We give some remarks on exact quantization conditions associated with quantized mirror curves of local Calabi-Yau threefolds, conjectured in arXiv:1410.3382. It is shown that they characterize a non-perturbative completion of the refined topological strings in the Nekrasov-Shatashvili limit. We find that the quantization conditions enjoy an exact S-dual invariance. We also discuss Borel summability of the semi-classical spectrum.
In the comment to the article by J.Baez and K.Krasnov (hep-th/9703112) are discussed some topics related with application of certain constructions to non-trivial principal bundles.
We compute characters of the BMS group in three dimensions. The approach is the same as that performed by Witten in the case of coadjoint orbits of the Virasoro group in the eighties, within the large central charge approximation. The procedure involves finding a Poisson bracket between classical variables and the corresponding commutator of observables in a Hilbert space, explaining why we call this a quantization. We provide first a pedagogical warm up by applying the method to both SL(2,R) and Poincaré3 groups. As for BMS3, our results coincide with the characters of induced representations…
Gotay showed that a representation of the whole Poisson algebra of the torus given by geometric quantization is irreducible with respect to the most natural overcomplete set of observables. We study this representation and argue that it cannot be considered as physically acceptable. In particular, classically bounded observables are quantized by operators with unbounded spectrum. Effectively, the latter amounts to lifting the constraints that compactify both directions in the torus.
We make a simple observation that the massless continuous spin representations of the Poincaré group are not present in perturbative string theory constructions. This represents one of the very few model-independent low-energy consequences of these models.
There is no conclusive theoretical argument that would require the quantization of the gravitational field. A paradox presented by Mari et al. [Sci. Rep. 6, 22777 (2016)] and its resolution by Belenchia et al. [Phys. Rev. D 98, 126009 (2018)] did not change anything about this assertion. Despite being interesting in other respects, efforts of a recent work by Ryding, Aurell, and Pikovski [arXiv:2107.07514] to further establish the inconclusiveness of the question of necessity of quantization are futile.
In the paper "Constraint Quantization of Open String in Background $B$ field and Noncommutative D-brane", it is claimed that the boundary conditions lead to an infinite set of secondary constraints and Dirac brackets result in a non-commutative Poisson structure for D-brain. Here we show that contrary to the arguments in that paper, the set of secondary constraints on the boundary is finite and the non-commutativity algebra can not be obtained by evaluating the Dirac brackets.
We report a rigorous quantization of topological quantum mechanics on $\mathbb{R}_{\geqslant 0}$ and $\mathbf{I}= [0, 1]$ in perturbative BV-BFV formalism. Costello's homotopic renormalization is extended, and incorporated in our construction. Moreover, BV quantization of the same model studied in our previous work is derived from the BV-BFV quantization, leading to a comparison between different interpretations of ''state'' in these two frameworks.
A perturbative formulation of algebraic field theory is presented, both for the classical and for the quantum case, and it is shown that the relation between them may be understood in terms of deformation quantization.
The quantum mechanical transition amplitudes are calculated perturbatively on the basis of the stochastic quantization method of Parisi and Wu. It is shown that the stochastic scheme reproduces the ordinary result for the amplitude and systematically incorporates higher-order effects, even at the lowest order.
We study the S-matrix of two-dimensional λϕ^4 theory in Discretized Light Cone Quantization and show how the correct continuum limit is reached for various processes in lowest order perturbation theory.
The Comment by Amore {\it et al.} [gr-qc/0611029] contains a valid criticism of the numerical precision of the results reported in a recent paper of ours [Phys. Rev. D {\bf 73}, 044022 (2006)], as well as fresh ideas on how to characterize a quantum cosmological singularity. However, we argue that, contrary to what is suggested in the Comment, the quantum cosmological models we studied show hardly any sign of singular behavior.
