Reviewing the construction of induced representations of the Poincaré group of four-dimensional spacetime we find all massive representations, including the ones acting on interacting many-particle states. Massless momentum wavefunctions of non-vanishing helicity turn out to be more precisely sections of a U(1)-bundle over the massless shell, a property which to date was overlooked in bracket notation. Our traditional notation enables questions about square integrability and smoothness. Their answers complete the picture of relativistic quantum physics.
Frobenius' reciprocity theorem prohibits massless one-particle states with total angular momentum less than the modulus of the helicity. There is no two-photon state with J=1, explaining the longevity of orthopositronium.
Partial derivatives of the momentum wave functions are no operators which can be applied to massless states Psi with nonvanishing helicity. They allow only for covariant, noncommuting derivatives. The massless shell has a noncommutative geometry with helicity being its topological charge. A spatial position operator for Psi which constitutes Heisenberg pairs with the spatial momentum, is excluded by the smoothness requirement of the domain of the Lorentz generators.
The coadjoint orbit method is applied to the construction of Hamiltonian dynamics of massless particles of arbitrary helicity. The unusual transformation properties of canonical variables are interpreted in terms of nonlinear realizations of Poincare group. The action principle is formulated in terms of new space-time variables with standard transformation properties.
We give a complete analysis of the projective unitary irreducible representations of the Poincaré group in 1+2 dimensions applying Mackey theorem and using an explicit formula for the universal covering group of the Lorentz group in 1+2 dimensions. We provide explicit formulae for all representations.
We review recent progress on operator mixing in the light of the theory of canonical forms for linear systems of differential equations and, in particular, of the Poincaré-Dulac theorem. We show that the matrix $A(g) = -\frac{γ(g)}{β(g)} =\frac{γ_0}{β_0}\frac{1}{g} + \cdots $ determines which different cases of operator mixing can occur, and we review their classification. We derive a sufficient condition for $A(g)$ to be set in the one-loop exact form $A(g) = \frac{γ_0}{β_0}\frac{1}{g}$. Finally, we discuss the consequences of the unitarity requirement in massless QCD-like theories, and we de…
We study the space-time invariances of the relativistic particle action for both the massive and massless cases. While the massive action has only the invariances associated to the Poincare algebra, we find that the invariances of the massless action give rise to the conformal algebra in four dimensions. For the free massless particle, a new invariance of the action permits the construction of an extension of the conformal algebra. The conclusion is that two distinct symmetry breaking mechanisms are necessary to arrive at the Poincare algebra.
We find and classify the simplest ${\cal N}=2$ SUSY multiplets on AdS$_4$ which contain partially massless fields. We do this by studying representations of the ${\cal N}=2$, $d=3$ superconformal algebra of the boundary, including new shortening conditions that arise in the non-unitary regime. Unlike the ${\cal N}=1$ case, the simplest ${\cal N}=2$ multiplet containing a partially massless spin-2 is short, containing several exotic fields. More generally, we argue that ${\cal N}=2$ supersymmetry allows for short multiplets that contain partially massless spin-$s$ particles of depth $t=s-2$.
We develop a Hamiltonian formalism which can be used to discuss the physics of a massless scalar field in a gravitational background of a Schwarzschild black hole. Using this formalism we show that the time evolution of the system is unitary and yet all known results such as the existence of Hawking radiation can be readily understood. We then point out that the Hamiltonian formalism leads to interesting observations about black hole entropy and the information paradox.
