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Register a new userBackground potentials and superselection sectors
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Authors
Ezio Vasselli
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The basic aspects of the Aharonov-Bohm effect can be summarized by the remark that wavefunctions become sections of a line bundle with a flat connection (that is, a flat potential). Passing at the level of quantum field theory in curved spacetimes, we study the Dirac field interacting with a classical (background) flat potential and show that it can be interpreted as a topological sector of the observable net of free Dirac field. On the converse, starting from a topological sector we reconstruct a classical flat potential, interpreted as an interaction of a Dirac field. This leads to a description of Aharonov-Bohm-type effects in terms of localized observables.
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We show that the Aharonov-Bohm effect finds a natural description in the setting of QFT on curved spacetimes in terms of superselection sectors of local observables. The extension of the analysis of superselection sectors from Minkowski spacetime to an arbitrary globally hyperbolic spacetime unveils the presence of a new quantum number labeling charged superselection sectors. In the present paper we show that this topological quantum number amounts to the presence of a background flat potential which rules the behaviour of charges when transported along paths as in the Aharonov-Bohm effect. To confirm these abstract results we quantize the Dirac field in presence of a background flat potential and show that the Aharonov-Bohm phase gives an irreducible representation of the fundamental group of the spacetime labeling the charged sectors of the Dirac field. We also show that non-Abelian generalizations of this effect are possible only on space-times with a non-Abelian fundamental group.
In which is developed a new form of superselection sectors of topological origin. By that it is meant a new investigation that includes several extensions of the traditional framework of Doplicher, Haag and Roberts in local quantum theories. At first we generalize the notion of representations of nets of C*-algebras, then we provide a brand new view on selection criteria by adopting one with a strong topological flavour. We prove that it is coherent with the older point of view, hence a clue to a genuine extension. In this light, we extend Roberts cohomological analysis to the case where 1--cocycles bear non trivial unitary representations of the fundamental group of the spacetime, equivalently of its Cauchy surface in case of global hyperbolicity. A crucial tool is a notion of group von Neumann algebras generated by the 1-cocycles evaluated on loops over fixed regions. One proves that these group von Neumann algebras are localized at the bounded region where loops start and end and to be factorial of finite type I. All that amounts to a new invariant, in a topological sense, which can be defined as the dimension of the factor. We prove that any 1-cocycle can be factorized into a part that contains only the charge content and another where only the topological information is stored. This second part resembles much what in literature are known as geometric phases. Indeed, by the very geometrical origin of the 1-cocycles that we discuss in the paper, they are essential tools in the theory of net bundles, and the topological part is related to their holonomy content. At the end we prove the existence of net representations.
We study sharply localized sectors, known as sectors of DHR-type, of a net of local observables, in arbitrary globally hyperbolic spacetimes with dimension $geq 3$. We show that these sectors define, has it happens in Minkowski space, a $mathrm{C}^*-$category in which the charge structure manifests itself by the existence of a tensor product, a permutation symmetry and a conjugation. The mathematical framework is that of the net-cohomology of posets according to J.E. Roberts. The net of local observables is indexed by a poset formed by a basis for the topology of the spacetime ordered under inclusion. The category of sectors, is equivalent to the category of 1-cocycles of the poset with values in the net. We succeed to analyze the structure of this category because we show how topological properties of the spacetime are encoded in the poset used as index set: the first homotopy group of a poset is introduced and it is shown that the fundamental group of the poset and the one of the underlying spacetime are isomorphic; any 1-cocycle defines a unitary representation of these fundamental groups. Another important result is the invariance of the net-cohomology under a suitable change of index set of the net.
We review recent progress in operator algebraic approach to conformal quantum field theory. Our emphasis is on use of representation theory in classification theory. This is based on a series of joint works with R. Longo.
Complete description of the singular sectors of the 1-layer Benney system (classical long wave equation) and dToda system is presented. Associated Euler-Poisson-Darboux equations E(1/2,1/2) and E(-1/2,-1/2) are the main tool in the analysis. A complete list of solutions of the 1-layer Benney system depending on two parameters and belonging to the singular sector is given. Relation between Euler-Poisson-Darboux equations E(a,a) with opposite sign of a is discussed.
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