Gluonic evanescent operators: negative-norm states and complex anomalous dimensions
Abstract
In this paper, we build on our previous work to further investigate the role of evanescent operators in gauge theories, with a particular focus on their contribution to violations of unitarity. We develop an efficient method for calculating the norms of gauge-invariant operators in Yang-Mills (YM) theory by employing on-shell form factors. Our analysis, applicable to general spacetime dimensions, reveals the existence of negative norm states among evanescent operators. We also explore the one-loop anomalous dimensions of these operators and find complex anomalous dimensions. We broaden our analysis by considering YM theory coupled with scalar fields and we observe similar patterns of non-unitarity. The presence of negative norm states and complex anomalous dimensions across these analyses provides compelling evidence that general gauge theories are non-unitary in non-integer spacetime dimensions.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2312.08445,
title = {Gluonic evanescent operators: negative-norm states and complex anomalous dimensions},
author = {Qingjun Jin and Ke Ren and Gang Yang and Rui Yu},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2312.08445},
year = {2024}
}
Comments
41 pages, 2 figures