arXiv subjects

Adel Bilal

Publications and source records attributed to Adel Bilal.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

Effective gravitational action for 2D massive Majorana fermions on arbitrary genus Riemann surfaces

We explore the effective gravitational action for two-dimensional massive Euclidean Majorana fermions in a small mass expansion, continuing and completing the study initiated in a previous paper. We perform a detailed analysis of local zeta functions, heat kernels, and Green's functions of the Dirac operator on arbitrary Riemann surfaces. We obtain the full expansion of the effective gravitational action to all orders in $m^2$. For genus one and larger, this requires the understanding of the role of the zero-modes of the (massless) Dirac operator which is worked out. Besides the Liouville action, at order $m^0$, which only involves the background metric and the conformal factor $σ$, the various contributions to the effective gravitational action at higher orders in $m^2$ can be expressed in terms of integrals of the renormalized Green's function at coinciding points of the squared (massless) Dirac operator, as well as of higher Green's functions. In particular, at order $m^2$, these contributions can be re-written as a term $\int e^{2σ}\, σ$ characteristic of the Mabuchi action, much as for 2D massive scalars, as well as several other terms that are multi-local in the conformal factor $σ$ and involve the Green's functions of the massless Dirac operator and the renormalized Green's function, but for the background metric only.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Effective gravitational action for 2D massive fermions

We work out the effective gravitational action for 2D massive Euclidean fermions in a small mass expansion. Besides the leading Liouville action, the order $m^2$ gravitational action contains a piece characteristic of the Mabuchi action, much as for 2D massive scalars, but also several non-local terms involving the Green's functions and Green's functions at coinciding points on the manifold.

hep-th↗

arXiv2019

Small-time expansion of the Fokker-Planck kernel for space and time dependent diffusion and drift coefficients

We study the general solution of the Fokker-Planck equation in d dimensions with arbitrary space and time dependent diffusion matrix and drift term. We show how to construct the solution, for arbitrary initial distributions, as an asymptotic expansion for small time. This generalizes the well-known asymptotic expansion of the heat-kernel for the Laplace operator on a general Riemannian manifold. We explicitly work out the general solution to leading and next-to-leading order in this small-time expansion, as well as to next-to-next-to-leading order for vanishing drift. We illustrate our results on a several examples.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2017

2D gravitational Mabuchi action on Riemann surfaces with boundaries

We study the gravitational action induced by coupling two-dimensional non-conformal, massive matter to gravity on a Riemann surface with boundaries. A small-mass expansion gives back the Liouville action in the massless limit, while the first-order mass correction allows us to identify what should be the appropriate generalization of the Mabuchi action on a Riemann surface with boundaries. We provide a detailed study for the example of the cylinder. Contrary to the case of manifolds without boundary, we find that the gravitational Lagrangian explicitly depends on the space-point, via the geodesic distances to the boundaries, as well as on the modular parameter of the cylinder, through an elliptic theta-function.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

2D quantum gravity on compact Riemann surfaces with non-conformal matter

We study the gravitational action induced by coupling two-dimensional non-conformal, massive matter to gravity on a compact Riemann surface. We express this gravitational action in terms of finite and well-defined quantities for any value of the mass. A small-mass expansion gives back the Liouville action in the massless limit, the Mabuchi and Aubin-Yau actions to first order, as well as an infinite series of higher-order contributions written in terms of purely geometric quantities.

hep-th↗

arXiv2015

2D quantum gravity at three loops: a counterterm investigation

We analyse the divergences of the three-loop partition function at fixed area in 2D quantum gravity. Considering the Liouville action in the Kahler formalism, we extract the coefficient of the leading divergence in $\sim AΛ^2 (\ln AΛ^2)^2$. This coefficient is non-vanishing. We discuss the counterterms one can and must add and compute their precise contribution to the partition function. This allows us to conclude that every local and non-local divergence in the partition function can be balanced by local counterterms, with the only exception of the maximally non-local divergence $(\ln AΛ^2)^3$. Yet, this latter is computed and does cancel between the different three-loop diagrams. Thus, requiring locality of the counterterms is enough to renormalize the partition function. Finally, the structure of the new counterterms strongly suggests that they can be understood as a renormalization of the measure action.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

2D Quantum Gravity on Compact Riemann Surfaces and Two-Loop Partition Function: Circumventing the c=1 Barrier?

