Generalized Symmetries of Massless Free Fields on Minkowski Space
Juha Pohjanpelto, Stephen C. Anco
备注：
This is a contribution to the Proc. of the Seventh International Conference ''Symmetry in Nonlinear Mathematical Physics'' (June 24-30, 2007, Kyiv, Ukraine), published in SIGMA (Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications) at http://www.emis.de/journals/SIGMA/
A complete and explicit classification of generalized, or local, symmetries of massless free fields of spin $s \geq 1/2$ is carried out. Up to equivalence, these are found to consists of the conformal symmetries and their duals, new chiral symmetries of order $2s$, and their higher-order extensions obtained by Lie differentiation with respect to conformal Killing vectors. In particular, the results yield a complete classification of generalized symmetries of the Dirac-Weyl neutrino equation, Maxwell's equations, and the linearized gravity equations.
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Minkowski space is shown to be globally stable as a solution to the Einstein--Vlasov system in the case when all particles have zero mass. The proof proceeds by showing that the matter must be supported in the "wave zone", and then proving a small data semi-global existence result for the characteristic initial value problem for the massless Einstein--Vlasov system in this region. This relies on weighted estimates for the solution which, for the Vlasov part, are obtained by introducing the Sasaki metric on the mass shell and estimating Jacobi fields with respect to this metric by geometric qua…
A Poincaré covariant Lagrange anchor is found for the non-Lagrangian relativistic wave equations of Bargmann and Wigner describing free massless fields of spin $s>1/2$ in four-dimensional Minkowski space. By making use of this Lagrange anchor, we assign a symmetry to each conservation law and perform the path-integral quantization of the theory.
After introducing the parametrized Minkowski theory describing a positive-energy scalar massless particle, we study the rest-frame instant form of dynamics of such a particle in presence of another massive one (to avoid the front form of dynamics). Then we describe massless particles with Grassmann-valued helicity and their quantization.
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We classified in arXiv:2201.04152 certain 10d supergravity solutions with a 4d de Sitter, Minkowski or anti-de Sitter spacetime. We then found new solutions in previously unexplored classes. In this paper we study their properties, compare them to swampland conjectures, and make new observations. Using new numerical tools, we first identify all Lie algebras underlying the 6d group manifolds, allowing us to discuss their compactness. We then investigate scale separation, and prove related no-go theorems. Last but not least, we automatize and analyze the stability of all solutions. This leads us…
We conjecture that (when the notion of Hadamard state is suitably adapted) there is no isometry-invariant Hadamard state for the massive or massless covariant Klein-Gordon equation defined on the region of the Kruskal spacetime to the left of a surface of constant Schwarzschild radius in the right Schwarzschild wedge when Dirichlet boundary conditions are put on that surface. We also prove that, with a suitable definition for 'boost-invariant Hadamard state' (which we call 'strongly boost-invariant globally-Hadamard') which takes into account both the existence of the timelike boundary and the…
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Wigner's little groups are subgroups of the Lorentz group dictating the internal space-time symmetries of massive and massless particles. These little groups are like O(3) and E(2) for massive and massless particles respectively. While the geometry of the O(3) symmetry is familiar to us, the geometry of the flat plane cannot explain the E(2)-like symmetry for massless particles. However, the geometry of a circular cylinder can explain the symmetry with the helicity and gauge degrees of freedom. It is shown further that the symmetry of the massless particle can be obtained as a zero-mass limit …
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BMS symmetries have been attracting a great deal of interest in recent years. Originally discovered as being the symmetries of asymptotically flat spacetime geometries at null infinity in General Relativity, BMS symmetries have also been shown to exist for free field theories over Minkowski spacetime. In wanting to better understand their status and the underlying reasons for their existence, this work proposes a general rationale towards identifying all possible global symmetries of a free field theory over Minkowski spacetime, by allowing the corresponding conserved generators not to be nece…
There are gauge-transformation operators applicable to massless spin-1/2 particles within the little-group framework of internal space-time symmetries of massive and massless particles. It is shown that two of the $SL(2,c)$ spinors are invariant under gauge transformations while the remaining two are not. The Dirac equation contains only the gauge-invariant spinors leading to polarized neutrinos. It is shown that the gauge-dependent $SL(2,c)$ spinor is the origin of the gauge dependence of electromagnetic four-potentials. It is noted also that, for spin-1/2 particles, the symmetry group for ma…
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We clarify the relation between noncommutative spacetimes and multifractional geometries, two quantum-gravity-related approaches where the fundamental description of spacetime is not given by a classical smooth geometry. Despite their different conceptual premises and mathematical formalisms, both research programs allow for the spacetime dimension to vary with the probed scale. This feature and other similarities led to ask whether there is a duality between these two independent proposals. In the absence of curvature and comparing the symmetries of both position and momentum space, we show t…
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Future stability of expanding spatially homogeneous FLRW solutions of the spherically symmetric Einstein--massless Vlasov system with spatial topology $\mathbb{R}^3$
The structure of a cubic Lagrangian vertex is clarified for irreducible fields of helicities $s_1, s_2, s_3$ in a $d$-dimensional Minkowski space. An explicit form of the operator $\mathcal{Z}_j$ entering the vertex in a non-multiplicative way (examined in arXiv:2105.12030[hep-th] for $j=1$) is obtained. The solution is found within the BRST approach with complete BRST operators, which contain all constraints corresponding to the conditions that extract the irreducible fields, including trace operators.
While modern optics is largely a physics of harmonic oscillators and two-by-two matrices, it is possible to learn about some hidden properties of the two-by-two matrix from optical systems. Since two-by-two matrices can be divided into three conjugate classes depending on their traces, optical systems force us to establish continuity from one class to another. It is noted that those three classes are equivalent to three different branches of Wigner's little groups dictating the internal space-time symmetries massive, massless, and imaginary-mass particles. It is shown that the periodic systems…
We extend the recently developed Yangian bootstrap for Feynman integrals to Minkowski space, focusing on the case of the one-loop box integral. The space of Yangian invariants is spanned by the Bloch-Wigner function and its discontinuities. Using only input from symmetries, we constrain the functional form of the box integral in all 64 kinematic regions up to twelve (out of a priori 256) undetermined constants. These need to be fixed by other means. We do this explicitly, employing two alternative methods. This results in a novel compact formula for the box integral valid in all kinematic regi…
In this paper, based on the Fokas, Gel'fand et al approach [15,16], we provide a symmetry characterization of continuous deformations of soliton surfaces immersed in a Lie algebra using the formalism of generalized vector fields, their prolongation structure and links with the Fréchet derivatives. We express the necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of such surfaces in terms of the invariance criterion for generalized symmetries and identify additional sufficient conditions which admit an explicit integration of the immersion functions of 2D surfaces in Lie algebras. We discuss …
We investigate Lie symmetries of the self-dual Yang-Mills equations in four-dimensional Euclidean space (SDYM). The first prolongation of the symmetry generating vector fields is written down, and its action on SDYM computed. Determining equations are then obtained and solved completely. Lie symmetries of SDYM in Euclidean space are in exact correspondence with symmetries of the full Yang-Mills equations in Minkowski space.
