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 realized via the quartet mechanism of Kugo and Ojima. Renormalization group and Callan-Symanzik equation are derived for the Green functions and, formally, also for the $S$-matrix.
The Hamiltonian (BFV) and Lagrangian (BV) quantization schemes are proved to be equivalent perturbatively to each other. It is shown in particular that the quantum master equation being treated perturbatively possesses a local formal solution.
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.
In this paper, a careful treatment of extraction of the Hilbert space and constraints from the formal functional integral with the Einstein-Hilbert action is given. The diffeomorphism inavariant measure is worked out using the metric of metrics. The procedure of quantizing the classical constraints is bypassed. Instead the relevant operator constraints are directly obtained from the functional integral, removing the ambiguities and uncertainties involved in guessing them from the classical theory. The novelties of the resulting formalism are briefly discussed.
The non-perturbative canonical quantization of the N=1 supergravity with the non-zero cosmological constant is studied using the Ashtekar formalism. A semi-classical wave function is obtained and it has the form of the exponential of the N=1 supersymmetric extension of the Chern-Simons functional. The N=1 supergravity in the Robertson-Walker universe is also examined and some analytic solutions are obtained. (We omit all graphs in the following LaTex file.)
A canonical analysis of the first-order two-dimensional Einstein-Hilbert action has shown it to have no physical degrees of freedom and to possess an unusual gauge symmetry with a symmetric field $ξ_{μν}$ acting as a gauge function. Some consequences of this symmetry are explored. The action is quantized and it is shown that all loop diagrams beyond one-loop order vanish. Furthermore, explicit calculation of the one-loop two-point function shows that it too vanishes, with the contribution of the ghost loop cancelling that of the ``graviton'' loop.
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 present a new point of view on the quantization of the gravitational field, namely we use exclusively the quantum framework of the second quantization. More explicitly, we take as one-particle Hilbert space, $H_{graviton}$ the unitary irreducible representation of the Poincaré group corresponding to a massless particle of helicity 2 and apply the second quantization procedure with Einstein-Bose statistics. The resulting Hilbert space ${\cal F}^{+}(H_{graviton})$ is, by definition, the Hilbert space of the gravitational field. Then we prove that this Hilbert space is canonically isomorphic t…
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 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 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…
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 Poincare invariance in the temporal gauge canonical quantization of QCD is shown manifestly by verifying the energy-momentum-vector and angular-momentum-tensor satisfy the Poincare algebra in the physical Hilbert space. Two different values of \(θ\) for the $θ$-term in QCD lagrangian lead to different representations of the Poincare group, which are, however, connected by an unitary transformation. Thus the parameter \(θ\) becomes physically irrelevant unless we can further restrict the physical Hilbert space.
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.
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.
We quantize in light cone gauge the bosonic sector of string theory on Anti-de Sitter space in the zero curvature radius limit. We find that the worldsheet falls apart into a theory of free partons and map the Hilbert space of the string theory to the Hilbert space of a free scalar in light-front description. We outline how the string worldsheet reproduces the field theory at weak coupling.
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…
We formulate and prove a Riemann-Hilbert correspondence between $\hbar$-differential equations and sheaf quantizations, which can be considered as a correspondence between two kinds of quantizations (deformation and sheaf quantization) of holomorphic cotangent bundles. The latter category is expected to be equivalent to a version of Fukaya category, which is a "quantization" of Lagrangian intersection theory. The ideas of the constructions are based on asymptotic/WKB analysis, which is related to geometric quantization.
