BRST QUANTIZATION OF NON-ABELIAN BF TOPOLOGICAL THEORIES

The off-shell nilpotent BRST charge and the BRST invariant effective action for non-abelian BF topological theories over D-dimensional manifolds are explicitly constructed. These theories have the feature of being reducible with exactly D-3 stages of reducibility. The adequate extended phase space including the different levels of ghosts for ghosts is explicitly obtained. Using the structure of the resulting BRST charge we show that for topological BF theories the semi-classical approximation completely describes the quantum theory. The independence of the partition function on the metric also follows from our explicit construction in a straightforward way.Comment: 13 pages, amste

Monopole creation operators as confinement--deconfinement order parameters

We study numerically two versions of the monopole creation operators proposed by Frohlich and Marchetti. The disadvantage of the old version of the monopole creation operator is due to visibility of the Dirac string entering the definition of the creation operator in the theories with coexisting electric and magnetic charges. This problem does not exist for the new creation operator which is rather complicated. Using the Abelian Higgs model with a compact gauge field we show that both definitions of the monopole creation operator can serve as order parameters for the confinement--deconfinement phase transition. The value of the monopole condensate for the old version depends on the length of Dirac string. However, as soon as the length is fixed the old operator certainly discriminates between the phases with condensed and non--condensed monopoles.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, LaTeX2

Exact eigenstate analysis of finite-frequency conductivity in graphene

We employ the exact eigenstate basis formalism to study electrical conductivity in graphene, in the presence of short-range diagonal disorder and inter-valley scattering. We find that for disorder strength, $W \ge$ 5, the density of states is flat. We, then, make connection, using the MRG approach, with the work of Abrahams \textit{et al.} and find a very good agreement for disorder strength, $W$ = 5. For low disorder strength, $W$ = 2, we plot the energy-resolved current matrix elements squared for different locations of the Fermi energy from the band centre. We find that the states close to the band centre are more extended and falls of nearly as $1/E_l^{2}$ as we move away from the band centre. Further studies of current matrix elements versus disorder strength suggests a cross-over from weakly localized to a very weakly localized system. We calculate conductivity using Kubo Greenwood formula and show that, for low disorder strength, conductivity is in a good qualitative agreement with the experiments, even for the on-site disorder. The intensity plots of the eigenstates also reveal clear signatures of puddle formation for very small carrier concentration. We also make comparison with square lattice and find that graphene is more easily localized when subject to disorder.Comment: 11 pages,15 figure

Abelian Magnetic Monopole Dominance in Quark Confinement

We prove Abelian magnetic monopole dominance in the string tension of QCD. Abelian and monopole dominance in low energy physics of QCD has been confirmed for various quantities by recent Monte Carlo simulations of lattice gauge theory. In order to prove this dominance, we use the reformulation of continuum Yang-Mills theory in the maximal Abelian gauge as a deformation of a topological field theory of magnetic monopoles, which was proposed in the previous article by the author. This reformulation provides an efficient way for incorporating the magnetic monopole configuration as a topological non-trivial configuration in the functional integral. We derive a version of the non-Abelian Stokes theorem and use it to estimate the expectation value of the Wilson loop. This clearly exhibits the role played by the magnetic monopole as an origin of the Berry phase in the calculation of the Wilson loop in the manifestly gauge invariant manner. We show that the string tension derived from the diagonal (abelian) Wilson loop in the topological field theory (studied in the previous article) converges to that of the full non-Abelian Wilson loop in the limit of large Wilson loop. Therefore, within the above reformulation of QCD, this result (together with the previous result) completes the proof of quark confinement in QCD based on the criterion of the area law of the full non-Abelian Wilson loop.Comment: 33 pages, Latex, no figures, version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D (additions of sec. 4.5 and references, and minor changes

Scaling Regimes, Crossovers, and Lattice Corrections in 2D Heisenberg Antiferromagnets

We study scaling behavior in 2D, S=1/2 and S=1 Heisenberg antiferromagnets using the data on full q-dependences of the equal time structure factor and the static susceptibility, calculated through high temperature expansions. We also carry out comparisons with a model of two coupled S=1/2 planes with the interlayer coupling tuned to the T=0 critical point. We separately determine the spin-wave velocity c and mass $m=c/\xi$, in addition to the correlation length, $\xi$, and find that c is temperature dependent; only for T\alt JS, it approaches its known T=0 value $c_0$. Despite this temperature dependent spin-wave velocity, full q- and $\omega$-dependences of the dynamical susceptibility $\chi(\bf q,\omega)$ agree with the universal scaling functions computable for the $\sigma$-model, for temperatures upto $T_0 \sim 0.6c_0/a$. Detailed comparisons show that below $T_0$ the S=1 model is in the renormalized classical (RC) regime, the two plane model is in the quantum critical (QC) regime, and the S=1/2 model exhibits a RC-QC crossover, centered at T=0.55J. In particular, for the S=1/2 model above this crossover and for the two-plane model at all T, the spin-wave mass is in excellent agreement with the universal QC prediction, $m\simeq 1.04\,T$. In contrast, for the S=1/2 model below the RC-QC crossover, and for the S=1 model at all T, the behavior agrees with the known RC expression. For all models nonuniversal behavior occurs above $T\sim 0.6c_0/a$. Our results strongly support the conjecture of Chubukov and Sachdev that the S=1/2 model is close to the T=0 critical point to exhibit QC behavior.Comment: 13 pages, REVTeX with attached PostScript (see file for addl info