We study two-dimensional quantum gravity on arbitrary genus Riemann surfaces in the Kaehler formalism where the basic quantum field is the (Laplacian of the) Kaehler potential. We do a careful first-principles computation of the fixed-area partition function $Z[A]$ up to and including all two-loop contributions. This includes genuine two-loop diagrams as determined by the Liouville action, one-loop diagrams resulting from the non-trivial measure on the space of metrics, as well as one-loop diagrams involving various counterterm vertices. Contrary to what is often believed, several such counterterms, in addition to the usual cosmological constant, do and must occur. We consistently determine the relevant counterterms from a one-loop computation of the full two-point Green's function of the Kaehler field. Throughout this paper we use the general spectral cutoff regularization developed recently and which is well-suited for multi-loop computations on curved manifolds. At two loops, while all "unwanted" contributions to $\ln (Z[A]/Z[A_0])$ correctly cancel, it appears that the finite coefficient of $\ln (A/A_0)$ does depend on the finite parts of certain counterterm coefficients, i.e. on the finite renormalization conditions one has to impose. There exists a choice that reproduces the famous KPZ-scaling, but it seems to be only one consistent choice among others. Maybe, this hints at the possibility that other renormalization conditions could eventually provide a way to circumvent the famous $c=1$ barrier.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Multi-Loop Zeta Function Regularization and Spectral Cutoff in Curved Spacetime

We emphasize the close relationship between zeta function methods and arbitrary spectral cutoff regularizations in curved spacetime. This yields, on the one hand, a physically sound and mathematically rigorous justification of the standard zeta function regularization at one loop and, on the other hand, a natural generalization of this method to higher loops. In particular, to any Feynman diagram is associated a generalized meromorphic zeta function. For the one-loop vacuum diagram, it is directly related to the usual spectral zeta function. To any loop order, the renormalized amplitudes can be read off from the pole structure of the generalized zeta functions. We focus on scalar field theories and illustrate the general formalism by explicit calculations at one-loop and two-loop orders, including a two-loop evaluation of the conformal anomaly.

hep-th↗

arXiv2013

2D Quantum Gravity at One Loop with Liouville and Mabuchi Actions

We study a new two-dimensional quantum gravity theory, based on a gravitational action containing both the familiar Liouville term and the Mabuchi functional, which has been shown to be related to the coupling of non-conformal matter to gravity. We compute the one-loop string susceptibility from a first-principle, path integral approach in the Kahler parameterization of the metrics and discuss the particularities that arise in the case of the pure Mabuchi theory. While we mainly use the most convenient spectral cutoff regularization to perform our calculations, we also discuss the interesting subtleties associated with the multiplicative anomaly in the familiar zeta-function scheme, which turns out to have a genuine physical effect for our calculations. In particular, we derive and use a general multiplicative anomaly formula for Laplace-type operators on arbitrary compact Riemann surfaces.

hep-th↗

arXiv2011

Supersymmetric Boundaries and Junctions in Four Dimensions

We make a comprehensive study of (rigid) N=1 supersymmetric sigma-models with general Kähler potentials K and superpotentials w on four-dimensional space-times with boundaries. We determine the minimal (non-supersymmetric) boundary terms one must add to the standard bulk action to make it off-shell invariant under half the supersymmetries without imposing any boundary conditions. Susy boundary conditions do arise from the variational principle when studying the dynamics. Upon including an additional boundary action that depends on an arbitrary real boundary potential B one can generate very general susy boundary conditions. We show that for any set of susy boundary conditions that define a Lagrangian submanifold of the Kähler manifold, an appropriate boundary potential B can be found. Thus the non-linear sigma-model on a manifold with boundary is characterised by the tripel (K,B,w). We also discuss the susy coupling to new boundary superfields and generalize our results to supersymmetric junctions between completely different susy sigma-models, living on adjacent domains and interacting through a "permeable" wall. We obtain the supersymmetric matching conditions that allow us to couple models with different Kähler potentials and superpotentials on each side of the wall.

