We consider a relativistic effective field theory of vector boson whose vacuum exhibits spontaneous breaking of Lorentz invariance. We argue that a simple model of this type, considered recently by Kraus and Tomboulis, is obstructed from having a consistent ultraviolet completion according to the diagnostic recently suggested by Adams, Arkani-Hamed, Dubovsky, Nicolis, and Rattazzi.
We utilize Coleman's theorem and show that quantum chromodynamics based on asymptotic freedom and confinement must have chiral symmetry realized as a spontaneously broken symmetry.
Conformal Field Theories (CFTs) have rich dynamics in heavy states. We describe the constraints due to spontaneously broken boost and dilatation symmetries in such states. The spontaneously broken boost symmetries require the existence of new low-lying primaries whose scaling dimension gap, we argue, scales as $O(1)$. We demonstrate these ideas in various states, including fluid, superfluid, mean field theory, and Fermi surface states. We end with some remarks about the large charge limit in 2d and discuss a theory of a single compact boson with an arbitrary conformal anomaly.
It was suggested by Sugimoto that there is a new supersymmetry breaking mechanism by an orientifold plane which is oppositely charged as the usual one. Here we prove the trace formula for this system to show that the supersymmetry is broken not explicitly but spontaneously. We also discuss the possibility of interpreting the orientifold plane as an intrinsic object of the superstring theory.
The Narain lattice construction of string compactifications is generalized to include spontaneously broken supersymmetry. Consistency conditions from modular invariance and Lorentz symmetry are solved in full generality. This framework incorporates models where supersymmetry breaking is inversely proportional to the radii of compact dimensions. The enhanced lattice description, however, might allow for models with a different geometrical or even non-geometrical interpretation.
A generalization of the Akulov-Volkov effective Lagrangian governing the self interactions of the Nambu-Goldstone fermions associated with spontaneously broken extended supersymmetry as well as their coupling to matter is presented and scrutinized. The resulting currents associated with R-symmetry, supersymmetry and space-time translations are constructed and seen to form a supermultiplet structure.
The proof given in the paper was incomplete due to an omission in the proof of Lemma 2. A corrected and improved version of the paper is in arXiv:0902.2486.
By using zero-norm states in the spectrum, we explicitly demonstrate the existence of an infinite number of high energy symmetry structures of the closed bosonic string theory. Each symmetry transformation (except those generated by massless zero-norm states) relates infinite particles with different masses, thus they are broken spontaneously at the Planck scale as previously conjectured by Gross and Evans and Ovrut. As an application, the results of Das and Sathiapalan which claim that sigma-midel is nonperturbatively nonrenormalizable are reproduced from a stringy symmetry argument point of …
Noncommutative geometry(NCG) on the discrete space successfully reproduces the Higgs mechanism of the spontaneously broken gauge theory, in which the Higgs boson field is regarded as a kind of gauge field on the discrete space. We could construct the generalized differential geometry(GDG) on the discrete space $M_4\times Z_N$ which is very close to NCG in case of $M_4\times Z_2$. GDG is a direct generalization of the differential geometry on the ordinary manifold into the discrete one. In this paper, we attempt to construct the BRST invariant formulation of spontaneously broken gauge theory ba…
Gauge fixing and the observable fields for both abelian and non-abelian gauge theories with spontaneous breaking of gauge symmetry are studied. We explicitly show that it is possible to globally fix the gauge in the broken sector and hence construct physical fields even in the non-abelian theory. We predict that any high temperature restoration of gauge symmetry will be accompanied by a confining transition.
We argue that orientable open string theory without GSO projection has N=2 space-time supersymmetry in a spontaneously broken phase. The arguments are presented both in Neveu-Schwarz-Ramond and Green-Schwarz formulations. The formal but explicit supersymmetry transformation law for string field is given in the framework of Witten's open string field theory. Our results support a fundamental assumption which lies behind the topological construction of stable D-branes starting from the unstable systems of D9-branes.
