitudinal parts of gauge boson propagators, by virtue of the elementary tree-level Ward identities they trigger, give rise to effective vertices, which do not exist in the original Lagrangian; all such vertices cancel diagrammatically inside physical quantities, such as current correlation functions or S-matrix elements. We present two different, but complementary derivations: First, we explicitly track down the aforementioned cancellations inside two-loop diagrams, resorting to nothing more than basic algebraic manipulations. Second, we present an absorptive derivation, exploiting the unitarity of the S-matrix, and the Ward identities imposed on tree-level and one-loop physical amplitudes by gauge invariance, in the case of QED, or by the underlying Becchi-Rouet-Stora symmetry, in the case of QCD. The propagator-like sub-amplitude defined by means of this latter construction corresponds precisely to the imaginary parts of the effective self-energy obtained in the former case; the real part may be obtained from a (twice subtracted) dispersion relation. As in the one-loop case, the final two-loop fermion self-energy constructed using either method coincides with the conventional fermion self-energy computed in the Feynman gauge.Comment: 30 pages; uses axodraw (axodraw.sty included in the src); final version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Similarity Renormalization, Hamiltonian Flow Equations, and Dyson's Intermediate Representation

A general framework is presented for the renormalization of Hamiltonians via a similarity transformation. Divergences in the similarity flow equations may be handled with dimensional regularization in this approach, and the resulting effective Hamiltonian is finite since states well-separated in energy are uncoupled. Specific schemes developed several years ago by Glazek and Wilson and contemporaneously by Wegner correspond to particular choices within this framework, and the relative merits of such choices are discussed from this vantage point. It is shown that a scheme for the transformation of Hamiltonians introduced by Dyson in the early 1950's also corresponds to a particular choice within the similarity renormalization framework, and it is argued that Dyson's scheme is preferable to the others for ease of computation. As an example, it is shown how a logarithmically confining potential arises simply at second order in light-front QCD within Dyson's scheme, a result found previously for other similarity renormalization schemes. Steps toward higher order and nonperturbative calculations are outlined. In particular, a set of equations analogous to Dyson-Schwinger equations is developed.Comment: REVTex, 32 pages, 7 figures (corrected references

More on the relation between the two physically inequivalent decompositions of the nucleon spin and momentum

In a series of papers, we have established the existence of two gauge-invariant decompositions of the nucleon spin, which are physically nonequivalent. The orbital angular momenta of quarks and gluons appearing in these two decompositions are gauge-invariant dynamical orbital angular momenta and "generalized" canonical orbital angular momenta with gauge-invariance, respectively. The key quantity, which characterizes the difference between these two types of orbital angular momenta is what-we-call the {\it potential angular momentum}. We argue that the physical meaning of the potential angular momentum in the nucleon can be made more transparent, by investigating a related but much simpler example from electrodynamics. We also make clear several remaining issues in the spin and momentum decomposition problem of the nucleon. We clarify the relationship between the evolution equations of orbital angular momenta corresponding to the two different decompositions above. We also try to answer the question whether the two different decompositions of the nucleon momentum really lead to different evolution equations, thereby predicting conflicting asymptotic values for the quark and gluon momentum fractions in the nucleon.Comment: The version to appear in Physical Review D, LaTeX, 47 pages, 4 figure

Two-Dimensional QCD in the Wu-Mandelstam-Leibbrandt Prescription

We find the exact non-perturbative expression for a simple Wilson loop of arbitrary shape for U(N) and SU(N) Euclidean or Minkowskian two-dimensional Yang-Mills theory regulated by the Wu-Mandelstam-Leibbrandt gauge prescription. The result differs from the standard pure exponential area-law of YM_2, but still exhibits confinement as well as invariance under area-preserving diffeomorphisms and generalized axial gauge transformations. We show that the large N limit is NOT a good approximation to the model at finite N and conclude that Wu's N=infinity Bethe-Salpeter equation for QCD_2 should have no bound state solutions. The main significance of our results derives from the importance of the Wu-Mandelstam-Leibbrandt prescription in higher-dimensional perturbative gauge theory.Comment: 7 pages, LaTeX, REVTE

Staggered fermions and chiral symmetry breaking in transverse lattice regulated QED