An extensive group-theoretical treatment of linear relativistic field equations on Minkowski spacetime of arbitrary dimension D>2 is presented in these lecture notes. To start with, the one-to-one correspondence between linear relativistic field equations and unitary representations of the isometry group is reviewed. In turn, the method of induced representations reduces the problem of classifying the representations of the Poincare group ISO(D-1,1) to the classication of the representations of the stability subgroups only. Therefore, an exhaustive treatment of the two most important classes o…
Following Pasterski-Shao-Strominger we construct a new basis of states in the single-particle Hilbert space of massless particles as a linear combination of standard Wigner states. Under Lorentz transformation the new basis states transform in the Unitary Principal Continuous Series representation. These states are obtained if we consider the little group of a null momentum \textit{direction} rather than a null momentum. The definition of the states in terms of the Wigner states makes it easier to study the action of space-time translation in this basis. We show by taking into account the effe…
We study the minimal unitary representation (minrep) of SO(4,2) over an Hilbert space of functions of three variables, obtained by quantizing its quasiconformal action on a five dimensional space. The minrep of SO(4,2), which coincides with the minrep of SU(2,2) similarly constructed, corresponds to a massless conformal scalar in four spacetime dimensions. There exists a one-parameter family of deformations of the minrep of SU(2,2). For positive (negative) integer values of the deformation parameter ζone obtains positive energy unitary irreducible representations corresponding to massless conf…
We study the massless irreducible representations of the Poincaré group in the six-dimensional Minkowski space. The Casimir operators are constructed and their eigenvalues are found. It is shown that the finite spin (helicity) representation is defined by two integer or half-integer numbers while the infinite spin representation is defined by the real parameter $μ^2$ and one integer or half-integer number.
The proof is presented that the Poincare symmetry determines the equations of motion for massless particles of any spin in 2n-dimensional spaces, which are linear in the momentum.
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.
We determine the representations of the ``conformal'' group ${\bar{SO}}_0(2, n)$, the restriction of which on the ``Poincaré'' subgroup ${\bar{SO}}_0(1, n-1).T_n$ are unitary irreducible. We study their restrictions to the ``De Sitter'' subgroups ${\bar{SO}}_0(1, n)$ and ${\bar{SO}}_0(2, n-1)$ (they remain irreducible or decompose into a sum of two) and the contraction of the latter to ``Poincaré''. Then we discuss the notion of masslessness in $n$ dimensions and compare the situation for general $n$ with the well-known case of 4-dimensional space-time, showing the specificity of the latter.
The dynamical commutators of the light-front Poincaré algebra yield first order differential equations in the $p^+$ momenta for the interaction vertex operators. The homogeneous solution to the equation for the quartic vertex is studied. Consequences as regards the constructibility assumption of quartic higher spin amplitudes from cubic amplitudes are discussed. The existence of quartic contact interactions unrelated to cubic interactions by Poincaré symmetry indicates that the higher spin S-matrix is not constructible. Thus quartic amplitude based no-go results derived by BCFW recursion for M…
Considering a bosonic ($1$-)form-valued $k$-form with a second-order Lagrangian dynamics [depending on two arbitrary real constants] we firstly perform the Dirac analysis. The procedure implies a partition of cardinally seven for the plane of the real parameters that label the starting Lagrangian. In each of the seven partition's components one determines the number and the nature of independent degrees of freedom and also a generating set of gauge transformations. Secondly, with the help of some auxiliary gauge/matter tensor gauge fields, in each of the seven situations, we construct the firs…
We find and classify the ${\cal N}=1$ SUSY multiplets on AdS$_4$ which contain partially massless fields. We do this by studying the non-unitary representations of the $d=3$ superconformal algebra of the boundary. The simplest super-multiplet which contains a partially massless spin-2 particle also contains a massless photon, a massless spin-$3/2$ particle and a massive spin-$3/2$ particle. The gauge parameters form a Wess-Zumino super-multiplet which contains the gauge parameters of the photon, the partially massless graviton, and the massless spin-$3/2$ particle. We find the AdS$_4$ action a…
We study the possibility for a unitary theory of partially-massless (PM) spin-two field interacting with Gravity in arbitrary dimensions. We show that the gauge and parity invariant interaction of PM spin two particles requires the inclusion of specific massive spin-two fields and leads to a reconstruction of Conformal Gravity, or multiple copies of the latter in even dimensions. By relaxing the parity invariance, we find a possibility of a unitary theory in four dimensions, but this theory cannot be constructed in the standard formulation, due to the absence of the parity-odd cubic vertex the…
We classify the unitary representations of the extended Poincaré supergroups in three dimensions. Irreducible unitary representations of any spin can appear, which correspond to supersymmetric anyons. Our results also show that all irreducible unitary representations necessarily have physical momenta. This is in sharp contrast to the ordinary Poincaré group in three dimensions, that admits in addition irreducible unitary representations with non-physical momenta, which are discarded on physical grounds.
