Pure gauge theories and spatial periodicity
Nuclear Theory
2022-03-24 v4 High Energy Physics - Lattice
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Theory
Abstract
Properties of pure gauge theories in thermal equilibrium as calculated via standard functional integral treatments are mathematically identical to ground state properties of a theory with spatially-periodic boundary conditions imposed on the gauge fields. Such a theory has states that have no analog in a theory in which only physical observables associated with gauge-invariant operators are required to be periodic, rather than the gauge fields themselves; these states are in topological sectors that do not exist in the unconstrained theory. The topology arises because the boundary conditions in the functional integral are gauge invariant on a cylinder but not in the unconstrained theory.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2202.08745,
title = {Pure gauge theories and spatial periodicity},
author = {Thomas D. Cohen},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2202.08745},
year = {2022}
}