Noncommutative deformations of quantum field theories, locality, and causality
Michael A. Soloviev
备注：
LaTeX, 14 pages, no figures. Presented at the 2nd Intern. Conf. "String Field Theory and Related Aspects" (Steklov Math. Institute, Moscow, April 2009)
We investigate noncommutative deformations of quantum field theories for different star products, particularly emphasizing the locality properties and the regularity of the deformed fields. Using functional analysis methods, we describe the basic structural features of the vacuum expectation values of star-modified products of fields and field commutators. As an alternative to microcausality, we introduce a notion of $θ$-locality, where $θ$ is the noncommutativity parameter. We also analyze the conditions for the convergence and continuity of star products and define the function algebra that is most suitable for the Moyal and Wick-Voros products. This algebra corresponds to the concept of strict deformation quantization and is a useful tool for constructing quantum field theories on a noncommutative space-time.
In this paper we investigated the causality problem present in the recent work about the Doplicher-Fredenhagen-Roberts-Amorim (DFRA) noncommutative framework which analyzed the complex scalar field. To accomplish this task we provided a brief review of the main ingredients of the problem and we demonstrated precisely that the DFRA algebra obeys the rules of the Canonical Commutation Relations algebra. This fact permitted us to prove the form of the DFRA operators previously constructed in the usual way. After that, we introduced the solution of its Klein-Gordon equation with a source term. Its…
The $κ$-Minkoswki space-time provides a quantum noncommutative-deformation of the usual Minkowski space-time. However, a notion of causality is difficult to be defined in such a space with noncommutative time. In this paper, we define a notion of causality on a (1+1)-dimensional $κ$-Minkoswki space-time using the more general framework of Lorentzian noncommutative geometry. We show that this notion allows specific causal relations, but limited by a general constraint which is a quantum generalization of the traditional speed of light limit.
We analyse the causality condition in noncommutative field theory and show that the nonlocality of noncommutative interaction leads to a modification of the light cone to the light wedge. This effect is generic for noncommutative geometry. We also check that the usual form of energy condition is violated and propose that a new form is needed in noncommutative spacetime. On reduction from light cone to light wedge, it looks like the noncommutative dimensions are effectively washed out and suggests a reformulation of noncommutative field theory in terms of lower dimensional degree of freedom. Th…
Theories with a curved momentum space, which became recently of interest in the quantum-gravity literature, can in general violate many apparently robust aspects of our current description of the laws of physics, including relativistic invariance, locality, causality and global momentum conservation. We here explore some aspects of the particularly severe pathologies arising in generic theories with curved momentum space for what concerns causality and momentum conservation. However, we also report results suggesting that when momentum space is maximally symmetric, and the theory is formulated…
In the framework of quantum field theory (QFT) on noncommutative (NC) space-time with the symmetry group $O(1,1)\times SO(2)$, we prove that the Jost-Lehmann-Dyson representation, based on the causality condition taken in connection with this symmetry, leads to the mere impossibility of drawing any conclusion on the analyticity of the $2\to 2$-scattering amplitude in $\cosΘ$, $Θ$ being the scattering angle. Discussions on the possible ways of obtaining high-energy bounds analogous to the Froissart-Martin bound on the total cross-section are also presented.