We use simple current techniques and their relation to orbifolds with discrete torsion for studying the (0,2) CFT/geometry duality with non-rational internal N=2 SCFTs. Explicit formulas for the charged spectra of heterotic SO(10) GUT models are computed in terms of their extended Poincaré polynomials and the complementary Poincaré polynomial which can be computed in terms of the elliptic genera. While non-BPS states contribute to the charged spectrum, their contributions can be determined also for non-rational cases. For model building, with generalizations to SU(5) and SM gauge groups, one c…
New RG flows between non-Unitary CFTs from exact massless scattering theories
Ewha Womans University（梨花女子大学）；HUN-REN Wigner Research Centre for Physics（匈牙利研究与创新网络维格纳物理研究中心）；Roland Eötvös University, Department for Theoretical Physics（罗兰·厄特沃什大学理论物理系）
The study of phase-space constructions based on the properties of the $κ$-Poincaré Hopf algebra has been a very active area, mostly because of its possible applications in the phenomenology of Planck-scale-induced momentum dependence of the speed of ultrarelativistic particles. We here summarize, with emphasis on the emerging relativity of spacetime locality, some results relevant for this research program that were recently reported in arXiv:1006.2126 (PhysRevLett106,071301) arXiv:1102.4637 (PhysLettB700,150) and arXiv:1107.1724 .
In standard quantum field theory, the one-particle states are classified by the unitary representations of the Poincaré group, whereas the causal fields' classification employs the finite-dimensional (non-unitary) representations of the (homogeneous) Lorentz group. We investigate the possibility of constructing fields that transform under the full representation of the Poincaré group. We show that such fields can be consistently constructed, although the Lagrangians that describe them exhibit explicit dependence on the space-time coordinates. The inclusion of gravity within the framework of th…
The theory of free relativistic fields is shown to arise in a unified manner from higher-order, configuration-space, irreducible representations of the Poincaré group. A de Sitter subalgebra, in the massive case, and a Poincaré subalgebra, in the massless case, of the enveloping algebra of the Poincaré group are the suitable higher-order polarizations. In particular, a simple group-theoretic derivation of the Dirac equation is given.
Twistor phase spaces are used to provide a general description of the dynamics of a finite number of directly interacting massless spinning particles forming a closed relativistic massive and spinning system with an internal structure. A Poincare invariant canonical quantization of the so obtained twistor phase space dynamics is performed.
We study a class of non-unitary so(2,d) representations (for even values of d), describing mixed-symmetry partially massless fields which constitute natural candidates for defining higher-spin singletons of higher order. It is shown that this class of so(2,d) modules obeys of natural generalisation of a couple of defining properties of unitary higher-spin singletons. In particular, we find out that upon restriction to the subalgebra so(2,d-1), these representations branch onto a sum of modules describing partially massless fields of various depths. Finally, their tensor product is worked out i…
It is proven that the Poincare symmetry determines equations of motion, which are for massless particles of any spin in d-dimensional spaces linear in the momentum. The proof is made only for even d and for fields with no gauge symmetry. We comment on a few examples. We pay attention only to spin degrees of freedom.