Inspired by recent connections between spectral theory and topological string theory, we propose exact quantization conditions for the relativistic Toda lattice of N particles. These conditions involve the Nekrasov-Shatashvili free energy, which resums the perturbative WKB expansion, but they require in addition a non-perturbative contribution, which is related to the perturbative result by an S-duality transformation of the Planck constant. We test the quantization conditions against explicit calculations of the spectrum for N=3. Our proposal can be generalized to arbitrary toric Calabi-Yau m…
We give a mathematical definition of dynamical evolution in quantum field theory, including evolution on space-like surfaces, and show its relationship with the axiomatic and perturbative approaches to QFT.
We describe a covariant framework to construct a globalized version for the perturbative quantization of nonlinear split AKSZ Sigma Models on manifolds with and without boundary, and show that it captures the change of the quantum state as one changes the constant map around which one perturbs. This is done by using concepts of formal geometry. Moreover, we show that the globalized quantum state can be interpreted as a closed section with respect to an operator that squares to zero. This condition is a generalization of the modified Quantum Master Equation as in the BV-BFV formalism, which we …
The BRST quantization of strings is revisited and the derivation of the path integral measure for scattering amplitudes is streamlined. Gauge invariances due to zero modes in the ghost sector are taken into account by using the Batalin-Vilkovisky formalism. This involves promoting the moduli of Riemann surfaces to quantum mechanical variables on which BRST transformations act. The familiar ghost and antighost zero mode insertions are recovered upon integrating out auxiliary fields. In contrast to the usual treatment, the gauge-fixed action including all zero mode insertions is BRST invariant. …
Quantum mechanics of a test particle interacting with a spinning string (torsion vortex) is the quantum mechanics of the celebrated Aharonov-Bohm effect. The angular momentum per unit length $J$ characterizing the spinning string corresponds to the magnetic flux $Φ$ of the Aharonov-Bom fluxon and the gravitational mass-energy $E$ of an incoming particle corresponds to the electric charge $q$. The characteristic periodicity of the gravitational Aharonov-Bohm scattering cross-section in the product of $GEJ$ has suggested a new quantization of mass-energy relation. We encounter a new physical sit…
This paper is mainly based on the talk I presented at the meeting "The Philosophy and Physics of Noether's Theorems" that took place 5-6 October 2018, but it also contains some original results that were inspired by discussions with mathematicians, physicists and philosophers about the problem of understanding the intrinsic meaning of gauge invariance. In this work, I argue that following the principles of locality, deformation and homology, one naturally ends up using the Batalin-Vilkovisky (BV) formalism in quantizing gauge theories. I start with the gentle introduction into the BV framework…
We describe a globalization construction for the Rozansky-Witten model in the BV-BFV formalism for a source manifold with and without boundary in the classical and quantum case. After having introduced the necessary background, we define an AKSZ sigma model, which, upon globalization through notions of formal geometry extended appropriately to our case, is shown to reduce to the Rozansky-Witten model. The relations with other relevant constructions in the literature are discussed. Moreover, we split the model as a $BF$-like theory and we construct a perturbative quantization of the model in th…
In this paper we address the issue of the non-perturbative quantization of Euclidean Yang-Mills theories in the Curci-Ferrari gauge. In particular, we construct a Refined Gribov-Zwanziger action for this gauge which takes into account the presence of gauge copies as well as the dynamical formation of dimension two condensates. This action enjoys a non-perturbative BRST symmetry recently proposed in \cite{Capri:2015ixa}. Finally, we give attention to the gluon propagator in different space-time dimensions.
Using the method of perturbative quantization in the first order approximation, we quantize a non-local QED-like theory including fermions and bosons whose interactions are described by terms containing higher order space-time derivatives. As an example, the two-dimensional space-time noncommutative QED (NC-QED) is quantized perturbatively up to O(e^2,θ^3), where e is the NC-QED coupling constant and θis the noncommutativity parameter. The resulting modified Lagrangian density is shown to include terms consisting of first order time-derivative and higher order space-derivatives of the modified…
We study the U(N) non-commutative Yang-Mills theory at the one-loop approximation. We check renormalizability and gauge invariance of the model and calculate the one-loop beta function. The interaction of the SU(N) gauge bosons with the U(1) gauge boson plays an important role in the consistency check. In particular, the SU(N) theory by itself is not consistent. We also find that the theta --> 0 limit of the U(N) theory does not converge to the ordinary SU(N) x U(1) commutative theory, even at the planar limit. Finally, we comment on the UV/IR mixing.