The importance of spatial non-locality in the description of negative refraction in electromagnetic materials has been put forward recently. We develop a theory of negative refraction in homogeneous and isotropic media, based on first principles, and that includes non-locality in its full generality. The theory shows that both dissipation and spatial non-locality are necessary conditions for the existence of negative refraction. It also provides a sufficient condition in materials with weak spatial non-locality. These fundamental results should have broad implications in the theoretical and pr…
We study dynamical aspects of holographic correspondence between d=5 anti-de Sitter supergravity and $d=4$ super Yang-Mills theory. We probe causality and locality of ambient spacetime from super Yang-Mills theory by studying transmission of low-energy brane waves via an open string stretched between two D3-branes in Coulomb branch. By analyzing two relevant physical threshold scales, we find that causality and locality is encoded in the super Yang-Mills theory provided infinite tower of long supermultiplet operators are added. Massive W-boson and dual magnetic monopole behave more properly as…
Metrics structures stemming from the Connes distance promote Moyal planes to the status of quantum metric spaces. We discuss this aspect in the light of recent developments, emphasizing the role of Moyal planes as representative examples of a recently introduced notion of quantum (noncommutative) locally compact space. We move then to the framework of Lorentzian noncommutative geometry and we examine the possibility of defining a notion of causality on Moyal plane, which is somewhat controversial in the area of mathematical physics. We show the actual existence of causal relations between the …
As argued previously, amplitudes of quantum field theories on noncommutative space and time cannot be computed using naive path integral Feynman rules. One of the proposals is to use the Gell-Mann--Low formula with time-ordering applied before performing the integrations. We point out that the previously given prescription should rather be regarded as an interaction point time-ordering. Causality is explicitly violated inside the region of interaction. It is nevertheless a consistent procedure, which seems to be related to the interaction picture of quantum mechanics. In this framework we comp…
In this paper, we explore the questions of time, locality and causality in the framework of covariant open bosonic string field theory. We show that if an open string field is expressed as a certain local function on spacetime--in particular, a function of the lightcone component of the midpoint and the transverse center of mass degrees of freedom--that cubic string field theory is nonsingular and local in lightcone time. In particular, the theory has a well defined initial value formulation resembling that of an ordinary second order relativistic field theory in lightcone frame. This descript…
Twisted quantum field theories on the Groenewold-Moyal plane are known to be non-local. Despite this non-locality, it is possible to define a generalized notion of causality. We show that interacting quantum field theories that involve only couplings between matter fields, or between matter fields and minimally coupled U(1) gauge fields are causal in this sense. On the other hand, interactions between matter fields and non-abelian gauge fields violate this generalized causality. We derive the modified Feynman rules emergent from these features. They imply that interactions of matter with non-a…
We study general properties of certain Lorentz invariant noncommutative quantum field theories proposed in the literature. We show that causality in those theories does not hold, in contrast to the canonical noncommutative field theory with the light-wedge causality condition. This is the consequence of the infinite nonlocality of the theory getting spread in all spacetime directions. We also show that the time-ordered perturbation theory arising from the Hamiltonian formulation of noncommutative quantum field theories remains inequivalent to the covariant perturbation theory with usual Feynma…
It is shown that two observers have mutually commuting observables if they are able to prepare in each subsector of their common state space some state exhibiting no mutual correlations. This result establishes a heretofore missing link between statistical and locality (commensurability) properties of the observables of spacelike separated observers in relativistic quantum physics, envisaged four decades ago by Haag and Kastler. It is based on a discussion of coincidence experiments and suggests a physically meaningful quantitative measure of possible violations of Einstein causality.
Inspired by recent results of unusual properties of loop processes in relative locality, we introduce a way to classify loops in the case of kappa-Poincare momentum space. We show that the notion of orientability is deeply connected to a few essential properties of loop processes. Nonorientable loops have "effective curvature", which explicitly breaks translation symmetry, and can lead to a breaking of causality and global momentum conservation. Orientable loops, on the other hand, are "flat." Causality and global momentum conservation are all well preserved in this kind of loops. We comment t…
Quantum field theories on noncommutative Minkowski space are studied in a model-independent setting by treating the noncommutativity as a deformation of quantum field theories on commutative space. Starting from an arbitrary Wightman theory, we consider special vacuum representations of its Weyl-Wigner deformed counterpart. In such representations, the effect of the noncommutativity on the basic structures of Wightman theory, in particular the covariance, locality and regularity properties of the fields, the structure of the Wightman functions, and the commutative limit, is analyzed. Despite t…
We find that relative locality, a recently proposed Planck-scale deformation of special relativity, suffers from the existence of causal loops. A simple and general construction of such on-shell loop processes is studied. We then show that even in one of the weakest deformations of the Poincaré group in relative locality, causality can be violated.
