We summarize our results for the impact of anisotropic fermionic velocities in (2+1)-dimensional QED on the critical number of fermion flavors, N^c_f, and dynamical mass generation. We apply different approximation schemes for the gauge boson vacuum polarization and the fermion-boson vertex to analyze the according Dyson-Schwinger equations in a finite volume. Our results point towards large variations of N^c_f away from the isotropic point in agreement with other approaches.
We show that at long lengthscales and low energies and to leading order in 1/N expansion, the anisotropic QED in 2+1 dimensions renormalizes to an isotropic limit. Consequently, the (Euclidean) relativistic invariance of the theory is spontaneously restored at the isotropic critical point, characterized by the anomalous dimension exponent of the Dirac fermion propagator $η$. We find $η=16/3π^2 N$.
We investigate the effect of anisotropies in the fermion velocities of 2+1 dimensional QED on the critical number N_f^c of fermions for dynamical mass generation. Our framework are the Dyson-Schwinger equations for the gauge boson and fermion propagators formulated in a finite volume. In contrast to previous Dyson-Schwinger studies we do not rely on an expansion in small anisotropies but keep the full velocity dependence of fermion equations intact. As result we find sizable variations of N_f^c away from the isotropic point in agreement with other approaches. We discuss the relevance of our fi…
We investigate the scaling behavior of the critical temperature of anisotropic QED in 2+1 dimensions with respect to a variation of the number of fermions N_f. To this end we determine the order parameter of the chiral transition of the theory from a set of (truncated) Dyson-Schwinger equations for the fermion propagator formulated in a finite volume. We verify the validity of previously determined universal power laws for the scaling behavior of the critical temperature with N_f. We furthermore study the variation of the corresponding critical exponent with the degree of anisotropy and find c…
We show for the first time that the induced parity--even Lorentz invariance violation can be unambiguously calculated in the physically justified and minimally broken dimensional regularization scheme, suitably tailored for a spontaneous Lorentz symmetry breaking in a field theory model. The quantization of the Lorentz invariance violating quantum electrodynamics is critically examined and shown to be consistent either for a light--like cosmic anisotropy axial--vector or for a time--like one, when in the presence of a bare photon mass.
Two different but tightly connected problems, $U(1)$ and strong CP violation problems, are discussed in two different models which exhibit both asymptotic freedom and confinement. One of them is the 3d Polyakov's model of compact QED and the other is 4d gluodynamics. It is shown that although both these models possess the long range interactions of the topological charges, only in the former case physics does not depend on $θ$; while the latter exhibits an explicit $θ$- dependence. The crucial difference is due to the observation, that the pseudoparticles of 4d gluodynamics possess an aditiona…
Dynamical mass generation in a three-dimensional version of finite-temperature QED is studied with the help of Schwinger-Dyson equations in the real-time formalism. We go beyond the bare-vertex approximation and include wave-function renormalization effects. This introduces a system of two integral equations which are solved numerically. In order to increase the reliability of the results, fermion and photon self-energies varying independently with energy and momentum are used. The method applied enables a detailed study of the behaviour of the theory with increasing temperature and number of …
We use a transport-theory approach to construct the static propagator of a gauge boson in a plasma with a general axially- and reflection-symmetric momentum distribution. Non-zero magnetic screening is found if the distribution is anisotropic, confirming the results of a closed-time-path-integral approach. We find that the electric and magnetic screening effects depend on both the orientation of the momentum carried by the boson and the orientation of its polarization. In some orientations there can be antiscreening, reflecting the instabilities of such a medium. We present some fairly general…
A complete analysis of dynamical scale symmetry breaking in 2+1-dimensional QED at both zero and finite temperature is presented by looking at solutions to the Schwinger-Dyson equation. In different kinetic energy regimes we use various numerical and analytic techniques (including an expansion in large flavour number). It is confirmed that, contrary to the case of 3+1 dimensions, there is no dynamical scale symmetry breaking at zero temperature, despite the fact that chiral symmetry breaking can occur dynamically. At finite temperature, such breaking of scale symmetry may take place.
