In this paper we study the phenomenon of UV/IR mixing in noncommutative field theories from the point of view of world-sheet open-closed duality in string theory. New infrared divergences in noncommutative field theories arise as a result of integrating over high momentum modes in the loops. These are believed to come from integrating out additional bulk closed string modes. We analyse this issue in detail for the bosonic theory and further for the supersymmetric theory on the $C^2/Z_2$ orbifold. We elucidate on the exact role played by the constant background $B$-field in this correspondence.
Using path integral method (Fujikawas method) we calculate anomalies in noncommutative gauge theories with fermions in the bi-fundamental and adjoint representations. We find that axial and chiral gauge anomalies coming from non-planar contributions are derived in the low noncommutative momentum limit $widetilde{p}^{mu}(equiv theta^{mu u}p_{ u}) to 0$. The adjoint chiral fermion carries no anomaly in the non-planar sector in $D=4k (k=1,2,...,)$ dimensions. It is naturally shown from the path integral method that anomalies in non-planar sector originate in UV/IR mixing.
In the absence of gauge fields, quantum field theories on the Groenewold-Moyal (GM) plane are invariant under a twisted action of the Poincare group if they are formulated following [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. In that formulation, such theories also have no UV-IR mixing [7]. Here we investigate UV-IR mixing in gauge theories with matter following the approach of [3, 4]. We prove that there is UV-IR mixing in the one-loop diagram of the S-matrix involving a coupling between gauge and matter fields on the GM plane, the gauge field being nonabelian. There is no UV-IR mixing if it is abelian.
UV/IR mixing is one of the most important features of noncommutative field theories. As a consequence of this coupling of the UV and IR sectors, the configuration of fields at the zero momentum limit in these theories is a very singular configuration. We show that the renormalization conditions set at a particular momentum configuration with a fixed number of zero momenta, renormalizes the Greens functions for any general momenta only when this configuration has same set of zero momenta. Therefore only when renormalization conditions are set at a point where all the external momenta are nonzero, the quantum theory is renormalizable for all values of nonzero momentum. This arises as a result of different scaling behaviors of Greens functions with respect to the UV cutoff ($Lambda$) for configurations containing different set of zero momenta. We study this in the noncommutative $phi^4$ theory and analyse similar results for the Gross-Neveu model at one loop level. We next show this general feature using Wilsonian RG of Polchinski in the globally O(N) symmetric scalar theory and prove the renormalizability of the theory to all orders with an infrared cutoff. In the context of spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) in noncommutative scalar theory, it is essential to note the different scaling behaviors of Greens functions with respect to $Lambda$ for different set of zero momenta configurations. We show that in the broken phase of the theory the Ward identities are satisfied to all orders only when one keeps an infrared regulator by shifting to a nonconstant vacuum.
We study closed string exchanges in background $B$-field. By analysing the two point one loop amplitude in bosonic string theory, we show that tree-level exchange of lowest lying, tachyonic and massless closed string modes, have IR singularities similar to those of the nonplanar sector in noncommutative gauge theories. We further isolate the contributions from each of the massless modes. We interpret these results as the manifestation of open/closed string duality, where the IR behaviour of the boundary noncommutative gauge theory is reconstructed from the bulk theory of closed strings.
It was shown in [hep-th/0503009], in the context of bosonic theory that the IR singular terms that arise as a result of integrating out high momentum modes in nonplanar diagrams of noncommutative gauge theory can be recovered from low lying tree-level closed string exchanges. This follows as a natural consequence of world-sheet open-closed string duality. Here using the same setup we study the phenomenon for noncommutative ${cal N}=2$ gauge theory realised on a $D_3$ fractional brane localised at the fixed point of $C^2/Z_2$. The IR singularities from the massless closed string exchanges are exactly equal to those coming from one-loop gauge theory. This is as a result of cancellation of all contributions from the massive modes.