We present a Z_2 x Z_2 four dimensional orientifold in which supersymmetry is broken by a temperature-like Scherk-Schwarz mechanism. As usual in this type of models, at the tree-level the breaking affects only the branes tangent to the direction involved by the SS deformation, and it can propagate only through radiative corrections to other sectors, where the gauge group is broken. The result is a non-chiral model with gauge group Usp(16)^2 x Usp(8)^4.
The Galilei group involves mass as a central charge. We show that the associated superselection rule is incompatible with the observed phenomenology of superfluid helium 4: this is recovered only under the assumption that mass is spontaneously broken. This remark is somewhat immaterial for the real world, where the correct space-time symmetries are encoded by the Poincaré group, which has no central charge. Yet it provides an explicit example of how superselection rules can be experimentally tested. We elaborate on what conditions must be met for our ideas to be generalizable to the relativist…
We first review the representations of the six-dimensional (2,0) superalgebra on a free tensor multiplet and on a free string. We then construct a supersymmetric Lagrangian describing a free tensor multiplet. (It also includes a decoupled anti self-dual part of the three-form field strength.) This field theory is then rewritten in variables appropriate for analyzing a situation where the R-symmetry is spontaneously broken by the vacuum expectation values of the scalar moduli fields. Finally, we construct a supersymmetric and kappa-symmetric action for a free string.
We quantize the spontaneously broken abelian U(1) Higgs model by using the improved BFT and BFV formalisms. We have constructed the BFT physical fields, and obtain the first class observables including the Hamiltonian in terms of these fields. We have also explicitly shown that there are exact form invariances between the second class and first class quantities. Then, according to the BFV formalism, we have derived the corresponding Lagrangian having U(1) gauge symmetry. We also discuss at the classical level how one easily gets the first class Lagrangian from the symmetry-broken second class …
I review recent work on computing radiative corrections to non-abelian gauge couplings in four-dimensional heterotic vacua with spontaneously broken supersymmetry. The prototype models can be considered as K3 surfaces with additional Scherk-Schwarz fluxes inducing the spontaneous $\mathcal{N}=2 \to \mathcal{N}=0$ breaking. Remarkably, although the gauge thresholds are no longer BPS protected and receive contributions also from the excitations of the RNS sector, their difference is still exactly computable and universal. Based on a talk presented at the DISCRETE 2014 conference at King's Colleg…
We consider a complex scalar $Φ^4 $ theory with spontaneously broken global U(1) symmetry, minimally coupling to perturbatively quantized Einstein gravity which is treated as an effective theory at the energy well below the Planck scale. Both the lowest order pure real scalar correction and the gravitational correction to the renormalization of the Higgs sector in this model have been investigated. Our results show that the gravitational correction renders the renormalization of the Higgs sector in this model inconsistent while the pure real scalar correction to it leads to a compatible renorm…
We propose a mechanism to break the translational invariance of compactified space spontaneously. As a simple model, we study a real $ϕ^4$ model compactified on $M^{D-1}\otimes S^1$ in detail, where we impose a nontrivial boundary condition on $ϕ$ for the $S^1$-direction. It is shown that the translational invariance for the $S^1$-direction is spontaneously broken when the radius $R$ of $S^1$ becomes larger than a critical radius $R^*$ and also that the model behaves like a $ϕ^4$ model on a single kink background for $R \to \infty$. It is pointed out that spontaneous breakdown of translational…
It is known that the fermionic shift symmetry of the N=1, U(N) gauge model with a superpotential of an adjoint chiral superfield is replaced by the second (spontaneously broken) supersymmetry in the N=2, U(N) gauge model with a prepotential and Fayet-Iliopoulos parameters. Based on a diagrammatic analysis, we demonstrate how the well-known form of the effective superpotential in the former model is modified in the latter. A set of two equations on the one-point functions stating the Konishi anomaly is modified accordingly.
In these notes, we emphasize the rôle of spontaneous broken global discrete symmetries acting on the moduli space of $N=2$ susy Yang-Mills theories and show how they can be used, together with the BPS condition, as a spectrum generating symmetry. In particular, in the strong-coupling region, all BPS states come in multiplets of this broken symmetry. This played a key rôle in the determination of the strong-coupling spectra.