We investigate the effects of thermal fluctuations on the spontaneous magnetic condensate in three dimensional QED coupled with P-odd Dirac fermions. Our results show that the phenomenon of the spontaneous generation of the constant background magnetic field survives to the thermal corrections even at infinite temperature. We also study the thermal corrections to the fermionic condensate in presence of the magnetic field.
We solve, analytically and numerically, a gap equation in parity invariant QED_3 in the presence of an infrared cutoff μand derive an expression for the critical fermion number N_c as a function of μ. We argue that this dependence of N_c on the infrared scale might solve the discrepancy between continuum Schwinger-Dyson equations studies and lattice simulations of QED_3.
In the (2+1)-dimensional QED with and without the Chern-Simons term, we find the non-local gauge in which there is no wavefunction renormalization for the fermion in the framework of the Schwinger-Dyson equation. By solving the Schwinger-Dyson equation in the non-local gauge, we find a finite critical value $N_f^c$ for the number of flavors $N_f$ of four-component Dirac fermions, above which the chiral symmetry restores irrespective of presence or absence of the Chern-Simons term. In the same framework, we study the possibility of dynamical breakdown of the parity. It is shown that the parity …
In the normal phase (where no dynamical fermion mass generation occurs) of the D-dimensional quantum electrodynamics with $N_f$ flavors of fermions, we derive an integral equation which should be satisfied by (the inverse of) the wave function renormalization of the fermion in the Landau gauge. For this we use the inverse Landau-Khalatnikov transformation connecting the nonlocal gauge with the Landau gauge. This leads to a similar equation for the running flavor number in the framework of the $1/N_f$ resumed Schwinger-Dyson equation. Solving the equation analytically and numerically, we study …
In order to treat loops in the Lorentz-violating QED model, we present a derivation of the QED axial anomaly that specifically highlights the infrared origin of the effect. This is done using dimensional regularization while treating $γ_5$ as a spectator. This enables us to revisit aspects in the fermionic sector of Lorentz-violating QED which have analogous structure to the axial anomaly. In particular, it is shown that both the Chern-Simons and photon mass operators are not induced in the one loop effective action. At lowest order in the Lorentz-violating parameter, we can define a non-relat…
I present a general expression of the transverse Ward-Takahashi relation for the fermion-boson vertex function in momentum space in 4-dimensional QED, from which the corresponding one-loop expression is derived straightforwardly. Then I deduce carefully this transverse Ward-Takahashi relation to one-loop order in d-dimensions, with $d = 4 + ε$. The result shows that this relation in d-dimensions has the same form as one given in 4-dimensions and there is no need for an additional piece proportional to $(d-4)$ to include for this relation to hold in 4-dimensions. This result is confirmed by an …
It has been shown that QED in (1+4)-dimensional space-time, with the fifth dimension compactified on a circle, leads to CP violation (CPV). Depending on fermionic boundary conditions, CPV may be either explicit (through the Scherk--Schwarz mechanism), or spontaneous (via the Hosotani mechanism). The fifth component of the gauge field acquires (at the one-loop level) a non-zero vacuum expectation value. In the presence of two fermionic fields, this leads to spontaneous CPV in the case of CP-symmetric boundary conditions. Phenomenological consequences are illustrated by a calculation of the elec…
We study chiral symmetry breaking in $\rm QED_3$ with $N_f$ flavors of four-component fermions. A closed system of Schwinger-Dyson equations for fermion and photon propagators and the full fermion-photon vertex is proposed, which is consistent with the Ward-Takahashi identity. A simplified version of that set of equations is reduced (in nonlocal gauge) to the equation for a dynamical fermion mass function, where the one-loop vacuum polarization with dynamically massive fermions has been taken into account. The linearized equation for the fermion mass function is analyzed in real space. The ana…
We present the closed analytic expression of the form factors of the two-loop QED vertex amplitude for on-shell electrons of finite mass $m$ and arbitrary momentum transfer $S=-Q^2$. The calculation is carried out within the continuous $D$-dimensional regularization scheme, with a single continuous parameter $D$, the dimension of the space-time, which regularizes at the same time UltraViolet (UV) and InfraRed (IR) divergences. The results are expressed in terms of 1-dimensional harmonic polylogarithms of maximum weight 4.
