We analyze generalizations of the Schwinger model with more massless fermions and more vector fields. We focus on models with the gauge structure of ``diagonal color $SU(n)$'' but unlike previous investigators, we do not assume that all the gauge boson masses are the same. Unlike the Schwinger model, these are Banks-Zaks models with conformal sectors that survive at long distances. In addition to local operators that go to ``unparticle operators'' with non-zero anomalous dimensions at long distances, they contain local operators like the $\barψ_Lψ_R$ operator in the Schwinger model which go to constants at long distances. These operators have calculable vacuum expectation values (up to phases). Cluster decomposition applied to correlation functions involving these operators yields nontrivial and calculable non-perturbative constraints on correlation functions. One consequence is ``conformal coalescence'' in which linear combinations of short distance operators disappear from the long-distance theory, leaving only one kind of unparticle stuff in the low-energy theory. We believe that our detailed analysis of diagonal color $SU(n)$ paints an appealing picture of unparticle operators as the result of an incomplete binding of the massless fermions. We complete the picture (and the binding) by analyzing the diagonal color $U(n)$ model with a very small $U(1)$ coupling and thus a gauge boson with a dynamical mass much smaller than the other masses in the model. This model has a mass gap and we can see explicitly the transition from free-fermion behavior at short distances to unparticle physics at intermediate distances to the physics of massive particles at long distances.
We show that the requirement of gauge invariance is not enough to fix the form of interactions between unparticles and gauge fields, thus revealing a wide new class of gauged unparticle actions. Our approach also allows us to construct operators which create gauge invariant coloured unparticles. We discuss both their perturbative and non--perturbative properties.
The Sommerfield model with a massive vector field coupled to a massless fermion in 1+1 dimensions is an exactly solvable analog of a Bank-Zaks model. The `physics' of the model comprises a massive boson and an unparticle sector that survives at low energy as a conformal field theory (Thirring model). I discuss the `Schwinger point' of the Sommerfield model in which the vector boson mass goes to zero. The limit is singular but gauge invariant quantities should be well-defined. I give a number of examples, both (trivially) with local operators and with nonlocal products connected by Wilson lines…
I discuss the 2-flavor Schwinger model with $θ=0$ and small equal and opposite fermion masses (or $θ=π$ with equal masses). The massless model has an unparticle sector with unbroken conformal symmetry. I argue that this special mass term modifies the conformal sector without breaking the conformal symmetry. I show in detail how mass-perturbation-theory works for correlators of flavor-diagonal fermion scalar bilinears. The result provides quantitative evidence that the theory has no mass gap for small non-zero fermion masses. The massive fermions are bound into conformally invariant unparticle …
The Sommerfield model with a massive vector field coupled to a massless fermion in 1+1 dimensions is an exactly solvable analog of a Bank-Zaks model. The "physics" of the model comprises a massive boson and an unparticle sector that survives at low energy as a conformal field theory (Thirring model). We analyze generalizations of the Sommerfield model, and the corresponding generalizations of the Schwinger model, with more massless fermions and more vector fields.
The possibility of the presence of unparticle has been discussed recently adding a mass like term for gauge field with the Vector Schwinger model at the classical level \cite{GEOR1}. A one loop correction due to bosonization is taken into account and investigation is carried over to study the effect of it in connection with the unparticle scenario. It has been found that mass of the gauge boson acquires a generalized expression with the bare coupling constant and the parameters involved in the masslike terms added at the classical level term as well the terms entered in the model during the on…
For the exactly solvable Schwinger model one interesting question is how to infer the exact solution from perturbation theory. We give a systematic procedure of deriving the exact solution from Feynman diagrams of arbitrary order for arbitrary $n$-point functions. As a byproduct, from perturbation theory we derive exact integral equations that the $n$-point functions have to obey.