Staggered fermions are constructed for the transverse lattice regularization scheme. The weak perturbation theory of transverse lattice non-compact QED is developed in light-cone gauge, and we argue that for fixed lattice spacing this theory is ultraviolet finite, order by order in perturbation theory. However, by calculating the anomalous scaling dimension of the link fields, we find that the interaction Hamiltonian becomes non-renormalizable for $g^2(a) > 4\pi$, where $g(a)$ is the bare (lattice) QED coupling constant. We conjecture that this is the critical point of the chiral symmetry breaking phase transition in QED. Non-perturbative chiral symmetry breaking is then studied in the strong coupling limit. The discrete remnant of chiral symmetry that remains on the lattice is spontaneously broken, and the ground state to lowest order in the strong coupling expansion corresponds to the classical ground state of the two-dimensional spin one-half Heisenberg antiferromagnet.Comment: 30 pages, UFIFT-HEP-92-1

QED3 theory of pairing pseudogap in cuprates: From d-wave superconductor to antiferromagnet via "algebraic" Fermi liquid

High-$T_c$ cuprates differ from conventional superconductors in three crucial aspects: the superconducting state descends from a strongly correlated Mott-Hubbard insulator, the order parameter exhibits d-wave symmetry and superconducting fluctuations play an all important role. We formulate a theory of the pseudogap state in the cuprates by taking the advantage of these unusual features. The effective low energy theory within the pseudogap phase is shown to be equivalent to the (anisotropic) quantum electrodynamics in (2+1) space-time dimensions (QED$_3$). The role of Dirac fermions is played by the nodal BdG quasiparticles while the massless gauge field arises through unbinding of quantum vortex-antivortex degrees of freedom. A detailed derivation of this QED$_3$ theory is given and some of its main physical consequences are inferred for the pseudogap state. We focus on the properties of symmetric QED$_3$ and propose that inside the pairing protectorate it assumes the role reminiscent of that played by the Fermi liquid theory in conventional metals.Comment: 31 pages, 4 figures; replaced with revised versio

One-Loop Divergences in Simple Supergravity: Boundary Effects

This paper studies the semiclassical approximation of simple supergravity in Riemannian four-manifolds with boundary, within the framework of $\zeta$-function regularization. The massless nature of gravitinos, jointly with the presence of a boundary and a local description in terms of potentials for spin ${3\over 2}$, force the background to be totally flat. First, nonlocal boundary conditions of the spectral type are imposed on spin-${3\over 2}$ potentials, jointly with boundary conditions on metric perturbations which are completely invariant under infinitesimal diffeomorphisms. The axial gauge-averaging functional is used, which is then sufficient to ensure self-adjointness. One thus finds that the contributions of ghost and gauge modes vanish separately. Hence the contributions to the one-loop wave function of the universe reduce to those $\zeta(0)$ values resulting from physical modes only. Another set of mixed boundary conditions, motivated instead by local supersymmetry and first proposed by Luckock, Moss and Poletti, is also analyzed. In this case the contributions of gauge and ghost modes do not cancel each other. Both sets of boundary conditions lead to a nonvanishing $\zeta(0)$ value, and spectral boundary conditions are also studied when two concentric three-sphere boundaries occur. These results seem to point out that simple supergravity is not even one-loop finite in the presence of boundaries.Comment: 37 pages, Revtex. Equations (5.2), (5.3), (5.5), (5.7), (5.8) and (5.13) have been amended, jointly with a few misprint

Semiclassical Equations for Weakly Inhomogeneous Cosmologies

The in-in effective action formalism is used to derive the semiclassical correction to Einstein's equations due to a massless scalar quantum field conformally coupled to small gravitational perturbations in spatially flat cosmological models. The vacuum expectation value of the stress tensor of the quantum field is directly derived from the renormalized in-in effective action. The usual in-out effective action is also discussed and it is used to compute the probability of particle creation. As one application, the stress tensor of a scalar field around a static cosmic string is derived and the backreaction effect on the gravitational field of the string is discussed.Comment: 35 pages, UAB-FT 316, Latex (uses a4wide.sty, a4.sty included in the file)(replaced due to tex problems