We have studied the chiral phase transition in three-dimensional QED in the presence of a Chern--Simons term for the gauge field. There exists a phase where the chiral symmetry is broken dynamically and we have determined the critical line for this symmetry breaking as a function of the effective coupling and the strength of the additional Chern--Simons term. In the presence of a Chern--Simons term, the chiral phase transition turns out to be first order, in sharp contrast to the phase transition in pure three-dimensional QED.
We evaluate the analytic expression for the one-loop fermion-boson vertex in massless QED3 in an arbitrary covariant gauge. The result is written in terms of elementary functions of its momenta. The vertex is decomposed into a longitudinal part, that is fully responsible for ensuring the Ward and Ward-Takahashi identities are satisfied, and a transverse part. Following Ball and Chiu and Kızılersü {\it et. al.}, the transverse part is written in its most general form as a function of 4 independent vectors. We calculate the coefficients of each of these vectors. We also check the transversality …
An Abelian gauge theory with Chern-Simons term is investigated for a four-component Dirac fermion in 1+2 dimensions. The Ball-Chiu (BC) vertex function is employed to modify the rainbow-ladder approximation for the Schwinger-Dyson (SD) equation. We numerically solve the SD equation and show the gauge dependence for the resulting phase boundary for the parity and the chiral symmetry.
A recent result of Gusynin, Miransky and Shovkovy concerning chiral symmetry breaking by a constant external magnetic field in parity-invariant three-dimensional QED is generalised to the case of inhomogeneous fields by relating the phenomenon to the zero modes of the Dirac equation. Virtual photon radiative corrections and four-dimensional QED are briefly discussed.
It is shown the analysis [1] for QED in 2+1 dimensions with N four-component fermions in the leading and next-to-leading orders of the 1/N expansion. As it was demonstrated in [1] the range of the admissible values N, where the dynamical fermion mass exist, decreases strongly with the increasing of the gauge charge. So, in Landau gauge the dynamical chiral symmetry breaking appears for N<3.78, that is very close to the results of the leading order and in Feynman gauge dynamical mass is completely absent.
We study the dimensionally regularized fermion propagator Dyson-Schwinger equation in quenched nonperturbative QED in an arbitrary covariant gauge using the Curtis-Pennington vertex and perform nonperturbative renormalization numerically. The nonperturbative fermion propagator is solved in D=4-2*epsilon < 4 dimensional Euclidean space for a large number of values of epsilon for two values of the coupling, alpha=0.6 and alpha=1.5. Results for D=4 are then obtained by extrapolation to epsilon=0. We compare these results against previous studies employing a modified ultraviolet cut-off regulariza…
It is shown for a class of random, time-independent, square-integrable, three-dimensional magnetic fields that the one-loop effective fermion action of four-dimensional QED increases faster than a quadratic in B in the strong coupling limit. The limit is universal. The result relies on the paramagnetism of charged spin - 1/2 fermions and the diamagnetism of charged scalar bosons.