In this brief report, the microcausility of quantum field theory on spin-induced noncom- mutative spacetime is discussed. It is found that for spacelike seperation the microcausality is not obeyed by the theory generally. It means that Lorentz covariance can not guaran- tee microcausality in quantum field thoery. We also give some comments about quantum field thoeries on such noncommutative spacetime and the relations between noncommutative spacetime and causality.
It is currently believed that the local causality of Quantum Field Theory (QFT) is destroyed by the measurement process. This belief is also based on the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) paradox and on the so-called Bell's theorem, that are thought to prove the existence of a mysterious, instantaneous action between distant measurements. However, I have shown recently that the EPR argument is removed, in an interpretation-independent way, by taking into account the fact that the Standard Model of Particle Physics prevents the production of entangled states with a definite number of particles. Thi…
The concept of a noncommutative field is formulated based on the interplay between twisted Poincaré symmetry and residual symmetry of the Lorentz group. Various general dynamical results supporting this construction, such as the light-wedge causality condition and the integrability condition for Tomonaga-Schwinger equation, are presented. Based on this analysis, the claim of the identity between commutative QFT and noncommutative QFT with twisted Poincaré symmetry is refuted.
We revisit the question of microcausality violations in quantum field theory on noncommutative spacetime, taking $O(x)=:ϕ\starϕ:(x)$ as a sample observable. Using methods of the theory of distributions, we precisely describe the support properties of the commutator [O(x),O(y)] and prove that, in the case of space-space noncommutativity, it does not vanish at spacelike separation in the noncommuting directions. However, the matrix elements of this commutator exhibit a rapid falloff along an arbitrary spacelike direction irrespective of the type of noncommutativity. We also consider the star com…
In this article an attempt is made to present very recent conceptual and computational developments in QFT as new manifestations of old and well establihed physical principles. The vehicle for converting the quantum-algebraic aspects of local quantum physics into more classical geometric structures is the modular theory of Tomita. As the above named laureate to whom I have dedicated has shown together with his collaborator for the first time in sufficient generality, its use in physics goes through Einstein causality. This line of research recently gained momentum when it was realized that it …
We analyze properties of the Sp(2M) conformally invariant field equations in the recently proposed generalized $\half M(M+1)$-dimensional space-time $\M_M$ with matrix coordinates. It is shown that classical solutions of these field equations define a causal structure in $\M_M$ and admit a well-defined decomposition into positive and negative frequency solutions that allows consistent quantization in a positive definite Hilbert space. The effect of constraints on the localizability of fields in the generalized space-time is analyzed. Usual d-dimensional Minkowski space-time is identified with …
We propose a physical interpretation of the perturbative breakdown of unitarity in time-like noncommutative field theories in terms of production of tachyonic particles. These particles may be viewed as a remnant of a continuous spectrum of undecoupled closed-string modes. In this way, we give a unified view of the string-theoretical and the field-theoretical no-go arguments against time-like noncommutative theories. We also perform a quantitative study of various locality and causality properties of noncommutative field theories at the quantum level.