The area dependence of entanglement entropy of a free scalar field is often understood in terms of coupled harmonic oscillators. In Schrodinger quantization, the Gaussian nature of ground state wave-function for these oscillators is sufficient to provide the exact form of the reduced density matrix and its eigenvalues, thus giving the entanglement entropy. However, in polymer quantization, the ground state is not Gaussian and the formalism which can provide the exact analytical form of the reduced density matrix is not yet known. In order to address this issue, here we treat the interaction be…
We study a spectral problem associated to the quantization of a spectral curve arising in local mirror symmetry. The perturbative WKB quantization condition is determined by the quantum periods, or equivalently by the refined topological string in the Nekrasov-Shatashvili (NS) limit. We show that the information encoded in the quantum periods is radically insufficient to determine the spectrum: there is an infinite series of instanton corrections, which are non-perturbative in \hbar, and lead to an exact WKB quantization condition. Moreover, we conjecture the precise form of the instanton corr…
We investigate the non-perturbative quantization of phantom and ghost degrees of freedom by relating their representations in definite and indefinite inner product spaces. For a large class of potentials, we argue that the same physical information can be extracted from either representation. We provide a definition of the path integral for these theories, even in cases where the integrand may be exponentially unbounded, thereby removing some previous obstacles to their non-perturbative study. We apply our results to the study of ghost fields of Pauli-Villars and Lee-Wick type, and we show in …
We evaluate the thermodynamic quantities of Yang-Mills theory using the Gribov quantization, which deals with nonperturbative resummation. The magnetic scale is automatically incorporated into the framework and we find it efficient to stabilize the perturbative expansion of the free energy. In the temperature range $T=T_c \sim 2\,T_c$ the major uncertainty in our results comes from the nonperturbative running coupling that is adopted from the lattice simulation, while the convergence above $2\,T_c$ is impressively robust. We also present the corresponding interaction measure (i.e., trace anoma…
Based on work done by Bonechi, Cattaneo, Felder and Zabzine on Poisson sigma models, we formally show that Kontsevich's star product can be obtained from the twisted convolution algebra of the geometric quantization of a Lie 2-groupoid, one which integrates the Poisson structure. We show that there is an analogue of the Poisson sigma model which is valued in Lie 1-groupoids and which can often be defined non-perturbatively; it can be obtained by symplectic reduction using the quantization of the Lie 2-groupoid. We call these groupoid-valued sigma models and we argue that, when they exist, they…
We find that QCD in covariant gauge yields zero for the topological susceptibility, even at the nonperturbative level. The result is derived in two ways, one using translational invariance, and the other using the BRST Hamiltonian. Comparison with the canonical formalism suggests that QCD is not uniquely defined at the nonperturbative level. Supporting evidence is also provided in 1+1 dimensions. Our results imply that the strong CP problem admits a trivial resolution in covariant gauge, but obstacles remain for the U(1) problem.
We discuss string theory relations between gravity and gauge theory tree amplitudes. Together with $D$-dimensional unitarity, these relations can be used to perturbatively quantize gravity theories, i.e. they contain the necessary information for calculating complete gravity $S$-matrices to any loop orders. This leads to a practical method for computing non-trivial gravity $S$-matrix elements by relating them to much simpler gauge theory ones. We also describe arguments that N=8 D=4 supergravity is less divergent in the ultraviolet than previously thought.