We discuss one-loop radiatively-induced magnetic moment in four-dimensional quantum electrodynamics (QED) with anisotropic coupling, and examine various cases which may be of interest in effective gauge theories of antiferromagnets, whose planar limit coresponds to highly anisotropic QED couplings. We find a different scaling with the magnetic field intensity in case there are extra statistical gauge interactions in the model with spontaneous symmetry breaking. Such a case is encountered in the CP-1 sigma-model sector of effective spin-charge separated gauge theories of antiferromagnetic syste…
We investigate the chiral phase transition in 2+1 dimensional QED. Previous gap equation and lattice Monte-Carlo studies of symmetry breaking have found that symmetry breaking ceases to occur when the number of fermion flavors exceeds a critical value. Here we focus on the order of the transition. We find that there are no light scalar degrees of freedom present as the critical number of flavors is approached from above (in the symmetric phase). Thus the phase transition is not second order, rendering irrelevant the renormalization group arguments for a fluctuation induced transition. However,…
In three-dimensional QED with a Chern--Simons term we study the phase structure associated with chiral-symmetry breaking in the framework of the Schwinger--Dyson equation. We give detailed analyses on the analytical and numerical solutions for the Schwinger--Dyson equation of the fermion propagator, where the nonlocal gauge-fixing procedure is adopted to avoid wave-function renormalization for the fermion. In the absence of the Chern--Simons term, there exists a finite critical number of four-component fermion flavors, at which a continuous (infinite-order) chiral phase transition takes place …
From spinor and scalar 2+1 dimensional QED effective actions at finite temperature and density in a constant magnetic field background, we calculate the corresponding virial coefficients for particles in the lowest Landau level. These coefficients depend on a parameter theta related to the time-component of the gauge field, which plays an essential role for large gauge invariance. The variation of the parameter theta might lead to an interpolation between fermionic and bosonic virial coefficients, although these coefficients are singular for theta=pi/2.
We propose a scalable analog quantum simulator for quantum electrodynamics (QED) in two spatial dimensions. The setup for the U(1) lattice gauge field theory employs inter-species spin-changing collisions in an ultra-cold atomic mixture trapped in an optical lattice. Building on the previous one-dimensional implementation scheme of Ref. [1] we engineer spatial plaquette terms for magnetic fields, thus solving a major obstacle towards experimental realizations of realistic gauge theories in higher dimensions. We apply our approach to pure gauge theory and discuss how the phenomenon of confineme…
We calculate the two-loop virtual, UV renormalized corrections at order α^4 (N_F=1) in QED to the Bhabha scattering differential cross section, for arbitrary values of the squared c.m. energy s and momentum transfer t, and on-shell electrons and positrons of finite mass m. The calculation is carried out within the dimensional regularization scheme; the remaining IR divergences appear as polar singularities in (D-4). The result is presented in terms of 1- and 2-dimensional harmonic polylogarithms, of maximum weight 3.
A non-linear Schwinger-Dyson (SD) equation for the gauge boson propagator of massless QED in one time and two spatial dimensions is studied. It is shown that the nonperturbative solution leads to a nontrivial renormalization-group infrared fixed point quantitatively close to the one found in the leading order of the 1/N expansion, with N the number of fermion flavors. In the gauged Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (GNJL) model an equation for the Yukawa vertex is solved in an approximation given by the one-photon exchange and an analytic expression is derived for the propagator of the scalar fermion-antifer…
We study the dimensionally regularized fermion propagator Dyson-Schwinger equation in quenched nonperturbative QED. We work in arbitrary covariant gauge and perform nonperturbative renormalization numerically. The nonperturbative fermion propagator is solved in D = 4 - 2 * epsilon dimensional Euclidean space for a large number of values of epsilon. Results for D=4 dimensions are then obtained by extrapolation to epsilon = 0. Here we present results using the Curtis-Penningon fermion-photon proper vertex for two values of the coupling, namely alpha=0.6 and alpha=1.5, and compare these to previo…
A series of exact BPS solutions are found for single and double domain walls in N=2 supersymmetric (SUSY) QED for finite gauge coupling constants. Vector fields are found to be massive, although it is localized on the wall. Massless modes can be assembled into a chiral scalar multiplet of the preserved N=1 SUSY, after an appropriate gauge choice. The low-energy effective Lagrangian for the massless fields is obtained for the finite gauge coupling. The inter-wall force is found to be much stronger than the known infinite coupling case. The previously proposed expansion in inverse powers of the …
We introduce a hierarchy of closed equations for charge density correlation functions in the Hubbard model and $2 + 1$ dimensional QED. Each step in the hierarchy can be considered a large $N$ truncation of an exact, but infinite set of equations relating all $k-$point charge correlators. $N$ is the number of fermion spin components. Each step in the hierarchy sums up an infinite number of large $N$ diagrams, including all diagrams up to some fixed order, for $k$ point functions with $k \leq K$. Higher point functions are replaced with their leading large $N$ behavior. The simplest truncation …
Previous analytical studies of quantum electrodynamics in $2+1$ dimensions (QED3) have shown the existence of a critical number of fermions for onset of chiral symmetry breaking, the most known being the value $N_c\approx3.28$ obtained by Nash to $1/N^2$ order in the $1/N$ expansion [16]. This analysis is reconsidered by solving the Dyson-Schwinger equations for the fermion propagator and the vertex to show that the more accurate gauge independent value is $N_c\approx2.85$, and for $N<N_c$ the chiral symmetry is dynamically broken. An estimate for the value of chiral condensate $\langle\barψψ\…
QED is studied at low temperature ($T\ll m$, where $m$ is the electron mass) and zero chemical potential. By integrating out the electron field and the nonzero bosonic Matsubara modes, we construct an effective three-dimensional field theory that is valid at distances $R\gg1/T$. As applications, we reproduce the ring-improved free energy and calculate the Debye mass to order $e^5$.