We adapt the axioms of the quantum mechanics to the quantum Minkowski space-time coordinates and their transformations under the quantum Lorentz group to show how we can formulate the noncommutative special relativity and its quantum physical observables. we establish in this formalism the quantum analog of the lifetime dilatation formula and the relativistic relations between the energy-momentum four-vector and the mass and the velocity. From the explicit construction of states, we establish the causality principle in the noncommutative special relativity and show that for a free particle mov…
In this paper, we introduce the condition of theta-locality which can be used as a substitute for microcausality in quantum field theory on noncommutative spacetime. This condition is closely related to the asymptotic commutativity which was previously used in nonlocal QFT. Heuristically, it means that the commutator of observables behaves at large spacelike separation like $\exp(-|x-y|^2/θ)$, where $θ$ is the noncommutativity parameter. The rigorous formulation given in the paper implies averaging fields with suitable test functions. We define a test function space which most closely correspo…
Within the setting of a recently proposed model of quantum fields on noncommutative Minkowski spacetime, the consequences of the consistent application of the proper, untwisted Poincare group as the symmetry group are investigated. The emergent model contains an infinite family of fields which are labelled by different noncommutativity parameters, and related to each other by Lorentz transformations. The relative localization properties of these fields are investigated, and it is shown that to each field one can assign a wedge-shaped localization region of Minkowski space. This assignment is c…
We study causality in non-commutative quantum field theory with a space-space non-commutativity. We employ the S-operator approach of Bogoliubov-Shirkov(BS). We generalize the BS criterion of causality to the noncommutative theory. The criterion to test causality leads to a nonzero difference between T*-product and T-product as a condition of causality violation for a spacelike separation. We discuss two examples; one in a scalar theory and one in the Yukawa theory. In particular, in the context of a non-commutative Yukawa theory, with the interaction Lagrangian $\barψ(x)\starψ(x)\starϕ(x)$, i…
We analyze, starting from first principles, the quantization of field theories, in order to find out to which problems a noncommutative time would possibly lead. We examine the problem in the interaction picture (Tomonaga-Schwinger equation), the Heisenberg picture (Yang-Feldman-Källén equation) and the path integral approach. They all indicate inconsistency when time is taken as a noncommutative coordinate. The causality issue appears as the key aspect, while the unitarity problem is subsidiary. These results are consistent with string theory, which does not admit a time-space noncommutative …
We give a definition of admissible counterterms appropriate for massive quantum field theories on the noncommutative Minkowski space, based on a suitable notion of locality. We then define products of fields of arbitrary order, the so-called quasiplanar Wick products, by subtracting only such admissible counterterms. We derive the analogue of Wick's theorem and comment on the consequences of using quasiplanar Wick products in the perturbative expansion.
We find dispersion laws for the photon propagating in the presence of mutually orthogonal constant external electric and magnetic fields in the context of the $θ$-expanded noncommutative QED. We show that there is no birefringence to the first order in the noncommutativity parameter $% θ.$ By analyzing the group velocities of the photon eigenmodes we show that there occurs superluminal propagation for any direction. This phenomenon depends on the mutual orientation of the external electromagnetic fields and the noncommutativity vector. We argue that the propagation of signals with superluminal…
Nonlinear modifications of quantum mechanics generically lead to nonlocal effects which violate relativistic causality. We study these effects using the functional Schrodinger equation for quantum fields and identify a type of nonlocality which causes nearly instantaneous entanglement of spacelike separated systems. We describe a simple example involving widely separated wave-packet (coherent) states, showing that nonlinearity in the Schrodinger evolution causes spacelike entanglement, even in free field theory.
We study the short-distance structure of geometric entanglement entropy in certain theories with a built-in scale of nonlocality. In particular we examine the cases of Little String Theory and Noncommutative Yang-Mills theory, using their AdS/CFT descriptions. We compute the entanglement entropy via the holographic ansatz of Ryu and Takayanagi to conclude that the area law is violated at distance scales that sample the nonlocality of these models, being replaced by an extensive volume law. In the case of the noncommutative model, the critical length scale that reveals the area/volume law trans…
