Quantum electrodynamics in three spacetime dimensions, with one massless fermion species, is studied using a non-perturbative variational approach. Quantization of the theory follows Diracs Hamiltonian procedure, with a gauge invariant factorization
of the physical degrees of freedom. Due to pair condensation in the vacuum state, the symmetry of parity is spontaneously broken. As a consequence, fermionic quasi-particles propagating in the condensate can be identified and are seen to possess a confining dynamical mass, while the propagating physical electromagnetic mode also acquires a non-vanishing dynamical mass. The issues of gauge invariance and confinement of the constituent fermions are carefully discussed.
In the investigation and resolution of the cosmological constant problem the inclusion of the dynamics of quantum gravity can be a crucial step. In this work we suggest that the quantum constraints in a canonical theory of gravity can provide a way o
f addressing the issue: we consider the case of two-dimensional quantum dilaton gravity non-minimally coupled to a U(1) gauge field, in the presence of an arbitrary number of massless scalar matter fields, intended also as an effective description of highly symmetrical higher-dimensional models. We are able to quantize the system non-perturbatively and obtain an expression for the cosmological constant Lambda in terms of the quantum physical states, in a generalization of the usual QFT approach. We discuss the role of the classical and quantum gravitational contributions to Lambda and present a partial spectrum of values for it.
The ordinary Landau problem of a charged particle in a plane subjected to a perpendicular homogeneous and static magnetic field is reconsidered from different points of view. The role of phase space canonical transformations and their relation to a c
hoice of gauge in the solution of the problem is addressed. The Landau problem is then extended to different contexts, in particular the singular situation of a purely linear potential term being added as an interaction, for which a complete purely algebraic solution is presented. This solution is then exploited to solve this same singular Landau problem in the half-plane, with as motivation the potential relevance of such a geometry for quantum Hall measurements in the presence of an electric field or a gravitational quantum well.
The canonical operator quantisation formulation corresponding to the Klauder-Daubechies construction of the phase space path integral is considered. This formulation is explicitly applied and solved in the case of the harmonic oscillator, thereby ill
ustrating in a manner complementary to Klauder and Daubechies original work some of the promising features offered by their construction of a quantum dynamics. The Klauder-Daubechies functional integral involves a regularisation parameter eventually taken to vanish, which defines a new physical time scale. When extrapolated to the field theory context, besides providing a new regularisation of short distance divergences, keeping a finite value for that time scale offers some tantalising prospects when it comes to strong gravitational quantum systems.
Using a regularised construction of the phase space path integral due to Ingrid Daubechies and John Klauder which involves a time scale ultimately taken to vanish, and motivated by the general programme towards a noncommutative space(time) geometry,
physical consequences of assuming this time parameter to provide rather a new fundamental time scale are explored in the context of the one dimensional harmonic oscillator. Some tantalising results are achieved, which raise intriguing prospects when extrapolated to the quantum field theory and gravitational contexts.
In this paper the two dimensional abelian Higgs model is revisited. We show that in the physical sector, the solutions to the Euler-Lagrange equations include solitons.
In this paper the two dimensional Abelian Higgs model is revisited. We show that in the physical sector, this model describes the coupling of the electric field to the radial part, in field space, of the complex scalar field.
We consider, in a superspace, new operator dependent noncommutative (NC) geometries of the nonlinear quantum Hall limit related to classes of f-deformed Landau operators in the spherical harmonic well. Different NC coordinate algebras are determined
using unitary representation spaces of Fock-Heisenberg tensored algebras and of the Schwinger-Fock realisation of the su(1,1) Lie algebra. A reduced model allowing an underlying N=2 superalgebra is also discussed.
In order to assess possible observable effects of noncommutativity in deformations of quantum mechanics, all irreducible representations of the noncommutative Heisenberg algebra and Weyl-Heisenberg group on the two-torus are constructed. This analysi
s extends the well known situation for the noncommutative torus based on the algebra of the noncommuting position operators only. When considering the dynamics of a free particle for any of the identified representations, no observable effect of noncommutativity is implied.
There exists a well-known duality between the Maxwell-Chern-Simons theory and the self-dual massive model in 2+1 dimensions. This dual description has been extended to topologically massive gauge theories (TMGT) in any dimension. This Letter introduc
es an unconventional approach to the construction of this type of duality through a reparametrisation of the master theory action. The dual action thereby obtained preserves the same gauge symmetry structure as the original theory. Furthermore, the dual action is factorised into a propagating sector of massive gauge invariant variables and a sector with gauge variant variables defining a pure topological field theory. Combining results obtained within the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations, a new completed structure for a gauge invariant dual factorisation of TMGT is thus achieved.