We reduce the problem of quantization of the Yang-Mills field Hamiltonian to a problem for defining a probability measure on an infinite-dimensional space of gauge equivalence classes of connections on $\mathbb{R}^3$. We suggest a formally self-adjoint expression for the quantized Yang-Mills Hamiltonian as an operator on the corresponding Lebesgue $L^2$-space. In the case when the Yang-Mills field is associated to the Abelian group $U(1)$ we define the probability measure which depends on two real parameters $m>0$ and $c\neq 0$. This yields a non-standard quantization of the Hamiltonian of the…
Perturbative quantization of Yang-Mills theory with a gauge algebra given by the classical double of a semisimple Lie algebra is considered. The classical double of a real Lie algebra is a nonsemisimple real Lie algebra that admits a nonpositive definite invariant metric, the indefiniteness of the metric suggesting an apparent lack of unitarity. It is shown that the theory is UV divergent at one loop and that there are no radiative corrections at higher loops. One-loop UV divergences are removed through renormalization of the coupling constant, thus introducing a renormalization scale. The ter…
We propose and test exact quantization conditions for the $N$-particle quantum elliptic Ruijsenaars-Schneider integrable system, as well as its Calogero-Moser limit, based on the conjectural correspondence to the five-dimensional $\mathcal{N} = 1$ $SU(N)$ gauge theory in the Nekrasov-Shatashvili limit. We discuss two natural sets of quantization conditions, related by the electro-magnetic duality, and the importance of non-perturbative corrections in the Planck constant. We also comment on the eigenfunction problem, by reinterpreting the Separation of Variables approach in gauge theory terms.
We analyze further the IR singularities that appear in noncommutative field theories on R^d. We argue that all IR singularities in nonplanar one loop diagrams may be interpreted as arising from the tree level exchanges of new light degrees of freedom, one coupling to each relevant operator. These exchanges are reminiscent of closed string exchanges in the double twist diagrams in open string theory. Some of these degrees of freedom are required to have propagators that are inverse linear or logarithmic. We suggest that these can be interpreted as free propagators in one or two extra dimensions…
In this note we point out the striking relation between the conditions arising within geometric quantization and the non-perturbative Poisson sigma model. Starting from the Poisson sigma model, we analyze necessary requirements on the path integral measure which imply a certain integrality condition for the Poisson cohomology class $[α]$. The same condition was considered before by Crainic and Zhu but in a different context. In the case when $[α]$ is in the image of the sharp map we reproduce the Vaisman's condition for prequantizable Poisson manifolds. For integrable Poisson manifolds we show…
The non-perturbative validity of covariant BRST-quantization of gauge theories on compact Euclidean space-time manifolds is reviewed. BRST-quantization is related to the construction of a Topological Quantum Field Theory (TQFT) of Witten type on the gauge group. The criterion for the non-perturbative validity of the quantization is that the partition function of the corresponding TQFT does not vanish and that its (equivariant) BRST-algebra is free of anomalies. I sketch the construction of a TQFT whose partition function is proportional to the generalized Euler-characteristic of the coset spac…
The contribution of crossed gluon fields in flux tubes connecting quarks to the proton spin is calculated. The calculations are performed following non-perturbative Heisenberg's quantization technique. In our approach a proton is considered as consisting of three quarks connected by three flux tubes. The flux tubes contain color longitudinal electric and transversal electric and magnetic fields. The transversal fields causes the appearance of the angular momentum density. The dimensionless relation between the angular momentum and the mass of the gluon fields is obtained. The contribution to p…
In a perturbative approach Einstein-Hilbert gravity is quantized about a flat background. In order to render the model power counting renormalizable, higher order curvature terms are added to the action. They serve as Pauli-Villars type regulators and require an expansion in the number of fields in addition to the standard expansion in the number of loops. Renormalization is then performed within the BPHZL scheme, which provides the action principle to construct the Slavnov-Taylor identity and invariant differential operators. The final physical state space of the Einstein-Hilbert theory is re…
The non-perturbative path integral quantization of the electroweak model is confronted with an apparent instability when integrating over the Maxwell potential $A_μ$ due to the fast growth of the box graphs $AAAA$ and $AAAZ$ for large amplitude variations of $A_μ$. $Z_μ$ is from the vector part of the weak neutral current. These graphs are unavoidable because they are conditionally convergent and have to be isolated in the model's exact Euclidean one-loop effective action arising from its fermion determinants. A previous QED calculation of the large amplitude variation of its fermion determina…
The Cattaneo-Felder path integral form of the perturbative Kontsevich deformation quantization formula is used to explicitly demonstrate the existence of nonperturbative corrections to na\"ıve deformation quantization.
