No Arabic abstract
The quantum Gauss Law as an interacting field equation is a prominent feature of QED with eminent impact on its algebraic and superselection structure. It forces charged particles to be accompanied by photon clouds that cannot be realized in the Fock space, and prevents them from having a sharp mass. Because it entails the possibility of measurement of charges at a distance, it is well-known to be in conflict with locality of charged fields in a Hilbert space. We show how a new approach to QED advocated by the authors, that avoids indefinite metric and ghosts, can secure causality and achieve Gauss Law along with all its nontrivial consequences. We explain why this is not at variance with recent results in a paper by Buchholz et al.
We study string scattering amplitudes by using the deformed cubic string field theory which is equivalent to the string field theory in the proper-time gauge. The four-string scattering amplitudes with three tachyons and an arbitrary string state are calculated. The string field theory yields the string scattering amplitudes evaluated on the world sheet of string scattering whereas the coventional method, based on the first quantized theory brings us the string scattering amplitudes defined on the upper half plane. For the highest spin states, generated by the primary operators, both calculations are in perfect agreement. In this case, the string scattering amplitudes are invariant under the conformal transformation, which maps the string world sheet onto the upper half plane. If the external string states are general massive states, generated by non-primary field operators, we need to take into account carefully the conformal transformation between the world sheet and the upper half plane. We show by an explicit calculation that the string scattering amplitudes calculated by using the deformed cubic string field theory transform into those of the first quantized theory on the upper half plane by the conformal transformation, generated by the Schwarz-Christoffel mapping.
We compute the quantum string entropy S_s(m, H) from the microscopic string density of states rho_s (m,H) of mass m in de Sitter space-time. We find for high m, a {bf new} phase transition at the critical string temperature T_s= (1/2 pi k_B)L c^2/alpha, higher than the flat space (Hagedorn) temperature t_s. (L = c/H, the Hubble constant H acts at the transition as producing a smaller string constant alpha and thus, a higher tension). T_s is the precise quantum dual of the semiclassical (QFT Hawking-Gibbons) de Sitter temperature T_sem = hbar c /(2pi k_B L). We find a new formula for the full de Sitter entropy S_sem (H), as a function of the usual Bekenstein-Hawking entropy S_sem^(0)(H). For L << l_{Planck}, ie. for low H << c/l_Planck, S_{sem}^{(0)}(H) is the leading term, but for high H near c/l_Planck, a new phase transition operates and the whole entropy S_sem (H) is drastically different from the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy S_sem^(0)(H). We compute the string quantum emission cross section by a black hole in de Sitter (or asymptotically de Sitter) space-time (bhdS). For T_sem ~ bhdS << T_s, (early evaporation stage), it shows the QFT Hawking emission with temperature T_sem ~ bhdS, (semiclassical regime). For T_sem ~ bhdS near T_{s}, it exhibits a phase transition into a string de Sitter state of size L_s = l_s^2/L}, l_s= sqrt{hbar alpha/c), and string de Sitter temperature T_s. Instead of featuring a single pole singularity in the temperature (Carlitz transition), it features a square root branch point (de Vega-Sanchez transition). New bounds on the black hole radius r_g emerge in the bhdS string regime: it can become r_g = L_s/2, or it can reach a more quantum value, r_g = 0.365 l_s.
We investigate a class of exactly solvable quantum quench protocols with a finite quench rate in systems of one dimensional non-relativistic fermions in external harmonic oscillator or inverted harmonic oscillator potentials, with time dependent masses and frequencies. These hamiltonians arise, respectively, in harmonic traps, and the $c=1$ Matrix Model description of two dimensional string theory with time dependent string coupling. We show how the dynamics is determined by a single function of time which satisfies a generalized Ermakov-Pinney equation. The quench protocols we consider asymptote to constant masses and frequencies at early times, and cross or approach a gapless potential. In a right side up harmonic oscillator potential we determine the scaling behavior of the one point function and the entanglement entropy of a subregion by obtaining analytic approximations to the exact answers. The results are consistent with Kibble-Zurek scaling for slow quenches and with perturbation calculations for fast quenches. For cis-critical quench protocols the entanglement entropy oscillates at late times around its initial value. For end-critical protocols the entanglement entropy monotonically goes to zero inversely with time, reflecting the spread of fermions over the entire line. For the inverted harmonic oscillator potential, the dual collective field description is a scalar field in a time dependent metric and dilaton background.
Kaluza-Klein compactifications of higher dimensional Yang-Mills theories contain a number of four dimensional scalars corresponding to the internal components of the gauge field. While at tree-level the scalar zero modes are massless, it is well known that quantum corrections make them massive. We compute these radiative corrections at 1-loop in an effective field theory framework, using the background field method and proper Schwinger-time regularization. In order to clarify the proper treatment of the sum over KK--modes in the effective field theory approach, we consider the same problem in two different UV completions of Yang-Mills: string theory and lattice field theory. In both cases, when the compactification radius $R$ is much bigger than the scale of the UV completion ($R gg sqrt{alpha},a$), we recover a mass renormalization that is independent of the UV scale and agrees with the one derived in the effective field theory approach. These results support the idea that the value of the mass corrections is, in this regime, universal for any UV completion that respects locality and gauge invariance. The string analysis suggests that this property holds also at higher loops. The lattice analysis suggests that the mass of the adjoint scalars appearing in $mathcal N=2,4$ Super Yang-Mills is highly suppressed due to an interplay between the higher-dimensional gauge invariance and the degeneracy of bosonic and fermionic degrees of freedom.
In this note, we first explain the equivalence between the interaction Hamiltonian of Green-Schwarz light-cone gauge superstring field theory and the twist field formalism known from matrix string theory. We analyze the role of the large N limit in matrix string theory, in particular in relation with conformal perturbation theory around the orbifold SCFT that reproduces light-cone string perturbation theory. We show how the scaling with N is directly related to measures on the moduli space of Riemann surfaces. The scaling dimension 3 of the Mandelstam vertex as reproduced by the twist field interaction is in this way related to the dimension 3(h-1) of the moduli space. We analyze the structure and scaling of the higher order twist fields that represent the contact terms. We find one relevant twist field at each order. More generally, the structure of string field theory seems more transparent in the twist field formalism. Finally we also investigate the modifications necessary to describe the pp-wave backgrounds in the light-cone gauge and we interpret a diagram from the BMN limit as a stringy diagram involving the contact term.