Manifestly covariant formulation of discrete-spin, real-mass unitary representations of the Poincaré group is given. We begin with a field of spin-frames associated with 4-mometa p and use them to simplify the eigenvalue problem for the Pauli-Lubanski vector projection in a direction given by a world-vector t. As opposed to the standard treatments where t is a constant time direction, our t is in general p-dependent and timelike, spacelike or null. The corresponding eigenstates play a role of a basis used to define Bargmann-Wigner spinors which form a carrier space of the unitary representatio…
The lagrangian description of irreducible massless representations of the Poincare group with the corresponding Young tableaux having two rows along with some explicit examples including the notoph and Weyl tensor is given. For this purpose is used the method of the BRST constructions adopted to the systems of second class constraints by the construction of an auxiliary representations of the algebras of constraints in terms of Verma modules.
We construct Wigner's continuous spin representations of the Poincaré algebra for massless particles in higher dimensions. The states are labeled both by the length of a space-like translation vector and the Dynkin indices of the {\it short little group} $SO(d-3)$, where $d$ is the space-time dimension. Continuous spin representations are in one-to-one correspondence with representations of the short little group. We also demonstrate how combinations of the bosonic and fermionic representations form supermultiplets of the super-Poincaré algebra. If the light-cone translations are nilpotent, th…
We construct a generalisation of the three-dimensional Poincaré algebra that also includes a colour symmetry factor. This algebra can be used to define coloured Poincaré gravity in three space-time dimensions as well as to study generalisations of massive and massless free particle models. We present various such generalised particle models that differ in which orbits of the coloured Poincaré symmetry are described. Our approach can be seen as a stepping stone towards the description of particles interacting with a non-abelian background field or as a starting point for a worldline formulation…
We present 48 further examples, in addition to the 10 identified in [1], of ghost-and-tachyon-free critical cases of parity-conserving Poincaré gauge theories of gravity (PGT$^+$) that are also power-counting renormalizable (PCR). This is achieved by extending the range of critical cases considered. Of the new PCR theories, seven have 2 massless degrees of freedom (d.o.f.) in propagating modes and a massive $0^-$ or $2^-$ mode, eight have only 2 massless d.o.f., and 33 have only massive mode(s). We also clarify the treatment of nonpropagating modes in determining whether a theory is PCR.
A perturbative regime based on contorsion as a dynamical variable and metric as a (classical) fixed background, is performed in the context of a pure Yang-Mills formulation based on $GL(3,R)$ gauge group. In the massless case we show that the theory propagates three degrees of freedom and only one is a non-unitary mode. Next, we introduce quadratical terms dependent on torsion, which preserve parity and general covariance. The linearized version reproduces an analogue Hilbert-Einstein-Fierz-Pauli unitary massive theory plus three massless modes, two of them non-unitary ones. Finally we confirm…
We generalize Zwanziger's pairwise little group to include a boost subgroup. We do so by working in the celestial sphere representation of scattering amplitudes. We propose that due to late time soft photon and graviton exchanges, matter particles in the asymptotic states in massless QED and gravity transform under the Poincare group with an additional pair of pairwise celestial representations for each pair of matter particles. We demonstrate that the massless abelian and gravitational exponentiation theorems are consistent with the proposed pairwise Poincare transformation properties. For ma…
We prove that the extended Poincare group in (1+1) dimensions is non-nilpotent solvable exponential, and therefore that it belongs to type I. We determine its first and second cohomology groups in order to work out a classification of the two-dimensional relativistic elementary systems. Moreover, all irreducible unitary representations of the extended Poincare group are constructed by the orbit method. The most physically interesting class of irreducible representations corresponds to the anomaly-free relativistic particle in (1+1) dimensions, which cannot be fully quantized. However, we show …
We prove that, under the standard conformal scaling, a massless field in de Sitter spacetime admits an O(4)-invariant Fock quantization such that time evolution is unitarily implemented. This result disproves previous claims in the literature. We discuss the relationship between this quantization with unitary dynamics and the family of O(4)-invariant Hadamard states given by Allen and Folacci, as well as with the Bunch-Davies vacuum.