We report on some recent investigations of the structure of the four dimensional gauged supergravity Lagrangian which emerges from flux and Scherk-Schwarz compactifications in higher dimensions. Special attention is given to the gauge structure of M-theory compactified on a seven torus with 4-form and geometrical (spin connection) fluxes turned on. A class of vacua, with flat space-time and described by ``no-scale'' supergravity models, is analyzed.
The analysis of spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking of N=1 supersymmetric SU(N_c) Yang-Mills theory with matter is performed. The supersymmetric $R_ξ$-gauge is used and its non-local effects investigated. Superpropagators and vertices are computed, and it is shown that the non-local terms introduced by the $R_ξ$-gauge-fixing are well-behaved in general gauge at one-loop. It is argued that this feature generalizes to multiple loops.
We analyze the moduli space of spontaneously broken N=8 supergravity theories in 4 dimensions with classical Minkowski vacua. We find that all the known classical vacua, as well as the several new ones we construct here, can be connected by sending some of the moduli to their boundary values. We also show that Cremmer-Scherk-Schwarz models can be viewed as special limits of more general CSO* gaugings, which allow for non-Abelian residual symmetries on the vacuum. Finally, we find that all the classical Minkowski vacua with fully broken supersymmetry found so far are unstable with respect to 1-…
The Ward identities involving the currents associated to the spontaneously broken scale and special conformal transformations are derived and used to determine, through linear order in the two soft-dilaton momenta, the double-soft behavior of scattering amplitudes involving two soft dilatons and any number of other particles. It turns out that the double-soft behavior is equivalent to performing two single-soft limits one after the other. We confirm the new double-soft theorem perturbatively at tree-level in a $D$-dimensional conformal field theory model, as well as nonperturbatively by using …
Color/kinematics duality and the double-copy construction have proved to be systematic tools for gaining new insight into gravitational theories. Extending our earlier work, in this paper we introduce new double-copy constructions for large classes of spontaneously-broken Yang-Mills-Einstein theories with adjoint Higgs fields. One gauge-theory copy entering the construction is a spontaneously-broken (super-)Yang-Mills theory, while the other copy is a bosonic Yang-Mills-scalar theory with trilinear scalar interactions that display an explicitly-broken global symmetry. We show that the kinemati…
We consider the matter induced part of the effective superpotential of N=2, U(N) gauge model in which N=2 supersymmetry is spontaneously broken to N=1, by using the properties of the chiral ring and the generalized Konishi anomaly equations derived in our previous paper arXiv:0704.1060. It is shown that the effective superpotential is related to the planar free energy of the matrix model by a formula which consists of two parts -- the well-known part due to Dijkgraaf-Vafa and the part that acts as a deformation of the couplings. These couplings are those of the original bare prepotential in th…
In this paper we investigate the canonical quantization of a non-Abelian topologically massive Chern-Simons theory in which the gauge fields are minimally coupled to a multiplet of scalar fields in such a way that the gauge symmetry is spontaneously broken. Such a model produces the Chern-Simons-Higgs mechanism in which the gauge excitations acquire mass both from the Chern-Simons term and from the Higgs-Kibble effect. The symmetry breaking is chosen to be only partially broken, in such a way that in the broken vacuum there remains a residual non-Abelian symmetry. We develop the canonical oper…
We show the existence of a supersymmetry-breaking mechanism in string theory, where N=4 supersymmetry is broken spontaneously to N=2 and N=1 with moduli-dependent gravitino masses. The BPS spectrum of the theory with lower supersymmetry is in one-to-one correspondence with the spectrum of the heterotic N=4 string. The mass splitting of the N=4 spectrum depends on the moduli as well as the three R-symmetry charges. In the case of N=4 \to N=2, the perturbative N=2 prepotential is determined by the perturbative N=4 BPS states. This observation led us to suggest a method that determines the exact …
We examine spontaneously broken N=2 supersymmetry in four dimensions and associate a spinor superfield with each Goldstino via a finite supersymmetry transformation with parameters that are the Grassmann coordinates of N=2 superspace. Making use of a special choice of coset parametrization allows us to develop a version of nonlinearly realized N=2 supersymmetry for which the associated Goldstino superfields are defined on harmonic superspace, thereby providing a natural mechanism for construction of a Goldstino action. The corresponding superfield Lagrangian is an O(4) multiplet. This property…
The quantization of spontaneously broken gauge theories in noncommutative geometry(NCG) has been sought for some time, because quantization is crucial for making the NCG approach a reliable and physically acceptable theory. Lee, Hwang and Ne'eman recently succeeded in realizing the BRST quantization of gauge theories in NCG in the matrix derivative approach proposed by Coquereaux et al. The present author has proposed a characteristic formulation to reconstruct a gauge theory in NCG on the discrete space $M_4\times Z_{_N}$. Since this formulation is a generalization of the differential geometr…
We discuss the generalization to global gauge anomalies of the familiar procedure for the cancellation of local gauge anomalies in effective theories of spontaneously broken symmetries. We illustrate this mechanism in a recently proposed six-dimensional extension of the standard model.