In this paper, we use the parametrised strict deformation quantization of C*-bundles obtained in a previous paper, and give more examples and applications of this theory. In particular, it is used here to classify H_3-twisted noncommutative torus bundles over a locally compact space. This is extended to the case of general torus bundles and their parametrised strict deformation quantization. Rieffel's basic construction of an algebra deformation can be mimicked to deform a monoidal category, which deforms not only algebras but also modules. As a special case, we consider the parametrised stric…
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 analyze the quantization of dynamical systems that do not involve any background notion of space and time. We give a set of conditions for the introduction of an intrinsic time in quantum mechanics. We show that these conditions are a generalization of the usual procedure of deparametrization of relational theories with hamiltonian constraint that allow to include systems with an evolving Hilbert Space. We apply our quantization procedure to the parametrized free particle and to some explicit examples of dynamical system with an evolving Hilbert space. Finally, we conclude with some conside…
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 revise the problem of the quantization of relativistic particle models (spinless and spinning), presenting a modified consistent canonical scheme. One of the main point of the modification is related to a principally new realization of the Hilbert space. It allows one not only to include arbitrary backgrounds in the consideration but to get in course of the quantization a consistent relativistic quantum mechanics, which reproduces literally the behavior of the one-particle sector of the corresponding quantum field. In particular, in a physical sector of the Hilbert space a complete positive…
We consider the form of the path integral that follows from canonical quantization and apply it to the first order form of the Einstein-Hilbert action in $d > 2$ dimensions. We show that this is inequivalent to what is obtained from applying the Faddeev-Popov (FP) procedure directly. Due to the presence of tertiary first class constraints, the measure of the path integral is found to have a substantially different structure from what arises in the FP approach. In addition, the presence of second class constraints leads to non-trivial ghosts, which cannot be absorbed into the normalization of t…
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.
In twistor theory, the canonical quantization procedure, called twistor quantization, is performed with the twistor operators represented as \hat{Z}^{A}=Z^{A}(\in C) and \hat{\bar{Z}}_{A}=-\frac{\partial}{\partial Z^{A}}. However, it has not been clarified what kind of function spaces this representation is valid in. In the present paper, we try to find appropriate (pre-)Hilbert spaces in which the above representation is realized as an adjoint pair of operators. To this end, we define an inner product for the helicity eigenfunctions by an integral over the product space of the circular space …
We develop a new operator quantization scheme for gauge theories in which the dynamics of the ghost sector is described by an N=2 supersymmetry. In this scheme no gauge condition is imposed on the gauge fields. The corresponding path integral is explicitly Lorentz invariant and, in contrast to the BRST-BFV path integral in the Lorentz gauge, it is free of the Gribov ambiguity, i.e., it is also valid in the non-perturbative domain. The formalism can therefore be used to study the non-perturbative properties of gauge theories in the infra-red region (gluon confinement).
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…
We address problems associated with compactification near and on the light front. In perturbative scalar field theory we illustrate and clarify the relationships among three approaches: (1) quantization on a space-like surface close to a light front; (2) infinite momentum frame calculations; and (3) quantization on the light front. Our examples emphasize the difference between zero modes in space-like quantization and those in light front quantization. In particular, in perturbative calculations of scalar field theory using discretized light cone quantization there are well-known ``zero-mode i…
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…
We perform a canonical quantization of pure gravity on AdS3 using as a technical tool its equivalence at the classical level with a Chern-Simons theory with gauge group SL(2,R)xSL(2,R). We first quantize the theory canonically on an asymptotically AdS space --which is topologically the real line times a Riemann surface with one connected boundary. Using the "constrain first" approach we reduce canonical quantization to quantization of orbits of the Virasoro group and Kaehler quantization of Teichmuller space. After explicitly computing the Kaehler form for the torus with one boundary component…
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.
The stochastic quantization method is applied to the recent proposal by Hořava for gravity. We show that in contrast to General Relativity, the Hořava's action, satisfying the detailed balance condition, has a stable, non-perturbative quantum vacuum when the DeWitt parameter $λ$ is not greater than 1/3, providing a possible candidate for consistent quantum gravity.
We present a general theory of non-perturbative quantization of a class of hermitian symmetric supermanifolds. The quantization scheme is based on the notion of a super Toeplitz operator on a suitable Z_2 -graded Hilbert space of superholomorphic functions. The quantized supermanifold arises as the C^* -algebra generated by all such operators. We prove that our quantization framework reproduces the invariant super Poisson structure on the classical supermanifold as Planck's constant tends to zero.