We construct massless infinite spin irreducible representations of the six-dimensional Poincaré group in the space of fields depending on twistor variables. It is shown that the massless infinite spin representation is realized on the two-twistor fields. We present a full set of equations of motion for two-twistor fields represented by the totally symmetric $\mathrm{SU}(2)$ rank $2s$ two-twistor spin-tensor and show that they carry massless infinite spin representations. A field twistor transform is constructed and infinite spin fields are found in the space-time formulation with an additional…
Minimal unitary representation of SO*(8) = SO(6,2) realized over the Hilbert space of functions of five variables and its deformations labeled by the spin t of an SU(2) subgroup correspond to massless conformal fields in six dimensions as was shown in arXiv:1005.3580. In this paper we study the minimal unitary supermultiplet of OSp(8*|2N) with the even subgroup SO*(8) x USp(2N) and its deformations using quasiconformal methods. We show that the minimal unitary supermultiplet of OSp(8*|2N) admits deformations labeled uniquely by the spin t of an SU(2) subgroup of the little group SO(4) of light…
We study the minimal unitary representation (minrep) of SO(5,2), obtained by quantization of its geometric quasiconformal action, its deformations and supersymmetric extensions. The minrep of SO(5,2) describes a massless conformal scalar field in five dimensions and admits a unique "deformation" which describes a massless conformal spinor. Scalar and spinor minreps of SO(5,2) are the 5d analogs of Dirac's singletons of SO(3,2). We then construct the minimal unitary representation of the unique 5d superconformal algebra F(4) with the even subalgebra SO(5,2) X SU(2). The minrep of F(4) describes…
We study the minimal unitary representation (minrep) of SO(6,2) over an Hilbert space of functions of five variables, obtained by quantizing its quasiconformal realization. The minrep of SO(6,2), which coincides with the minrep of SO*(8) similarly constructed, corresponds to a massless conformal scalar field in six spacetime dimensions. There exists a family of "deformations" of the minrep of SO*(8) labeled by the spin t of an SU(2)_T subgroup of the little group SO(4) of lightlike vectors. These deformations labeled by t are positive energy unitary irreducible representations of SO*(8) that d…
We construct an extension of the Poincare group which involves a mixture of internal and space-time supersymmetries. The resulting group is an extension of the superPoincare group with infinitely many generators which carry internal and space-time indices. It is a closed algebra since all Jacobi identities are satisfied and it has therefore explicit matrix representations. We investigate the massless case and construct the irreducible representations of the extended symmetry. They are divided into two sets, longitudinal and transversal representations. The transversal representations involve a…
A perturbative regime based on contortion as a dynamical variable and metric as a (classical) fixed background, is performed in the context of a pure Yang-Mills formulation for gravity in a $2+1$ dimensional space-time. In the massless case we show that the theory contains three degrees of freedom and only one is a non-unitary mode. Next, we introduce quadratical terms dependent on torsion, which preserve parity and general covariance. The linearized version reproduces an analogue Hilbert-Einstein-Fierz-Pauli unitary massive theory plus three massless modes, two of them represents non-unitary …
The functional structure of celestial amplitudes as constrained by Poincaré symmetry is investigated in $2,3,$ and $4$-point cases for massless external particles of various spin, as well as massive external scalars. Functional constraints and recurrence relations are found (akin to the findings in arXiv:1901.01622) that must be obeyed by the respective permissible correlator structures and function coefficients. In specific three-point cases involving massive scalars the resulting recurrence relations can be solved, e.g. reproducing purely from symmetry a three-point function coefficient know…
A short review of special relativistic dynamics describing a particle acted upon by an arbitrary conservative external force is presented. If the mass of the particle is zero and the force is central then the equations of motion turn out to be completely integrable. A well-known result. Hamiltonian flows on the twistor phase space T are constructed which, for conservative forces and value of the helicity equal to zero, reproduce equations of motion of the classical massless particle. For helicities different from zero the same hamiltonian flows produce equations of motion showing a curious "Zi…