We study the coupled system consisting of a complex matter scalar field, a U(1) gauge field, and a complex Higgs scalar field that causes spontaneously symmetry breaking. We show by numerical calculations that there are spherically symmetric nontopological soliton solutions. Homogeneous balls solutions, all fields take constant values inside the ball and in the vacuum state outside, appear in this system. It is shown that the homogeneous balls have the following properties: charge density of the matter scalar field is screened by counter charge cloud of the Higgs and gauge field everywhere; an…
We establish a classical analog of the Nambu-Goldstone theorem for spontaneous breaking of spacetime symmetries. It provides a counting rule for independent Nambu-Goldstone fields and states which of them are gapped. We demonstrate that only those symmetry group generators give rise to independent Nambu-Goldstone fields that act non-trivially on a vacuum at the origin of coordinates. Other generators give rise to auxiliary fields that must be excluded from a theory by the means of inverse Higgs constraints. The physical meaning of the inverse Higgs phenomenon and an application of our results …
In this thesis we investigate the effective actions for massive Kaluza-Klein states, focusing on the massive modes of spin-3/2 and spin-2 fields. To this end we determine the spontaneously broken gauge symmetries associated to these `higher spin' states and construct the unbroken phase of the Kaluza-Klein theory. We show that for the particular background AdS_3 x S*3 x S*3 a consistent coupling of the first massive spin-3/2 multiplet requires an enhancement of local supersymmetry, which in turn will be spontaneously broken in the Kaluza-Klein vacuum. The corresponding action is constructed as …
Shapere and Wilczek recently found some singular Lagrangian systems which spontaneously breaks time translation symmetry. The common feature of their models is that the energy functions are multivalued in terms of the canonical phase space variables and the symmetry breaking ground states are all located at the brunching point singularities. By enlarging the phase space and making use of Dirac's theory on constrained Hamiltonian systems, we present the Hamiltonian description of some of the models discussed by Shapere and Wilczek and found that both the multivaluedness and the brunching point …
The majority of renormalizable field theories possessing the scale invariance at the classical level exhibits the trace anomaly once quantum corrections are taken into account. This leads to the breaking of scale and conformal invariance. At the same time any realistic theory must contain gravity and is thus non-renormalizable. We show that discarding the renormalizability it is possible to construct viable models allowing to preserve the scale invariance at the quantum level. We present explicit one-loop computations for two toy models to demonstrate the main idea of the approach. Constructin…
We study the solution to the Slavnov-Taylor (ST) identities in spontaneously broken effective gauge theories for a non-Abelian gauge group. The procedure to extract the $β$-functions of the theory in the presence of (generalized) non-polynomial field redefinitions is elucidated.
We show that minimal massive 3d gravity (MMG), as well as the topological massive gravity, are particular cases of a more general `minimal massive gravity' theory (with a single massive propagating mode) arising upon spontaneous breaking of a local symmetry in a Chern-Simons gravity based on a Hietarinta or Maxwell algebra. Similar to the MMG case, the requirements that the propagating massive mode is neither tachyon nor ghost and that the central charges of an asymptotic algebra associated with a boundary CFT are positive, impose restrictions on the range of the parameters of the theory.