\noindent The well-known exact solution of the massless Schwinger model can be simply obtained by perturbing around a vacuum without the Dirac sea of filled negative energy states. The unusual vacuum structure changes the sign of the $iε$ prescription at the negative energy pole of the free fermion propagator. Consequently, all convergent fermion loop integrals vanish. The logarithmically divergent two-point loop gives a mass $e/\sqrtπ$ to the photon, which turns into the free pointlike boson of the Schwinger model. We discuss the possiblity of using corresponding expansions to describe charge…
The Sauter-Schwinger effect predicts the creation of electron-positron pairs out of the quantum vacuum by a strong and slowly varying electric field. This effect can be dynamically assisted by an additional weaker time-dependent field, which may drastically enhance the pair-creation probability. In previous studies, it has been found that the enhancement may crucially depend on the temporal shape of this weaker pulse, e.g., a Gaussian profile $\exp\{-(ωt)^2\}$ or a Sauter pulse $1/\cosh^2(ωt)$ behave quite differently. In order to understand this difference, we make a perturbative expansion in…
I discuss the 2-flavor Schwinger model both without and with fermion masses. I argue that the concept of "conformal coalescence," in unparticle physics in which linear combinations of short distance operators can disappear from the long-distance theory, makes it easy to understand some puzzling features of the model with small fermion masses. In particular, I argue that for an average fermion mass $m_f$ and a mass difference $δm$, so long as both are small compared to the dynamical gauge boson mass $m=e\sqrt{2/π}$, isospin breaking effects in the low energy theory are exponentially suppressed …
Since any non-trivial infrared dynamics in strongly correlated electron matter must be controlled by a critical fixed point, we argue that the form of the single-particle propagator can be deduced simply by imposing scale invariance. As a consequence, the unparticle picture proposed by Georgi\cite{georgi} is the natural candidate to describe such dynamics. Unparticle stuff is scale-invariant matter with no particular mass. Scale invariance dictates that the propagator has an algebraic form which can admit zeros and hence is a candidate to explain the ubiquitous pseudogap state of the cuprates.…
In this article, we review recent theoretical works on the Schwingermechanism of particle production in external electrical fields. Although the non-perturbative Schwinger mechanism is at the center of this discussion, many of the approaches that we discuss can cope with general time and space dependent fields, and therefore also capture the perturbative contributions to particle production.
We study the non-perturbative production of gluon pairs from a constant SU(3) chromo-electric background field via the Schwinger mechanism. We fix the covariant background gauge with an arbitrary gauge parameter α. We determine the transverse momentum distribution of the gluons, as well as the total probability of creating pairs per unit space time volume. We find that the result is independent of the covariant gauge parameter αused to define arbitrary covariant background gauges. We find that our non-perturbative result is both gauge invariant and gauge parameter αindependent.
The variational Hamiltonian approach to Quantum Chromodynamics in Coulomb gauge is investigated within the framework of the canonical recursive Dyson--Schwinger equations. The dressing of the quark propagator arising from the variationally determined non-perturbative kernels is expanded and renormalized at one-loop order, yielding a chiral condensate compatible with the observations.
A generalized chiral Schwinger model is studied by means of perturbative techniques. Explicit expressions are obtained, both for bosonic and fermionic propagators, and compared to the ones derived by means of functional techniques. In particular a consistent recipe is proposed to describe the ambiguity occurring in the regularization of the fermionic determinant. The role of the gauge fixing term, which is needed to develop perturbation theory and the behaviour of the spectrum as a function of the parameters are clarified together with ultraviolet and infrared properties of the model.
In this paper, we discuss the noncommutative QED$_2$ in the S-matrix framework. We are interested in perturbatively proving that the exact Schwinger mass $μ^2=\frac{e^2}π$ does not receive noncommutative corrections to any order in loop expansion. In this sense, the S-matrix approach is useful since it allows us to work with the effective action $Γ[A]$ (interaction term) to compute the corresponding gauge field 1PI two-point function at higher orders. Furthermore, by means of $α^*$-cohomology, we generalize the QED$_2$ S-matrix analysis in the Moyal star product to all translation-invariant st…
We discuss the Hamiltonian formulation of the Schwinger proper-time method of calculating Green functions in gauge theories. Instead of calculating Feynman diagrams, we solve the corresponding Dyson-Schwinger equations. We express the solutions in terms of vertex operators, which consist of the zero modes of the vertex operators appearing in string theories. We show how color decomposition arises in this formalism at tree level. At the one-loop level, we arrive at expressions similar to those obtained in the background gauge. In both cases, no special gauge-fixing procedure is needed.
We obtain an exact result for the non-perturbative quark (antiquark) production rate and its p_T distribution from a constant SU(3) chromo-electric field E^a with arbitary color index $a$ by directly evaluating the path integral. Unlike the WKB tunneling result, which depends only on one gauge invariant quantity |E|, the strength of the chromo-electric field, we find that the exact result for the p_T distribution for quark (antiquark) production rate depends on two independent Casimir (gauge) invariants, E^aE^a and [d_{abc}E^aE^bE^c]^2.