A hypothetical energy quantization condition is imposed in [1] (Francisco A. Cruz Neto {\it et al.}, arXiv : 1910.11701 [gr-qc]) in order to show consistent of the result with those in [2] but fail or unable to show consistency with those in [3].
In this paper, we discuss the gluon propagator in the linear covariant gauges in $D=2,3,4$ Euclidean dimensions. Non-perturbative effects are taken into account via the so-called Refined Gribov-Zwanziger framework. We point out that, as in the Landau and maximal Abelian gauges, for $D=3,4$, the gluon propagator displays a massive (decoupling) behaviour, while for $D=2$, a scaling one emerges. All results are discussed in a setup that respects the Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin (BRST) symmetry, through a recently introduced non-perturbative BRST transformation. We also propose a minimizing functiona…
A gauge condition is presented here to quantize non-Abelian gauge theory on the manifold $R\otimes S^{1}\otimes S^{1}\otimes S^{1}$, which is free from the Gribov ambiguity. Perturbative calculations in the new gauge behave like the axial gauge in ultraviolet region, while infrared behaviours of the perturbative series are quite nontrivial. The new gauge condition, which reads $n\cdot\partial n\cdot A=0$, may not satisfy the requirement that $A^μ(\infty)=0$ in conventional perturbative calculations. However, such contradiction is not harmful for gauge theories constructed on the manifold $R\ot…
The beta-ensemble with cubic potential can be used to study a quantum particle in a double-well potential with symmetry breaking term. The quantum mechanical perturbative energy arises from the ensemble free energy in a novel large N limit. A relation between the generating functions of the exact non-perturbative energy, similar in spirit to the one of Dunne-Unsal, is found. The exact quantization condition of Zinn-Justin and Jentschura is equivalent to the Nekrasov-Shatashvili quantization condition on the level of the ensemble. Refined topological string theory in the Nekrasov-Shatashvili li…
These lectures provide an introduction to perturbative string theory and its construction on spaces with background Ramond flux. Traditional covariant quantization of the string and its connection with vertex operators and conformal invariance of the worldsheet theory are reviewed. A supersymmetric covariant quantization of the superstring in six and ten spacetime dimensions is discussed. Correlation functions are computed with these variables. Applications to strings in anti-de Sitter backgrounds with Ramond flux are analyzed. Based on lectures presented at the Theoretical Advanced Study Inst…
We make a few general comments on the Renormalization Group flows in certain Yang-Mills theories in the vicinity of phase transitions. We then present a model in d=5 with non-periodic boundary conditions where a possible RG flow starts from the trivial point and ends on a quantum phase transition. Near the endpoint of the flow interesting comments can be made about the Higgs hierarchy problem.
Consider the Euclidean functional integral representation of any physical process in the electroweak model. Integrating out the fermion degrees of freedom introduces twenty-four fermion determinants. These multiply the Gaussian functional measures of the Maxwell, $Z$, $W$ and Higgs fields to give an effective functional measure. Suppose the functional integral over the Maxwell field is attempted first. This paper is concerned with the large amplitude behavior of the Maxwell effective measure. It is assumed that the large amplitude variation of this measure is insensitive to the presence of the…
We define the current of a quantum observable and, under well defined conditions, we connect its ensemble average to the index of a Fredholm operator. The present work builds on a formalism developed by Kellendonk and Schulz-Baldes \cite{Kellendonk:2004p597} to study the quantization of edge currents for continuous magnetic Schroedinger operators. The generalization given here may be a useful tool to scientists looking for novel manifestations of the topological quantization. As a new application, we show that the differential conductance of atomic wires is given by the index of a certain oper…
These notes contain some aspects of the holographic duality between the perturbative superstring on current-current deformations of $AdS_3\times S^1\times{\cal N}$ and single-trace $T\bar T$ and $J\bar T$ deformed $CFT_2$.