A superconnection is a supermatrix whose even part contains the gauge-potential one-forms of a local gauge group, while the odd parts contain the (0-form) Higgs fields; the combined grading is thus odd everywhere. We demonstrate that the simple supergroup ${\bar P}(4,R)$ (rank=3) in Kac' classification (even subgroup $\bar {SL}(4,R)$) prverline {SL}(4,R)$) provides for the most economical spontaneous breaking of $\bar{SL}(4,R)$ as gauge group, leaving just local $\bar{SO}(1,3)$ unbroken. As a result, post-Riemannian SKY gravity yields Einstein's theory as a low-energy (longer range) effective …
We study regular and black hole solutions to the coupled classical Einstein--Yang-Mills--Higgs system. It has long been thought that black hole solutions in the spontaneously broken phase of such a theory could have no nontrivial field structure outside of the horizon. We first show that the standard black hole no-hair theorem underlying this belief, although true in the abelian setting, does not necessarily extend to the non-abelian case. This indicates the possibility of solutions with non-trivial gauge and Higgs configurations decaying exponentially {\it outside} the horizon. We then find s…
In a wide class of three-dimensional Abelian gauge theories with a bare Chern-Simons term, the Lorentz invariance is spontaneously broken by dynamical generation of a non-vanishing magnetic field. A detailed computation of an energy density of the true vacuum is given. The originally massive photon becomes massless, fulfilling the role of a Nambu-Goldstone boson associated with the spontaneous breaking of the Lorentz invariance.
We analyse a class of four-dimensional heterotic ground states with N=2 space-time supersymmetry. From the ten-dimensional perspective, such models can be viewed as compactifications on a six-dimensional manifold with SU(2) holonomy, which is locally but not globally K3 x T^2. The maximal N=4 supersymmetry is spontaneously broken to N=2. The masses of the two massive gravitinos depend on the (T,U) moduli of T^2. We evaluate the one-loop threshold corrections of gauge and R^2 couplings and we show that they fall in several universality classes, in contrast to what happens in usual K3 x T^2 comp…
We present a spontaneously broken N=2 supergravity model that reduces in the flat limit to a globally supersymmetric N=2 system with explicit soft supersymmetry breaking terms. These soft terms generate a mass O(100 GeV) for mirror quarks and leptons, while leaving the physical fermions light, thereby overcoming one of the major obstacles towards the construction of a realistic N=2 model of elementary interactions.
Goldstone's theorem states that there is a massless mode for each broken symmetry generator. It has been known for a long time that the naive generalization of this counting fails to give the correct number of massless modes for spontaneously broken spacetime symmetries. We explain how to get the right count of massless modes in the general case, and discuss examples involving spontaneously broken Poincare and conformal invariance.
It is shown that the super Higgs mechanism that occurs in a wide class of models with vanishing cosmological constant (at the classical level) is obtained by the gauging of a flat group which must be an electric subgroup of the duality group. If the residual massive gravitinos which occur in the partial supersymmetry breaking are BPS saturated, then the flat group is non abelian. This is so for all the models obtained by a Scherk-Schwarz supersymmetry breaking mechanism. If gravitinos occur in long multiplets, then the flat groups may be abelian. This is the case of supersymmetry breaking by s…
Callan-Symanzik and renormalization group equation are discussed for the $U(1)$-axial model and it is shown that the symmetric model is not the asymptotic version of the spontaneously broken one due to mass logarithms in the $β$-functions. The Callan-Symanzik equation of the standard model is seen to have the same form as the one of the simple model.
We examine the renormalizability problem of spontaneously broken non-Abelian gauge theory on noncommutative spacetime. We show by an explicit analysis of the U(2) case that ultraviolet divergences can be removed at one loop level with the same limited number of renormalization constants as required on commutative spacetime. We thus push forward the efforts towards constructing realistic models of gauge interactions on noncommutative spacetime.