Noncommutative field theories are a class of theories beyond the standard model of elementary particle physics. Their importance may be summarized in two facts. Firstly as field theories on noncommutative spacetimes they come with natural regularization parameters. Secondly they are related in a natural way to theories of quantum gravity which typically give rise to noncommutative spacetimes. Therefore noncommutative field theories can shed light on the problem of quantizing gravity. An attractive aspect of noncommutative field theories is that they can be formulated so as to preserve spacetim…
In this work quantum physics in noncommutative spacetime is developed. It is based on the work of Doplicher et al. which allows for time-space noncommutativity. The Moyal plane is treated in detail. In the context of noncommutative quantum mechanics, some important points are explored, such as the formal construction of the theory, symmetries, causality, simultaneity and observables. The dynamics generated by a noncommutative Schrodinger equation is studied. We prove in particular the following: suppose the Hamiltonian of a quantum mechanical particle on spacetime has no explicit time dependen…
Refining previous work by Iso, Kawai and Kitazawa, we discuss bi-local string states as a tool for loop computations in noncommutative field theory and matrix models. Defined in terms of coherent states, they exhibit the stringy features of noncommutative field theory. This leads to a closed form for the 1-loop effective action in position space, capturing the long-range non-local UV/IR mixing for scalar fields. The formalism applies to generic fuzzy spaces. The non-locality is tamed in the maximally supersymmetric IKKT or IIB model, where it gives rise to supergravity. The linearized supergra…
Entanglement renormalization can be viewed as an encoding circuit for a family of approximate quantum error correcting codes. The logical information becomes progressively more well-protected against erasure errors at larger length scales. In particular, an approximate variant of holographic quantum error correcting code emerges at low energy for critical systems. This implies that two operators that are largely separated in scales behave as if they are spatially separated operators, in the sense that they obey a Lieb-Robinson type locality bound under a time evolution generated bya local Hami…
The regularized theories are non-local at the scale of the cutoff, leading so to the usual difficulties of non-local theories. In this work the conservation laws and causality are investigated for classical field theories with multi-cluster action. The conservation laws are found to play a less significant role than in local theories because due to the non-locality the conserved quantities are not integrals of the motion, and they can exist even without underlying symmetries. Moreover, the conservation of the energy can not prevent instability brought about by the unbounded nature of the energ…
Quantum theories constructed on the noncommutative spacetime called the Groenewold-Moyal plane exhibit many interesting properties such as Lorentz and CPT noninvariance, causality violation and twisted statistics. We show that such violations lead to many striking features that may be tested experimentally. These theories predict Pauli forbidden transitions due to twisted statistics, anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background radiation due to correlations of observables in spacelike regions and Lorentz and CPT violations in scattering amplitudes.
In the framework of quantum field theory (QFT) on noncommutative (NC) space-time with $SO(1,1)\times SO(2)$ symmetry, which is the feature arising when one has only space-space noncommutativity ($θ_{0i}=0$), we prove that the Jost-Lehmann-Dyson representation, based on the causality condition usually taken in connection with this symmetry, leads to the mere impossibility of drawing any conclusion on the analyticity of the $2\to 2$-scattering amplitude in $\cosΘ$, $Θ$ being the scattering angle. A physical choice of the causality condition rescues the situation and as a result an analog of Lehm…
In this thesis we study field theories written on a particular model of noncommutative spacetime, the Groenewold-Moyal (GM) plane. We start with briefly reviewing the novel features of field theories on GM plane e.g. the $\ast$-product, restoration of Poincaré-Hopf symmetry and twisted commutation relations. We then discuss our work on renormalization of field theories on GM plane. We show that any generic noncommutative theory involving pure matter fields with polynomial interactions, is a renormalizable theory if the analogous commutative theory is renormalizable. We further show that all su…
Over the last decade there were significant advances in the understanding of quantum gravity coupled to point particles in 3D (2+1-dimensional) spacetime. Most notably it is emerging that the theory can be effectively described as a theory of free particles on a momentum space with anti-deSitter geometry and with noncommutative spacetime coordinates of the type $[x^μ,x^ν]=i \hbar \ell \varepsilon^{μν}_{\phantom{μν}ρ} x^ρ$. We here show that the recently proposed relative-locality curved-momentum-space framework is ideally suited for accommodating these structures characteristic of 3D quantum g…
We argue that certain apparently consistent low-energy effective field theories described by local, Lorentz-invariant Lagrangians, secretly exhibit macroscopic non-locality and cannot be embedded in any UV theory whose S-matrix satisfies canonical analyticity constraints. The obstruction involves the signs of a set of leading irrelevant operators, which must be strictly positive to ensure UV analyticity. An IR manifestation of this restriction is that the "wrong" signs lead to superluminal fluctuations around non-trivial backgrounds, making it impossible to define local, causal evolution, and …