hep-th↗

arXiv2008

Lectures on Anomalies

These lectures on anomalies are relatively self-contained and intended for graduate students who are familiar with the basics of quantum field theory. We begin with several derivations of the abelian anomaly: anomalous transformation of the measure, explicit computation of the triangle Feynman diagram, relation to the index of the Euclidean Dirac operator. The chiral (non-abelian) gauge anomaly is derived by evaluating the anomalous triangle diagram with three non-abelian gauge fields coupled to a chiral fermion. We discuss in detail the relation between anomaly, current non-conservation and non-invariance of the effective action, with special emphasis on the derivation of the anomalous Slavnov-Taylor/Ward identities. We show why anomalies always are finite and local. A general characterization is given of gauge groups and fermion representations which may lead to anomalies in four dimensions, and the issue of anomaly cancellation is discussed, in particular the classical example of the standard model. Then, we move to more formal developments and arbitrary even dimensions. After introducing a few basic notions of differential geometry, in particular characteristic classes, we derive the descent equations. We prove the Wess-Zumino consistency condition and show that relevant anomalies correspond to BRST cohomologies at ghost number one. We discuss why and how anomalies are related to characteristic classes in two more dimensions and outline their computation in terms of the index of an appropriate Dirac operator. Finally we derive the gauge and gravitational anomalies in arbitrary even dimensions from the appropriate index and explain the anomaly cancellations in ten-dimensional IIB supergravity and in type I and heterotic superstrings.

hep-th↗

arXiv2007

Effective actions and N=1 vacuum conditions from SU(3) x SU(3) compactifications

We consider compactifications of type II string theory on general SU(3) x SU(3) structure backgrounds allowing for a very large set of fluxes, possibly nongeometric ones. We study the effective 4d low energy theory which is a gauged N=2 supergravity, and discuss how its data are obtained from the formalism of the generalized geometry on T+T*. In particular we relate Hitchin's special Kaehler metrics on the spaces of even and odd pure spinors to the metric on the supergravity moduli space of internal metric and B-field fluctuations. We derive the N=1 vacuum conditions from this N=2 effective action, as well as from its N=1 truncation. We prove a direct correspondence between these conditions and an integrated version of the pure spinor equations characterizing the N=1 backgrounds at the ten dimensional level.

hep-th↗

arXiv2007

(Non) Gauge Invariance of Wilsonian Effective Actions in (Supersymmetric) Gauge Theories : A Critical Discussion

We give a detailed critical discussion of the properties of Wilsonian effective actions, defined by integrating out all modes above a given scale $μ$. In particular, we provide a precise and relatively convenient prescription how to implement the infrared cutoff $μ$ in any loop integral that is manifestly Lorentz invariant and also preserves global linear symmetries such as e.g. supersymmetry. We discuss the issue of gauge invariance of effective actions in general and in particular when using background field gauge. Our prescription for the IR cutoff (as any such prescription) breaks the gauge symmetry. Using our prescription, we have explicitly computed, at one loop, many terms of the Wilsonian effective action for general gauge theories, involving bosonic and fermionic matter fields of arbitrary masses and in arbitrary representations, exhibiting the non-gauge invariant (as well as the gauge invariant) terms. However, for supersymmetric gauge theories all non-gauge invariant terms cancel within each supermultiplet. This is strong evidence that in supersymmetric gauge theories this indeed defines a Lorentz, susy and gauge invariant Wilsonian effective action. As a byproduct, we obtain the explicit one-loop Wilsonian couplings for all higher-derivative terms $F D^{2n}F$ in the effective action of arbitrary supersymmetric gauge theories.

hep-th↗

arXiv2006

Relating prepotentials and quantum vacua of N=1 gauge theories with different tree-level superpotentials

