arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to B. Schlittgen.
Using the character expansion method, we generalize several well-known integrals over the unitary group to the case where general complex matrices appear in the integrand. These integrals are of interest in the theory of random matrices and may also find applications in lattice gauge theory.
We present the color-flavor transformation for gauge group SU(N_c) and discuss its application to lattice QCD.
We extend Zirnbauer's color-flavor transformation in the fermionic sector to the case of the special unitary group. The transformation allows a certain integral over SU(N_c) color matrices to be transformed into an integral over flavor matrices which parameterize the coset space U(2N_f)/U(N_f)xU(N_f). Integrals of the type considered appear, for example, in the partition function of lattice gauge theory.
Quantum link models are a novel formulation of gauge theories in terms of discrete degrees of freedom. These degrees of freedom are described by quantum operators acting in a finite-dimensional Hilbert space. We show that for certain representations of the operator algebra, the usual Yang-Mills action is recovered in the continuum limit. The quantum operators can be expressed as bilinears of fermionic creation and annihilation operators called rishons. Using the rishon representation the quantum link Hamiltonian can be expressed entirely in terms of color-neutral operators. This allows us to study the large N_c limit of this model. In the 't Hooft limit we find an area law for the Wilson loop and a mass gap. Furthermore, the strong coupling expansion is a topological expansion in which graphs with handles and boundaries are suppressed.
Quantum spin and quantum link models provide an unconventional regularization of field theory in which classical fields arise via dimensional reduction of discrete variables. This D-theory regularization leads to the same continuum theories as the conventional approach. We show this by deriving the low-energy effective Lagrangians of D-theory models using coherent state path integral techniques. We illustrate our method for the $(2+1)$-d Heisenberg quantum spin model which is the D-theory regularization of the 2-d O(3) model. Similarly, we prove that in the continuum limit a $(2+1)$-d quantum spin model with $SU(N)_L\times SU(N)_R\times U(1)_{L=R}$ symmetry is equivalent to the 2-d principal chiral model. Finally, we show that $(4+1)$-d SU(N) quantum link models reduce to ordinary 4-d Yang-Mills theory.
The phase diagrams of cuprate superconductors and of QCD at non-zero baryon chemical potential are qualitatively similar. The Neel phase of the cuprates corresponds to the chirally broken phase of QCD, and the high-temperature superconducting phase corresponds to the color superconducting phase. In the SO(5) theory for the cuprates the $SO(3)_s$ spin rotational symmetry and the $U(1)_{em}$ gauge symmetry of electromagnetism are dynamically unified. This suggests that the $SU(2)_L \otimes SU(2)_R \otimes U(1)_B$ chiral symmetry of QCD and the $SU(3)_c$ color gauge symmetry may get unified to SO(10). Dynamical enhancement of symmetry from $SO(2)_s \otimes \Z(2)$ to $SO(3)_s$ is known to occur in anisotropic antiferromagnets. In these systems the staggered magnetization flops from an easy 3-axis into the 12-plane at a critical value of the external magnetic field. Similarly, the phase transitions in the SO(5) and SO(10) models are flop transitions of a ``superspin''. Despite this fact, a renormalization group flow analysis in $4-ε$ dimensions indicates that a point with full SO(5) or SO(10) symmetry exists neither in the cuprates nor in QCD.
We formulate the two-dimensional principal chiral model as a quantum spin model, replacing the classical fields by quantum operators acting in a Hilbert space, and introducing an additional, Euclidean time dimension. Using coherent state path integral techniques, we show that in the limit in which a large representation is chosen for the operators, the low energy excitations of the model describe a principal chiral model in three dimensions. By dimensional reduction, the two-dimensional principal chiral model of classical fields is recovered.