It is well known that non-local theories of gravity have been a flourish arena of studies for many reasons, for instance, the UV incompleteness of General Relativity (GR). In this paper we check the consistency of ST-homogeneous Gödel-type metrics within the non-local gravity framework. The non-local models considered here are ghost-free but not necessarily renormalizable since we focus on the classical solutions of the field equations. Furthermore, the non-locality is displayed in the action through transcendental entire functions of the d'Alembert operator $\Box$ that are mathematically repr…
Gravitational Faraday rotation, gravitational spin Hall effect, and spin-refined causality analysis from Magnusian matrix in effective field theories of gravity
We study scalar field theories on Poincare invariant commutative nonassociative spacetimes. We compute the one-loop self-energy diagrams in the ordinary path integral quantization scheme with Feynman's prescription, and find that the Cutkosky rule is satisfied. This property is in contrast with that of noncommutative field theory, since it is known that noncommutative field theory with space/time noncommutativity violates unitarity in the above standard scheme, and the quantization procedure will necessarily become complicated to obtain a sensible Poincare invariant noncommutative field theory…
Physical principles such as unitarity, causality, and locality can constrain the space of consistent effective field theories (EFTs) by imposing two-sided bounds on the allowed values of Wilson coefficients. In this paper, we consider the bounds that arise from the requirement of low-energy causality alone, without appealing to any assumptions about UV physics. We focus on shift-symmetric theories, and consider bounds that arise from the propagation around both a homogeneous and a spherically-symmetric background. We find that low-energy causality, namely the requirement that there are no reso…
A new approach for treating boundary Poisson structures based on causality and locality analysis is proposed for a single scalar field with boundary interaction. For the case of linear boundary condition, it is shown that the usual canonical quantization can be applied systematically.
Phase-space and its relativistic extension is a natural space for realizing Sp(2,R) symmetry through canonical transformations. On a Dx2 dimensional covariant phase-space, we formulate noncommutative field theories, where Sp(2,R) plays a role as either a global or a gauge symmetry group. In both cases these field theories have potential applications, including certain aspects of string theories, M-theory, as well as quantum field theories. If interpreted as living in lower dimensions, these theories realize Poincare' symmetry linearly in a way consistent with causality and unitarity. In case S…
With the help of the Seiberg-Witten map, one can obtain an effective action of a deformed QED from a noncommutative QED. Starting from the deformed QED, we investigate the propagation of photons in the background of electromagnetic field, up to the leading order of the noncommutativity parameter. In our setting (both the electric and magnetic fields are parallel to the coordinate axis $x^1$ and the nonvanishing component of the noncommutativity parameter is $θ^{23}$), we find that the electric field has no effect on the propagation of photons, but the velocity of photons can be larger than the…
Violation of unitarity for noncommutative field theory on compact space-times is considered. Although such theories are free of ultraviolet divergences, they still violate unitarity while in a usual field theory such a violation occurs when the theory is nonrenormalizable. The compactness of space-like coordinates implies discreteness of the time variable which leads to appearance of unphysical modes and violation of unitarity even in the absence of a star-product in the interaction terms. Thus, this conclusion holds also for other quantum field theories with discrete time. Violation of causal…
We demonstrate that the covariance of the algebra of quantum NC fields under quantum-deformed Poincare symmetries implies the appearence of braided algebra of fields and the notion of braided locality in NC QFT. We briefly recall the historical development of NC QFT which was firstly formulated in the framework using classical relativistic symmetries but further it was described as generated by the quantum-deformed symmetries. We argue that consistent covariant quantum-deformed formalism requires "braiding all the way", in particular braided commutator of deformed field oscillators as well as …
It is shown that the principle of locality and noncommutative geometry can be connnected by a sheaf theoretical method. In this framework quantum spaces are introduced and examples in mathematical physics are given. With the language of quantum spaces noncommutative principal and vector bundles are defined and their properties are studied. Important constructions in the classical theory of principal fibre bundles like associated bundles and differential calculi are carried over to the quantum case. At the end $q$-deformed instanton models are introduced for every integral index.
