The Ultraviolet Structure of Quantum Field Theories. Part 3: Gauge Theories

Abstract

This paper develops a detailed lattice-continuum correspondence for all common examples of Abelian gauge theories, with and without matter. These rules for extracting a continuum theory out of a lattice one represent an elementary way to rigorously define continuum gauge theories. The focus is on (2+1)D but the techniques developed here work in all dimensions. The first half of this paper is devoted to pure Maxwell theory. It is precisely shown how continuum Maxwell theory emerges at low energies in an appropriate parameter regime of the $\mathbb{Z}_K$ lattice gauge theory at large $K$. The familiar features of this theory -- its OPE structure, the distinction between compact and noncompact degrees of freedom, infrared "particle-vortex" dualities, and the Coulomb law behavior of its Wilson loop -- are all derived directly from the lattice. The rest of the paper studies gauge fields coupled to either bosonic or fermionic matter. Scalar QED is analyzed at the same level of precision as pure Maxwell theory, with new comments on its phase structure and its connections to the topological BF theory. Ordinary QED (Dirac fermions coupled to Maxwell theory) is constructed with an eye toward properly defining spinors and avoiding global anomalies. The conventional continuum QED is shown to arise from a specific restriction of the starting theory to smoothly varying fields. Such smoothing also turns out to be a necessary condition for Chern-Simons theory to arise from integrating out massive fermions in a path integral framework. In an effort to find a canonical origin of Chern-Simons theory that does not rely on path integral smoothing, a simple flux-attached lattice gauge theory is shown to give rise to a Chern-Simons-like action in the confining regime.