The zeta-function regularization method is used to evaluate the renormalized effective action for massless conformally coupling scalar field propagating in a closed Friedman spacetime perturbed by a small rotation. To the second order of the rotational parameter in the model spacetime the analytic form of the effective action is obtained with the help of the Schwinger perturbation formula. After investigating the time evolution of the rotational parameter we find that the quantum field effect can produce an effect which damps the cosmological rotational in the early universe.
We study the Schwinger mechanism for the pair production of fermions in the presence of an arbitrary time-dependent background electric field E(t) by directly evaluating the path integral. We obtain an exact non-perturbative result for the probability of fermion-antifermion pair production per unit time per unit volume per unit transverse momentum (of the fermion or antifermion) from the arbitrary time dependent electric field E(t) via Schwinger mechanism. We find that the exact non-perturbative result is independent of all the time derivatives d^nE(t)/dt^n, where n=1,2,....\infty. This result…
For certain quantum field theories, the Kreimer-Connes Hopf-algebraic approach to renormalization reduces the Dyson-Schwinger equations to a system of non-linear ordinary differential equations for the expansion coefficients of the renormalized Green's function. We apply resurgent asymptotic analysis to find the trans-series solutions which provide the non-perturbative completion of these formal Dyson-Schwinger expansions. We illustrate the general approach with the concrete example of four dimensional massless Yukawa theory, connecting with the exact functional solution found by Broadhurst an…
Within the framework of the Dyson-Schwinger equations in the axial gauge, we study the effect that non-perturbative glue has on the quark propagator. We show that Ward-Takahashi identities, combined with the requirement of matching perturbative QCD at high momentum transfer, guarantee the multiplicative renormalisability of the answer. Technically, the matching with perturbation theory is accomplished by the introduction of a transverse part to the quark-gluon vertex. We show that this transverse vertex is crucial for chiral symmetry breaking, and that massless solutions exist below a critical…
The advantageous points of ERG in applications to non-perturbative analyses of quantum field theories are discussed in comparison with the Schwinger-Dyson equations. First we consider the relation between these two formulations specially by examining the large N field theories. In the second part we study the phase structure of dynamical symmetry breaking in three dimensional QED as a typical example of the practical applications.
In this expository article we review recent advances in our understanding of the combinatorial and algebraic structure of perturbation theory in terms of Feynman graphs, and Dyson-Schwinger equations. Starting from Lie and Hopf algebras of Feynman graphs, perturbative renormalization is rephrased algebraically. The Hochschild cohomology of these Hopf algebras leads the way to Slavnov-Taylor identities and Dyson-Schwinger equations. We discuss recent progress in solving simple Dyson-Schwinger equations in the high energy sector using the algebraic machinery. Finally there is a short account on …
We study non-perturbative gluon pair production from arbitrary time dependent chromo-electric field E^a(t) with arbitrary color index a =1,2,...8 via Schwinger mechanism in arbitrary covariant background gauge α. We show that the probability of non-perturbative gluon pair production per unit time per unit volume per unit transverse momentum \frac{dW}{d^4xd^2p_T} is independent of gauge fixing parameter α. Hence the result obtained in the Fynman-'t Hooft gauge, α=1, is the correct gauge invariant and gauge parameter αindependent result.
Using previously described functional techniques for some non-perturbative, gauge invariant, renormalized QCD processes, a simplified version of the amplitudes - in which forms akin to Pomerons naturally appear - provides fits to ISR and LHC-TOTEM pp elastic scattering data. Those amplitudes rely on a specific function $ϕ(b)$ which describes the fluctuations of the transverse position of quarks inside hadrons.
We propose a numerical method for resummation of perturbative series, which is based on the stochastic perturbative solution of Schwinger-Dyson equations. The method stochastically estimates the coefficients of perturbative series, and incorporates Borel resummation in a natural way. Similarly to the "worm" algorithm, the method samples open Feynman diagrams, but with an arbitrary number of external legs. As a test of our numerical algorithm, we study the scale dependence of the renormalized coupling constant in a theory of one-component scalar field with quartic interaction. We confirm the tr…
We analyze the asymptotically free massless scalar $ϕ^3$ quantum field theory in 6 dimensions, using resurgent asymptotic analysis to find the trans-series solutions which yield the non-perturbative completion of the divergent perturbative solutions to the Kreimer-Connes Hopf-algebraic Dyson-Schwinger equations for the anomalous dimension. This scalar conformal field theory is asymptotically free and has a real Lipatov instanton. In the Hopf-algebraic approach we find a trans-series having an intricate Borel singularity structure, with three distinct but resonant non-perturbative terms, each r…
A method for solving Schwinger-Dyson equations for the Green function generating functional of non-Abelian gauge theory is proposed. The method is based on an approximation of Schwinger-Dyson equations by exactly soluble equations. For the SU(2) model the first step equations of the iteration scheme are solved which define a gauge field propagator. Apart from the usual perturbative solution, a non-perturbative solution is found which corresponds to the spontaneous symmetry breaking and obeys infrared finite behaviour of the propagator.