We calculate the three- and four-loop corrections to the massless fermion propagator in three-dimensional quenched Quantum Electrodynamics with four-component fermions. The three-loop correction is finite and gauge invariant but the four-loop one has singularities except in the Feynman gauge where it is also finite. Our results explicitly show that, up to four loops, gauge-dependent terms are completely determined by lower order ones in agreement with the Landau-Khalatnikov-Fradkin transformation.
We construct a Lifshitz-like version of five-dimensional (5D) QED which is UV - completed and reduces at low energies to ordinary 5D QED. The UV quantum behaviour of this theory is very smooth. In particular, the gauge coupling constant is finite at all energy scales and at all orders in perturbation theory. We study the IR properties of this theory, when compactified on a circle, and compare the one-loop energy dependence of the coupling in the Lifshitz theory with that coming from the standard 5D QED effective field theory. The range of validity of the 5D effective field theory is found to a…
The Breit-Wheeler pair production process in $2+1$ dimensional spacetime is investigated. In the perturbative regime, non-vanishing rates at the energy threshold are found when odd numbers of photons take part on the reaction. This behaviour is understood as a direct consequence of the reduced dimensionality and resembles a corresponding prediction made in gapped graphene monolayers. In the non-perturbative strong field regime the effect of the dimensionality manifests itself in a different rate dependence on the quantum non-linearity parameter. The consequence of this deviation is discussed b…
We study quantum electrodynamics in 1+1 dimensions in the light--front frame using numerical methods. We analyze confinement and charge screening which are key features of this system. By direct analysis of wavefunctions of bound states in two parton sector we determine the string tension. In four parton sector we introduce inclusive distributions and inspect structure of energy eigenstates. We conclude that they are composed of two weakly interacting $f\bar f$ pairs. These four particle states are responsible for the screening. Finally, we study time evolution of a fermion--antifermion state …
We study dynamical symmetry breaking in three-dimensional QED with a Chern-Simons (CS) term, considering the screening effect of $N$ flavor fermions. We find a new phase of the vacuum, in which both the fermion mass and a magnetic field are dynamically generated, when the coefficient of the CS term $κ$ equals $N e^2/4 π$. The resultant vacuum becomes the finite-density state half-filled by fermions. For $κ=N e^2/2 π$, we find the fermion remains massless and only the magnetic field is induced. For $κ=0$, spontaneous magnetization does not occur and should be regarded as an external field.
We consider QED on a two-dimensional Euclidean torus with $f$ flavors of massless fermions and flavor-dependent chemical potentials. The dependence of the partition function on the chemical potentials is reduced to a $(2f-2)$-dimensional theta function. At zero temperature, the system can exist in an infinite number of phases characterized by certain values of traceless number densities and separated by first-order phase transitions. Furthermore, there exist many points in the $(f-1)$-dimensional space of traceless chemical potentials where two or three phases can coexist for $f=3$ and two, th…
We calculate the quantum corrections to the mass of the zero mode of the fifth component of the gauge field at two-loop level in a five dimensional massless QED compactified on S^1. We discuss in detail how the divergences are exactly canceled and the mass becomes finite. The key ingredients to obtain the result are the five dimensional gauge invariance and the Ward-Takahashi identity. We also evaluate the finite part of corrections.