On the gauge and BRST invariance of the chiral QED with Faddeevian anomaly

Chiral Schwinger model with the Faddeevian anomaly is considered. It is found that imposing a chiral constraint this model can be expressed in terms of chiral boson. The model when expressed in terms of chiral boson remains anomalous and the Gauss law of which gives anomalous Poisson brackets between itself. In spite of that a systematic BRST quantization is possible. The Wess-Zumino term corresponding to this theory appears automatically during the process of quantization. A gauge invariant reformulation of this model is also constructed. Unlike the former one gauge invariance is done here without any extension of phase space. This gauge invariant version maps onto the vector Schwinger model.The gauge invariant version of the chiral Schwinger model for $a=2$ has a massive field with identical mass however gauge invariant version obtained here does not map on to that.Comment: 11 pages latex, no figures, A little change in Title and abstrac

Graphene: new bridge between condensed matter physics and quantum electrodynamics

Graphene is the first example of truly two-dimensional crystals - it's just one layer of carbon atoms. It turns out to be a gapless semiconductor with unique electronic properties resulting from the fact that charge carriers in graphene demonstrate charge-conjugation symmetry between electrons and holes and possess an internal degree of freedom similar to ``chirality'' for ultrarelativistic elementary particles. It provides unexpected bridge between condensed matter physics and quantum electrodynamics (QED). In particular, the relativistic Zitterbewegung leads to the minimum conductivity of order of conductance quantum $e^2/h$ in the limit of zero doping; the concept of Klein paradox (tunneling of relativistic particles) provides an essential insight into electron propagation through potential barriers; vacuum polarization around charge impurities is essential for understanding of high electron mobility in graphene; index theorem explains anomalous quantum Hall effect.Comment: misprints are fixed; to appear in special issue of Solid State Communication

Peierls transition in the presence of finite-frequency phonons in the one-dimensional extended Peierls-Hubbard model at half-filling

We report quantum Monte Carlo (stochastic series expansion) results for the transition from a Mott insulator to a dimerized Peierls insulating state in a half-filled, 1D extended Hubbard model coupled to optical bond phonons. Using electron-electron (e-e) interaction parameters corresponding approximately to polyacetylene, we show that the Mott-Peierls transition occurs at a finite value of the electron-phonon (e-ph) coupling. We discuss several different criteria for detecting the transition and show that they give consistent results. We calculate the critical e-ph coupling as a function of the bare phonon frequency and also investigate the sensitivity of the critical coupling to the strength of the e-e interaction. In the limit of strong e-e couplings, we map the model to a spin-Peierls chain and compare the phase boundary with previous results for the spin-Peierls transition. We point out effects of a nonlinear spin-phonon coupling neglected in the mapping to the spin-Peierls model.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Status of the GAMMA-400 Project

The preliminary design of the new space gamma-ray telescope GAMMA-400 for the energy range 100 MeV - 3 TeV is presented. The angular resolution of the instrument, 1-2{\deg} at E{\gamma} ~100 MeV and ~0.01^{\circ} at E{\gamma} > 100 GeV, its energy resolution ~1% at E{\gamma} > 100 GeV, and the proton rejection factor ~10E6 are optimized to address a broad range of science topics, such as search for signatures of dark matter, studies of Galactic and extragalactic gamma-ray sources, Galactic and extragalactic diffuse emission, gamma-ray bursts, as well as high-precision measurements of spectra of cosmic-ray electrons, positrons, and nuclei.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, 1 table, submitted to Advances in Space Researc

Classical Simulation of Relativistic Quantum Mechanics in Periodic Optical Structures

Spatial and/or temporal propagation of light waves in periodic optical structures offers a rather unique possibility to realize in a purely classical setting the optical analogues of a wide variety of quantum phenomena rooted in relativistic wave equations. In this work a brief overview of a few optical analogues of relativistic quantum phenomena, based on either spatial light transport in engineered photonic lattices or on temporal pulse propagation in Bragg grating structures, is presented. Examples include spatial and temporal photonic analogues of the Zitterbewegung of a relativistic electron, Klein tunneling, vacuum decay and pair-production, the Dirac oscillator, the relativistic Kronig-Penney model, and optical realizations of non-Hermitian extensions of relativistic wave equations.Comment: review article (invited), 14 pages, 7 figures, 105 reference