We study idealizations of the full nonlinear Schwinger-Dyson equations for the asymptotically free theory of $ϕ^3$ in six dimensions in its meta-stable vacuum. We begin with the cubic nonlinearity and go on to all-order nonlinearities which contain instanton effects. We show how our toy models of the cubic Schwinger-Dyson equations contain the usual diseases of perturbation theory in the massless limit (e.g., factorially divergent $β-$functions, singular Borel-transform kernels associated with infrared renormalons) and show how these models yield specific mechanisms for removing such singulari…
A new approximation scheme for non-perturbative calculations in a quantum field theory is proposed. The scheme is based on investigation of solutions of the Schwinger equation with its singular character taken into account. As a necessary supplementary boundary condition the Green functions' connected structures correspondence principle is used. Besides the usual perturbation theory expansion which is always available as a particular solution of our scheme some non-perturbative solutions of an equation for the propagator are found in the model of a self-interacting scalar field.
We propose a new catalysis mechanism for non-perturbative vacuum electron-positron pair production, by superimposing a plane-wave X-ray probe beam with a strongly focused optical laser pulse, such as is planned at the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) facility. We compute the absorption coefficient arising from vacuum polarization effects for photons below threshold in a strong electric field. This set-up should facilitate the (first) observation of this non-perturbative QED effect with planned light sources such as ELI yielding an envisioned intensity of order 10^{26}W/cm^2.
Building on our previous works on perturbative solutions to a Schwinger-Dyson for the massless Wess-Zumino model, we show how to compute 1/n corrections to its asymptotic behavior. The coefficients are analytically determined through a sum on all the poles of the Mellin transform of the one loop diagram. We present results up to the fourth order in 1/n as well as a comparison with numerical results. Unexpected cancellations of zetas are observed in the solution, so that no even zetas appear and the weight of the coefficients is lower than expected, which suggests the existence of more structur…
Truncated Dyson-Schwinger equations represent finite subsets of the equations of motion for Green's functions. Solutions to these non-linear integral equations can account for non-perturbative correlations. We describe the solution to the Dyson-Schwinger equation for the gluon propagator of Landau gauge QCD in the Mandelstam approximation. This involves a combination of numerical and analytic methods: An asymptotic infrared expansion of the solution is calculated recursively. In the ultraviolet, the problem reduces to an analytically solvable differential equation. The iterative solution is th…
We study symmetries of quantum field theories involving topologically distinct sectors of the field space. To exhibit these symmetries we define special gauge invariant observables, which we call the $qq$-characters. In the context of the BPS/CFT correspondence, using these observables, we derive an infinite set of Dyson-Schwinger-type relations. These relations imply that the supersymmetric partition functions in the presence of $Ω$-deformation and defects obey the Ward identities of two dimensional conformal field theory and its $q$-deformations. The details will be discussed in the companio…
A recent QCD formulation that is non-perturbative, finite, gauge-invariant, exact emerged from Schwinger's Generating Functional. A first test of the validity of this formulation is provided here against elastic proton-proton scattering at the Intersecting Storage Rings, ISR, energies. Extension to LHC energies is underway.