We consider QED in five dimensions in a configuration where matter is localized on a 3-brane while foton propagates in the bulk. The idea is to investigate the effects of the Kaluza-Klein modes of the photon in the relativistic regime, but in low energy, and in the nonrelativistic regime. In the relativistic regime, we calculate the cross section for the reaction $e^+ + e^- \to μ^+ + μ^-$. We compare our theoretical result with a precise measurement of this cross section at $\sqrt{s}=57.77$ GeV. As result, we extract a lower bound on the size of the extra dimension. In the nonrelativistic regi…
Dynamical symmetry breaking in three dimensional QED with $N$ flavors, which has been mostly analyzed by solving the Schwinger-Dyson equations, is investigated by means of the approximated Wilson, or non-perturbative, renormalization group (RG). We study the RG flows of the gauge coupling and the general four-fermi couplings allowed by the symmetry with concentrating our interest on study of the phase structure. The RG equations have no gauge parameter dependence in our approximation scheme. It is found that there exist chirally broken and unbroken phases for $N > N_{\rm cr}$ ($3 < N_{\rm cr} …
At leading order, the $S$-matrices in QED and gravity are known to factorise, providing unambiguous determinations of the parts divergent due to infrared contributions. The soft $S$-matrices defined in this fashion are shown to be defined entirely in terms of $2$ dimensional models on the celestial sphere, involving two real scalar fields, allowing us to express the soft $S$-matrices for real as well as virtual divergences as two dimensional correlation functions. We discuss what this means for finding holographic representations of scattering amplitudes in QED and gravity and comment on simpl…
By direct Monte-Carlo simulations it is shown that the anisotropic flows can be successfully described in the colour string picture with fusion and percolation provided anisotropy of particle emission from the fused string is taken into account. Quenching of produced particles in the strong colour field of the string is the basic mechanism for this anisotropy. The concrete realization of this mechanism is borrowed from the QED. Due to dependence of this mechanism on the external field strength the found flows grow with energy, with values for $v_2$ at LHC energies greater by ~15% than at RHIC …
We investigate fermion--anti-fermion production in 1+1 dimensional QED using real-time lattice techniques. In this non-perturbative approach the full quantum dynamics of fermions is included while the gauge field dynamics can be accurately represented by classical-statistical simulations for relevant field strengths. We compute the non-equilibrium time evolution of gauge invariant correlation functions implementing 'low-cost' Wilson fermions. Introducing a lattice generalization of the Dirac-Heisenberg-Wigner function, we recover the Schwinger formula in 1+1 dimensions in the limit of a static…
We study two-dimensional QED with unequal charges at finite temperature, and show that there is a phase with a spontaneously broken $Z_n$ symmetry. In spite of this, we were not able to establish the presence of domain walls. The relevance for QCD in higher dimensions is discussed.
The effective action for local composite operators in $QED_3$ is considered. The effective potential is calculated in leading order in $1/N_f$ ($N_f$ is the number of fermion flavors) and used to describe the features of the phase transition at $N_f=N_{\rm cr}$, $3<N_{\rm cr}<5$. It is shown that this continuous phase transition satisfies the criteria of the conformal phase transition, considered recently in the literature. In particular, there is an abrupt change of the spectrum of light excitations at the critical point, although the phase transition is continuous, and the structure of the e…
In (2+1)-dimensional QED with a Chern-Simons term, we show that spontaneous magnetization occurs in the context of finite density vacua, which are the lowest Landau levels fully or half occupied by fermions. Charge condensation is shown to appear so as to complement the fermion anti-fermion condensate, which breaks the flavor U(2N) symmetry and causes fermion mass generation. The solutions to the Schwinger-Dyson gap equation show that the fermion self-energy contributes to the induction of a finite fermion density and/or fermion mass. The magnetization can be supported by charge condensation f…
