No Arabic abstract
We propose an explicit construction of the deformation quantization of the general second-class constrained system, which is covariant with respect to local coordinates on the phase space. The approach is based on constructing the effective first-class constraint (gauge) system equivalent to the original second-class one and can also be understood as a far-going generalization of the Fedosov quantization. The effective gauge system is quantized by the BFV-BRST procedure. The star product for the Dirac bracket is explicitly constructed as the quantum multiplication of BRST observables. We introduce and explicitly construct a Dirac bracket counterpart of the symplectic connection, called the Dirac connection. We identify a particular star product associated with the Dirac connection for which the constraints are in the center of the respective star-commutator algebra. It is shown that when reduced to the constraint surface, this star product is a Fedosov star product on the constraint surface considered as a symplectic manifold.
A general method of the BRST--anti-BRST symmetric conversion of second-class constraints is presented. It yields a pair of commuting and nilpotent BRST-type charges that can be naturally regarded as BRST and anti-BRST ones. Interchanging the BRST and anti-BRST generators corresponds to a symmetry between the original second-class constraints and the conversion variables, which enter the formalism on equal footing.
The choice of a star product realization for noncommutative field theory can be regarded as a gauge choice in the space of all equivalent star products. With the goal of having a gauge invariant treatment, we develop tools, such as integration measures and covariant derivatives on this space. The covariant derivative can be expressed in terms of connections in the usual way giving rise to new degrees of freedom for noncommutative theories.
Gauge-invariant systems in unconstrained configuration and phase spaces, equivalent to second-class constraints systems upon a gauge-fixing, are discussed. A mathematical pendulum on an $n-1$-dimensional sphere $S^{n-1}$ as an example of a mechanical second-class constraints system and the O(n) non-linear sigma model as an example of a field theory under second-class constraints are discussed in details and quantized using the existence of underlying dilatation gauge symmetry and by solving the constraint equations explicitly. The underlying gauge symmetries involve, in general, velocity dependent gauge transformations and new auxiliary variables in extended configuration space. Systems under second-class holonomic constraints have gauge-invariant counterparts within original configuration and phase spaces. The Diracs supplementary conditions for wave functions of first-class constraints systems are formulated in terms of the Wigner functions which admit, as we show, a broad set of physically equivalent supplementary conditions. Their concrete form depends on the manner the Wigner functions are extrapolated from the constraint submanifolds into the whole phase space.
We present a local setup for the recently introduced BRST-invariant formulation of Yang-Mills theories for linear covariant gauges that takes into account the existence of gauge copies `a la Gribov and Zwanziger. Through the convenient use of auxiliary fields, including one of the Stueckelberg type, it is shown that both the action and the associated nilpotent BRST operator can be put in local form. Direct consequences of this fully local and BRST-symmetric framework are drawn from its Ward identities: (i) an exact prediction for the longitudinal part of the gluon propagator in linear covariant gauges that is compatible with recent lattice results and (ii) a proof of the gauge-parameter independence of all correlation functions of local BRST-invariant operators.
We obtain the higher spin tractor equations of motion conjectured by Gover et al. from a BRST approach and use those methods to prove that they describe massive, partially massless and massless higher spins in conformally flat backgrounds. The tractor description makes invariance under local choices of unit system manifest. In this approach, physical systems are described by conformal, rather than (pseudo-)Riemannian geometry. In particular masses become geometric quantities, namely the weights of tractor fields. Massive systems can therefore be handled in a unified and simple manner mimicking the gauge principle usually employed for massless models. From a holographic viewpoint, these models describe both the bulk and boundary theories in terms of conformal geometry. This is an important advance, because tying the boundary conformal structure to that of the bulk theory gives greater control over a bulk--boundary correspondence.