Massive Gauge Theories from Consistency Conditions of Amplitudes

Abstract

Based on the general principles of Lorentz symmetry and unitarity, we introduce two consistency conditions -- on-shell gauge symmetry and strong massive-massless continuation -- in constructing amplitudes of massive gauge theory with elementary particles. In particular we argue that on-shell gauge symmetry can be understood as a consequence of Lorentz symmetry, through mixture of a vector boson and a scalar with degenerate mass spectrum. Based on the two conditions, combined with the little group transformation and consistent factorization, we construct three-point and four-point vector boson/scalar amplitudes, then analyze the underlying physical models. Given the particle masses, almost all possible vertices, including those involving Goldstone modes, are uniquely fixed. The only exceptions are triple and quartic scalar self-couplings, as well as mixing angles between vacuum expectation values (VEVs) and scalars. In addition, all particle masses must have the same physical origin. If the number of vector bosons is smaller than 3, the underlying theories for the amplitudes are either massive gauge theories with spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) or Stueckelberg theory. The necessary condition for the latter is that the scalars have equal masses. We also discuss different models depending on the number of scalars involved. If the number of vector bosons is larger than 3, the underlying theory must be Yang-Mills theory with SSB. In both abelian and non-abelian cases, the specific shape of the Higgs potential cannot be determined, which explains the fact that scalar self-couplings are undetermined, and the relations between the masses are generally not linear.