Related papers: Quantum fields with topological defects
This thesis discusses various aspects of duality in quantum field theory and string theory. In the first part we consider duality in topological quantum field theories, concentrating on the Donaldson and Seiberg-Witten theories as (dual)…
A gravitational scenario is proposed where the euclidean action is invariant under the isotropic and homogeneous version of the euclidean {\it U(1)} group of local transformations of the scale factor and scalar matter field, interpreting…
In gauge theories, physical histories are represented by space-time connections modulo gauge transformations. The space of histories is thus intrinsically non-linear. The standard framework of constructive quantum field theory has to be…
This is a brief summary of our studies of quantum field theories in a special limit in which the instantons are present, the anti-instantons are absent, and the perturbative corrections are reduced to one-loop. We analyze the corresponding…
I present a topological defect solution that arises in a theory where Lorentz symmetry is spontaneously broken by a rank-two antisymmetric tensor field, and I discuss its observational signatures.
Axion strings and domain walls exhibit a number of novel effects in the presence of gauge fields, in particular the electromagnetic field. It is shown how these effects are reproduced in a model of Nambu-Goto-type strings and open or closed…
Quantum fields are shown to provide an example of infinite-dimensional quantum groups. A dictionary is established between quantum field and quantum group concepts: the expectation value over the vacuum is the counit, Wick's theorem is the…
Interactions of different types of topological defects can play an important role in the aftermath of a phase transition. We study interactions of fundamental magnetic monopoles and stable domain walls in a Grand Unified theory in which…
Singularities, i.e. places of discontinuities of parameters are extremely general objects appearing in electromagnetic waves and thus are the key to understanding fundamental wave processes. These structures commonly occur in purely…
We study cosmic strings in the complex symmetron model, a scalar-tensor theory with a spontaneously broken local $U(1)$ symmetry in low matter density regions. Using numerical simulations, we show that these strings preferentially attach to…
Quantum Electrodynamics can be formulated as the theory of an antisymmetric tensor gauge field. In this formulation the topological current of this field appears as an additional source for the electromagnetic field. The topological charge…
We introduce topological gauge fields as nontrivial field configurations enforced by topological currents. These fields crucially determine the form of statistical gauge fields that couple to matter and transmute their statistics. We…
The scenario of a cosmology with topological defects is surveyed starting from the field theoretic aspects and ending with a description of large-scale structure formation and magnetic field generation. (Lectures delivered at ICTP, Trieste,…
A generic lattice cut-off model is introduced describing the quantum meandering of a single cuprate stripe. The fixed point dynamics is derived, showing besides free string behavior a variety of partially quantum disordered phases, bearing…
Topological materials are quantum materials with nontrivial ground-state entanglement that are irremovable so long as certain rules, like invariance under symmetries and the existence of an energy gap, are respected. They showcase…
We construct supersymmetric K field theories (i.e., theories with a non-standard kinetic term) in 1+1 and 2+1 dimensions such that the bosonic sector just consists of a nonstandard kinetic term plus a potential. Further, we study the…
Anthropic solutions to the cosmological constant problem require seemingly unnatural scalar field potentials with a very small slope or domain walls (branes) with a very small coupling to a four-form field. Here we introduce a class of…
By using asymptotic Morse inequalities we give a lower bound for the space of holomorphic sections of high tensor powers in a positive line bundle over a q-concave domain. The curvature of the positive bundle induces a hermitian metric on…
The canonical Monte-Carlo algorithm for simulating the production of string-like topological defects at a phase transition is extended by introducing a distribution of domain sizes. A strong correlation is found between the fraction in the…
We give simple examples of weakly coupled or free quantum mechanical systems that exhibit scale invariance with an anomalous dimension for a conserved current. In these models scaling as an exact symmetry only emerges in a large N limit,…