We consider a 3+1 dimensional field theory at a Lifshitz point for a dynamical critical exponent z=3, with a scalar and a fermion field coupled via a Yukawa interaction. Using the non-perturbative Schwinger-Dyson approach we calculate quantum corrections to the effective action. We demonstrate that a first order derivative kinetic term as well as a mass term for the fermion arise dynamically. This signals the restoration of Lorentz symmetry in the IR regime of the single fermion model, although for theories with more than one fermionic species such a conclusion will require fine-tuning of coup…
The non-perturbative domain of QCD contains confinement, chiral symmetry breaking, and the bound state spectrum. For the calculation of the latter, the Coulomb gauge is particularly well-suited. Access to these non-perturbative properties should be possible by means of the Green's functions. However, Coulomb gauge is also very involved, and thus hard to tackle. We introduce a novel BRST-type operator r, and show that the left-hand side of Gauss' law is r-exact. We investigate a possible truncation scheme of the Dyson-Schwinger equations in first-order formalism for the propagators based on an …
The celebrated exactly solvable "Schwinger" model, namely massless two-dimensional QED, is revisited. The solution presented here emphasizes the non- perturbative relevance of the topological sector through large gauge transformations whose role is made manifest by compactifying space into a circle. Eventually the well-known non-perturbative features and solution of the model are recovered in the massless case. However the fermion mass term is shown to play a subtle role in order to achieve a physical quantization that accounts for gauge invariance under both small and large gauge symmetries. …
We investigate the non-perturbative degrees of freedom in the class of non-local Higgs theories that have been proposed as an ultraviolet completion 4-D Quantum Field Theory (QFT) generalizing the kinetic energy operators to an infinite series of higher derivatives inspired by string field theory. At the perturbative level, the degrees of freedom of non-local Higgs are the same of the local theory. We prove that, at the non-perturbative level, the physical spectrum of the Higgs mass is actually corrected from the "infinite number of derivatives" present in the action. The technique we use perm…
We develop a non-perturbative functional framework for computing real-time correlation functions in strongly correlated systems. The framework is based on the spectral representation of correlation functions and dimensional regularisation. Therefore, the non-perturbative spectral renormalisation setup here respects all symmetries of the theories at hand. In particular this includes space-time symmetries as well as internal symmetries such as chiral symmetry, and gauge symmetries. Spectral renormalisation can be applied within general functional approaches such as the functional renormalisation…
We discuss Faddeev-Popov quantization at the non-perturbative level and show that Gribov's prescription of cutting off the functional integral at the Gribov horizon does not change the Schwinger-Dyson equations, but rather resolves an ambiguity in the solution of these equations. We note that Gribov's prescription is not exact, and we therefore turn to the method of stochastic quantization in its time-independent formulation, and recall the proof that it is correct at the non-perturbative level. The non-perturbative Landau gauge is derived as a limiting case, and it is found that it yields the…
We present the Hopf algebra of renormalization and introduce the renormalization group equation in this framework. Some linear Schwinger--Dyson equations are studied, and exact solutions are presented. Then we study the Schwinger--Dyson equation of the massless Wess--Zumino model in the physical plane and in the Borel plane. In the former the asymptotics of the solution of the Schwinger--Dyson equation is found and its perturbations are computed. In the later we study the singularities of the solution and their transcendental contents. The last chapter is a presentation of the BV formalism see…
The full solution of technicolor (TC) Schwinger-Dyson equations should include radiative corrections induced by extended technicolor (ETC) (or other) interactions. We verify that when TC is embedded into a larger theory including also QCD, these radiative corrections couple the different strongly interacting Schwinger-Dyson equations, providing a tiny mass to technifermions and changing the ultraviolet behavior of the gap equation solution. We argue about the origin of the different quark masses without appealing for different ETC boson masses, in one scenario where most of the new physics wil…
We analyze symmetries corresponding to separated topological sectors of 3d ${\cal} N=4$ gauge theories with Higgs vacua, compactified on a circle. The symmetries are encoded in Schwinger-Dyson identities satisfied by correlation functions of a certain gauge-invariant operator, the "vortex character." Such a character observable is realized as the vortex partition function of the 3d gauge theory, in the presence of a 1/2-BPS line defect. The character enjoys a double refinement, interpreted as a deformation of the usual characters of finite-dimensional representations of quantum affine algebras…
Non-perturbative electron-positron pair creation (Schwinger effect) is studied based on the equal-time Wigner formalism in 1+1 dimensions. An ab initio calculation of the Schwinger effect in the presence of a simple space- and time-dependent electric field pulse is performed for the first time, allowing for the calculation of the time evolution of observable quantities such as the charge density, the particle number density or the total number of created particles. We predict a new self-bunching effect of charges in phase space due to the spatial and temporal structure of the pulse.
We present the first rigorous construction of the QFT Thirring model, for any value of the mass, in a functional integral approach, by proving that a set of Grassmann integrals converges, as the cutoffs are removed, to a set of Schwinger functions verifying the Osterwalder-Schrader axioms. The massless limit is investigated and it is shown that the Schwinger functions have different properties with respect to the ones of the well known exact solution: the Ward Identities have anomalies violating the anomaly non-renormalization property and additional anomalies, apparently unnoticed before, are…