It is noted that the Poincaré sphere for polarization optics contains the symmetries of the Lorentz group. The sphere is thus capable of describing the internal space-time symmetries dictated by Wigner's little groups. For massive particles, the little group is like the three-dimensional rotation group, while it is like the two-dimensional Euclidean group for massless particles. It is shown that the Poincaré sphere, in addition, has a symmetry parameter corresponding to reducing the particle mass from a positive value to zero. The Poincaré sphere thus the gives one unified picture of Wigner's …
Nontrivial translation matrices occur for spin (A,B)+(C,D) with |A-C| = |B-D| = 1/2, necessarily associating a (C,D) field with a spin (A,B) field. Including translation matrices in covariant non-unitary Poincare representations also introduces new gauge terms in the construction of massless particle fields from canonical unitary fields. In the usual procedure without spacetime translation matrices, gauge terms arise from `translations' of the massless little group; the little group combines spacetime rotations and boosts making a group isomorphic with the Euclidean group E2, including E2 tran…
It has been shown that the massless irreducible representations of the Poincaré group with continuous spin can be obtained from a classical point particle action which admits a generalization to a conformally invariant string action. The continuous spin string action is quantized in the BRST formalism. We show that the vacuum carries a continuous spin representation of the Poincaré group and that the spectrum is ghost-free.
We study the renormalisation group flows between minimal W models by means of a new set of nonlinear integral equations which provide access to the effective central charge of both unitary and nonunitary models. We show that the scaling function associated to the nonunitary models is a nonmonotonic function of the system size.
We propose the model of $D-$dimensional massless particle whose Lagrangian is given by the $N-$th extrinsic curvature of world-line. The system has $N+1$ gauge degrees of freedom constituting $W-$like algebra; the classical trajectories of the model are space-like curves which obey the conditions $k_{N+a}=k_{N-a}$, $k_{2N}=0$, $a=1,...,N-1$, $N\leq[(D-2)/2]$, while the first $N$ curvatures $k_i$ remain arbitrary. We show that the model admits consistent formulation on the anti-De Sitter space. The solutions of the system are the massless irreducible representations of Poincaré group with $N$ n…
In the present note the expansion of the wave function of a massless particle (with the definite value of its helicity) over the untary irreducible representaions of the Lorentz group (defined on the light cone) is used as for the analog of the Fourier transformation for deriving of an equation in the relativistic configuration representation.
We present an alternative method of exploring the component structure of an integer super-helicity Y=s (for any integers) irreducible representation of the Super-Poincare group. We use it to derive the component action and the SUSY transformation laws. The effectiveness of this approach is based on the equations of motion and their properties, like Bianchi identities. These equations are generated by the superspace action when it is expressed in terms of prepotentials. For that reason we reproduce the superspace action for integer superspin, using unconstrained superfields. The appropriate, to…
We examine the generic theory of a partially massless (PM) spin-two field interacting with gravity in four dimensions from a bottom-up perspective. By analyzing the most general form of the Lagrangian, we first show that if such a theory exists, its de Sitter background must admit either so(1, 5) or so(2, 4) global symmetry depending on the relative sign of the kinetic terms: the former for a positive sign the latter for a negative sign. Further analysis reveals that the coupling constant of the PM cubic self-interaction must be fixed with a purely imaginary number in the case of a positive si…
We study the unitary supermultiplets of the N=4 d=7 anti-de Sitter (AdS_7) superalgebra OSp(8^*|4), with the even subalgebra SO(6,2) X USp(4), which is the symmetry superalgebra of M-theory on AdS_7 X S^4. We give a complete classification of the positive energy doubleton and massless supermultiplets of OSp(8^*|4) . The ultra-short doubleton supermultiplets do not have a Poincaré limit in AdS_7 and correspond to superconformal field theories on the boundary of AdS_7 which can be identified with d=6 Minkowski space. We show that the six dimensional Poincare mass operator vanishes identically fo…