In spontaneously broken supergravity with non-flat potential the vanishing of the cosmological constant is usually associated with a non-trivial balancing of two opposite-sign contributions. We make the simple observation that, in an appropriately defined expansion of the superfield action in inverse powers of $M_P$, this tuning corresponds to the absence of two specific operators. It is then tempting to speculate what kind of non-standard symmetry or structural principle might underlie the observed extreme smallness of the corresponding coefficients in the real world. Independently of such sp…
We extend our previous results on the evolution of quantum fermi fields in Minkowski gauge field backgrounds to the case of spontaneously broken gauge theories. We obtain a selection rule which relates the amount of fermion number violation to the change in Higgs winding number of the configuration. This selection rule is applicable to any classical solution which dissipates at both early and late times.
Starting from the standard Lagrangian for a SU(2) x U(1) gauge theory plus a Higgs field we derive the corresponding "maximal helicity violating" (MHV) Lagrangian. From this MHV Lagrangian one deduces simple diagrammatic rules for the calculation of multi-particle scattering amplitudes. We arrive at the MHV Lagrangian by a canonical change of the field variables in the light-cone gauge. We comment on the modifications which occur in a spontaneously broken gauge theory as compared to a pure (unbroken) Yang-Mills theory.
This paper revisits the nonlinear realization of spontaneously broken N=1 supersymmetry. It is shown that the constrained superfield formalism can be reinterpreted in the language of standard realization of nonlinear supersymmetry via a new and simpler route. Explicit formulas of actions are presented for general renormalizable theories with or without gauge interactions. The nonlinear Wess-Zumino gauge is discussed and relations are pointed out for different definitions of gauge fields. In addition, a general procedure is provided to deal with theories of arbitrary Kahler potentials.
The vanishing of the electromagnetic field, for purely electric configurations of spontaneously broken Abelian models, is established in the domain of outer communications of a static asymptotically flat black hole. The proof is gauge invariant, and is accomplished without any dependence on the model. In the particular case of the Abelian Higgs model, it is shown that the only solutions admitted for the scalar field become the vacuum expectation values of the self-interaction.
In the framework of standard electrodynamics with linear local response, we construct a model that provides spontaneously broken transparency. The functional dependence of the medium parameter turns out to be of the Higgs type.
In this talk I describe recent work (hep-th/9606029) in which I classified all conceivable 2+1 dimensional Chern-Simons (CS) theories with continuous compact abelian gauge group or finite abelian gauge group. The CS theories with finite abelian gauge group that can be obtained from the spontaneous breakdown of a CS theory with gauge group the direct product of various compact U(1) gauge groups were also identified. Those that can not be reached in this way are actually the most interesting since they lead to nonabelian phenomena such as nonabelian braid statistics, Alice fluxes and Cheshire ch…
A spontaneously broken SU(2) theory is the simplest generalization of the Abelian Higgs model, containing three equally massive vector bosons and a single Higgs scalar. A strictly diagrammatic proof is presented of the tree-level unitarity of this model in the unitary gauge, i.e. employing only physical fields. A new Ward-like identity is used to show that the high-energy behaviour of all amplitudes cannot be more than quadratic; the use of generating functions for all off-shell amplitudes then leads to the unitarity proof.
In this work, we investigate a theory of linear Weyl gravity coupled to a scalar field and study the scenario in which Lorentz symmetry is broken by a non-vanishing vacuum expectation value of the Weyl field in the flat space limit after Weyl symmetry breaking. We show that a $CPT$-odd Lorentz-violating interaction is generated after symmetry breaking. Features of different symmetry-broken phases and their dependence on the spacetime character of the generated Lorentz-violating background are discussed. Also, we analyze the naturalness of the theory by showing that the light mass scale is prot…
We construct, numerically, stationary and spherically symmetric nontopological soliton solutions in the system composed of a complex scalar field, a U(1) gauge field, and a complex Higgs scalar field that causes spontaneous symmetry braking. It is shown that the charge of the soliton is screened by counter charge everywhere.
The methods of non-linear realizations have proven to be powerful in studying the low energy physics resulting from spontaneously broken internal and spacetime symmetries. In this paper, we reconsider how these techniques may be applied to the case of spontaneously broken gauge theories, concentrating on Yang-Mills theories. We find that coset methods faithfully reproduce the description of low energy physics in terms of massive gauge bosons and discover that the Stückelberg replacement commonly employed when treating massive gauge theories arises in a natural manner. Uses of the methods are c…