We consider N=1 supersymmetric U(N) gauge theories with Z_k symmetric tree-level superpotentials W for an adjoint chiral multiplet. We show that (for integer 2N/k) this Z_k symmetry survives in the quantum effective theory as a corresponding symmetry of the effective superpotential W_eff(S_i) under permutations of the S_i. For W(x)=^W(h(x)) with h(x)=x^k, this allows us to express the prepotential F_0 and effective superpotential W_eff on certain submanifolds of the moduli space in terms of an ^F_0 and ^W_eff of a different theory with tree-level superpotential ^W. In particular, if the Z_k symmetric polynomial W(x) is of degree 2k, then ^W is gaussian and we obtain very explicit formulae for F_0 and W_eff. Moreover, in this case, every vacuum of the effective Veneziano-Yankielowicz superpotential ^W_eff is shown to give rise to a vacuum of W_eff. Somewhat surprisingly, at the level of the prepotential F_0(S_i) the permutation symmetry only holds for k=2, while it is anomalous for k>2 due to subtleties related to the non-compact period integrals. Some of these results are also extended to general polynomial relations h(x) between the tree-level superpotentials.

hep-th↗

arXiv2005

Special geometry of local Calabi-Yau manifolds and superpotentials from holomorphic matrix models

We analyse the (rigid) special geometry of a class of local Calabi-Yau manifolds given by hypersurfaces in C^4 as W'(x)^2+f_0(x)+v^2+w^2+z^2=0, that arise in the study of the large N duals of four-dimensional N=1 supersymmetric SU(N) Yang-Mills theories with adjoint field Φand superpotential W(Φ). The special geometry relations are deduced from the planar limit of the corresponding holomorphic matrix model. The set of cycles is split into a bulk sector, for which we obtain the standard rigid special geometry relations, and a set of relative cycles, that come from the non-compactness of the manifold, for which we find cut-off dependent corrections to the usual special geometry relations. The (cut-off independent) prepotential is identified with the (analytically continued) free energy of the holomorphic matrix model in the planar limit. On the way, we clarify various subtleties pertaining to the saddle point approximation of the holomorphic matrix model. A formula for the superpotential of IIB string theory with background fluxes on these local Calabi-Yau manifolds is proposed that is based on pairings similar to the ones of relative cohomology.

hep-th↗

arXiv2004

Anomaly Cancellations on Lower-Dimensional Hypersurfaces by Inflow from the Bulk

Lower-dimensional (hyper)surfaces that can carry gauge or gauge/gravitational anomalies occur in many areas of physics: one-plus-one-dimensional boundaries or two-dimensional defect surfaces in condensed matter systems, four-dimensional brane-worlds in higher-dimensional cosmologies or various branes and orbifold planes in string or M-theory. In all cases we may have (quantum) anomalies localized on these hypersurfaces that are only cancelled by ``anomaly inflow'' from certain topological interactions in the bulk. Proper cancellation between these anomaly contributions of different origin requires a careful treatment of factors and signs. We review in some detail how these contributions occur and discuss applications in condensed matter (Quantum Hall Effect) and M-theory (five-branes and orbifold planes)

hep-th↗

arXiv2003

Anomalies in M-theory on singular G_2-manifolds

When M-theory is compactified on G_2-holonomy manifolds with conical singularities, charged chiral fermions are present and the low-energy four-dimensional theory is potentially anomalous. We reconsider the issue of anomaly cancellation, first studied by Witten. We propose a mechanism that provides local cancellation of all gauge and mixed gauge-gravitational anomalies, i.e. separately for each conical singularity. It is similar in spirit to the one used to cancel the normal bundle anomaly in the presence of five-branes. It involves smoothly cutting off all fields close to the conical singularities, resulting in an anomalous variation of the 3-form C and of the non-abelian gauge fields present if there are also ADE singularities.

hep-th↗

arXiv2003

Anomaly cancellation in M-theory: a critical review

We carefully review the basic examples of anomaly cancellation in M-theory: the 5-brane anomalies and the anomalies on S^1/Z_2. This involves cancellation between quantum anomalies and classical inflow from topological terms. To correctly fix all coefficients and signs, proper attention is paid to issues of orientation, chirality and the Euclidean continuation. Independent of the conventions chosen, the Chern-Simons and Green-Schwarz terms must always have the same sign. The reanalysis of the reduction to the heterotic string on S^1/Z_2 yields a surprise: a previously neglected factor forces us to slightly modify the Chern-Simons term, similar to what is needed for cancelling the normal bundle anomaly of the 5-brane. This modification leads to a local cancellation of the anomaly, while maintaining the periodicity on S^1.

hep-th↗