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…
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…
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…
In this paper we lay the foundations of causal quantum gravity (CQG), i.e. of a quantum theory of self-interacting symmetric massless rank-2 tensor gauge fields, the gravitons, on flat space-time, in the framework of causal perturbation theory. The causal inductive construction of the S-matrix for quantum gravity leads to a very satisfactory treatment of the ultraviolet problem. Here we concentrate on some main fundamental issues that concern the quantization of the gravitational interactions: the quantization of the free graviton field, the role of the fermionic ghost vector fields in preserv…
We present a detailed discussion of the entanglement structure of vector fields through canonical quantization. We quantize Maxwell theory in Rindler space in Lorenz gauge, discuss the Hilbert space structure and analyze the Unruh effect. As a warm-up, in 1+1 dimensions, we compute the spectrum and prove that the theory is thermodynamically trivial. In d+1 dimensions, we identify the edge sector as eigenstates of horizon electric flux or equivalently as states representing large gauge transformations, localized on the horizon. The edge Hilbert space is generated by inserting a generic combinat…
We discuss, within the simplified context provided by the polymeric harmonic oscillator, a construction leading to a separable Hilbert space that preserves some of the most important features of the spectrum of the Hamiltonian operator. This construction may be applied to other polymer quantum mechanical systems, including those of loop quantum cosmology, and is likely generalizable to certain formulations of full loop quantum gravity. It is helpful to sidestep some of the physically relevant issues that appear in that context, in particular those related to superselection and the definition o…
We apply the geometric quantization method with real polarizations to the quantization of a symplectic torus. By quantizing with half-densities we canonically associate to the symplectic torus a projective Hilbert space and prove that the projective factor is expressible in terms of the Maslov-Kashiwara index. As in the quantization of a linear symplectic space, we have two ways of resolving the projective ambiguity: (i) by introducing a metaplectic structure and using half-forms in the definition of the Hilbert space; (ii) by choosing a 4-fold cover of the Lagrangian Grassmannian of the linea…
We consider the stochastic quantization scheme for a non-perturbative stabilization of 2D quantum gravity and prove that it does not satisfy the KdV flow equations. It therefore differs from a recently suggested matrix model which allows real solutions to the KdV equations. The behaviour of the Fermi energy, the free energy and macroscopic loops in the stochastic quantization scheme are elucidated.
In this paper we find a simple rule to reproduce the algebra of quantum observables using only the commutators and operators which appear in the Koopman-von Neumann (KvN) formulation of classical mechanics. The usual Hilbert space of quantum mechanics becomes embedded in the KvN Hilbert space: in particular it turns out to be the subspace on which the quantum positions Q and momenta P act irreducibly.
Using normal coordinates in a Poincaré-Birkhoff-Witt basis for the Hopf algebra of renormalization in perturbative quantum field theory, we investigate the relation between the twisted antipode axiom in that formalism, the Birkhoff algebraic decomposition and the universal formula of Kontsevich for quantum deformation.
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.
We study the quantization of the Einstein-Hilbert action for a small true vacuum bubble without matter or scalar field. The quantization of action induces an extra term of potential called quantum potential in Hamilton-Jacobi equation, which gives expanding solutions including the exponential expansion solutions of the scalar factor $a$ for the bubble. We show that exponential expansion of the bubble continues with a short period (about a Planck time $t_p$), no matter whether the bubble is closed, flat or open. The exponential expansion ends spontaneously when the bubble becomes large, i.e., t…
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…
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…
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 program of quantizing the gravitational field with the help of affine field variables is continued. For completeness, a review of the selection criteria that singles out the affine fields, the alternative treatment of constraints, and the choice of the initial (before imposition of the constraints) ultralocal representation of the field operators is initially presented. As analogous examples demonstrate, the introduction and enforcement of the gravitational constraints will cause sufficient changes in the operator representations so that all vestiges of the initial ultralocal field operato…
