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Jose M. Gracia-Bondia

Publications and source records attributed to Jose M. Gracia-Bondia.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Diphoton decay of the higgs from the Epstein--Glaser viewpoint

We revisit a nearly ten-year old controversy on the diphoton decay of the Higgs particle. To a large extent, the controversy turned around the respective merits of the regularization techniques employed. The novel aspect of our approach is that no regularization techniques are brought to bear: we work within the Bogoliubov--Epstein--Glaser scheme of renormalization by extension of distributions. Solving the problem actually required an expansion of this method's toolkit, furnished in the paper.

hep-ph↗

On the assertion that PCT violation implies Lorentz non-invariance

Out of conviction or expediency, some current research programs take for granted that "PCT violation implies violation of Lorentz invariance". We point out that this claim is still on somewhat shaky ground. In fact, for many years there has been no strengthening of the evidence in this direction. However, using causal perturbation theory, we prove here that when starting with a local PCT-invariant interaction, PCT symmetry can be maintained in the process of renormalization.

hep-th↗

Harmonium as a laboratory for mathematical chemistry

Thanks to an algebraic duality property of reduced states, the Schmidt best approximation theorems have important corollaries in the rigorous theory of two-electron moleculae. In turn, the "harmonium mode" or "Moshinsky atom" constitutes a non-trivial laboratory bench for energy functionals proposed over the years (1964--today), purporting to recover the full ground state of the system from knowledge of the reduced 1-body matrix. That model is usually regarded as solvable, but some important aspects of it, in particular the exact energy and full state functionals ---unraveling the "phase dilemma" for the system--- had not been calculated heretofore. The solution is made plain here by working with Wigner quasiprobabilities on phase space. It allows in principle for a thorough discussion of the (de)merits of several approximate functionals popular in the theoretical chemical physics literature. We focus on Gill's "Wigner intracule" method for the correlation energy.

physics.chem-ph↗

Quantum gauge models without classical Higgs mechanism

We examine the status of massive gauge theories, such as those usually obtained by spontaneous symmetry breakdown, from the viewpoint of causal (Epstein-Glaser) renormalization. The BRS formulation of gauge invariance in this framework, starting from canonical quantization of massive (as well as massless) vector bosons as fundamental entities, and proceeding perturbatively, allows one to rederive the reductive group symmetry of interactions, the need for scalar fields in gauge theory, and the covariant derivative. Thus the presence of higgs particles is explained without recourse to a Higgs(-Englert-Brout-Guralnik-Hagen-Kibble) mechanism. Along the way, we dispel doubts about the compatibility of causal gauge invariance with grand unified theories.

hep-th↗

Notes on "quantum gravity" and non-commutative geometry

I hesitated for a long time before giving shape to these notes, originally intended for preliminary reading by the attendees to the Summer School "New paths towards quantum gravity" (Holbaek Bay, Denmark, May 2008). At the end, I decide against just selling my mathematical wares, and for a survey, necessarily very selective, but taking a global phenomenological approach to its subject matter. After all, non-commutative geometry does not purport yet to solve the riddle of quantum gravity; it is more of an insurance policy against the probable failure of the other approaches. The plan is as follows: the introduction invites students to the fruitful doubts and conundrums besetting the application of even classical gravity. Next, the first experiments detecting quantum gravitational states inoculate us a healthy dose of skepticism on some of the current ideologies. In Section 3 we look at the action for general relativity as a consequence of gauge theory for quantum tensor fields. Section 4 briefly deals with the unimodular variants. Section 5 arrives at non-commutative geometry. I am convinced that, if this is to play a role in quantum gravity, commutative and non-commutative manifolds must be treated on the same footing; which justifies the place granted to the reconstruction theorem. Together with Section 3, this part constitutes the main body of the notes. Only very summarily at the end of this section we point to some approaches to gravity within the non-commutative realm. The last section delivers a last dose of skepticism. My efforts will have been rewarded if someone from the young generation learns to mistrust current mindsets.

hep-th↗

Lectures on BRS invariance for massive boson fields

These notes correspond to lectures given at the Villa de Leyva Summer School in Colombia (July 2007). Our main purpose in this short course on BRS invariance of gauge theories is to illuminate corners of the theory left in the shade by standard treatments. The plan is as follows. First a review of Utiyama's "general gauge theory". Promptly we find a counterexample to it in the shape of the massive spin-1 Stueckelberg gauge field. This is not fancy, as the massive case is the most natural one to introduce BRS invariance in the context of free quantum fields. Mathematically speaking, the first part of the course uses Utiyama's notation, and thus has the flavour and non-intrinsic notation of standard physics textbooks. Next we deal with boson fields on Fock space and BRS invariance in connection with the existence of Krein operators; the attending rigour points are then addressed.

hep-th↗

On the causal gauge principle

Work by the Zurich school of causal (Epstein-Glaser) renormalization has shown that renormalizability in the presence of massless or massive gauge fields (as primary entities) explains gauge invariance and, in some instances, the presence of a Higgs-like particle, without the Brout-Englert-Higgs-Kibble (BEHK) mechanism. We review that work, in a pedagogical vein, with a pointer to go beyond.

hep-th↗

Fourier analysis on the affine group, quantization and noncompact Connes geometries

We find the Stratonovich-Weyl quantizer for the nonunimodular affine group of the line. A noncommutative product of functions on the half-plane, underlying a noncompact spectral triple in the sense of Connes, is obtained from it. The corresponding Wigner functions reproduce the time-frequency distributions of signal processing. The same construction leads to scalar Fourier transformations on the affine group, simplifying and extending the Fourier transformation proposed by Kirillov.

hep-th↗

Rota-Baxter algebras and new combinatorial identities

The word problem for an arbitrary associative Rota-Baxter algebra is solved. This leads to a noncommutative generalization of the classical Spitzer identities. Links to other combinatorial aspects, particularly of interest in physics, are indicated.

math.CO↗

Hidden symmetry and Hopf algebra

We spell two conundrums, one of physical and another of mathematical nature, and explain why one helps to elucidate the other

hep-th↗

Combinatorial Hopf algebras in quantum field theory I

This manuscript stands at the interface between combinatorial Hopf algebra theory and renormalization theory. Its plan is as follows: Section 1 is the introduction, and contains as well an elementary invitation to the subject. The rest of part I, comprising Sections 2-6, is devoted to the basics of Hopf algebra theory and examples, in ascending level of complexity. Part II turns around the all-important Faa di Bruno Hopf algebra. Section 7 contains a first, direct approach to it. Section 8 gives applications of the Faa di Bruno algebra to quantum field theory and Lagrange reversion. Section 9 rederives the related Connes-Moscovici algebras. In Part III we turn to the Connes-Kreimer Hopf algebras of Feynman graphs and, more generally, to incidence bialgebras. In Section10 we describe the first. Then in Section11 we give a simple derivation of (the properly combinatorial part of) Zimmermann's cancellation-free method, in its original diagrammatic form. In Section 12 general incidence algebras are introduced, and the Faa di Bruno bialgebras are described as incidence bialgebras. In Section 13, deeper lore on Rota's incidence algebras allows us to reinterpret Connes-Kreimer algebras in terms of distributive lattices. Next, the general algebraic-combinatorial proof of the cancellation-free formula for antipodes is ascertained; this is the heart of the paper. The structure results for commutative Hopf algebras are found in Sections 14 and 15. An outlook section very briefly reviews the coalgebraic aspects of quantization and the Rota-Baxter map in renormalization.

hep-th↗

The uses of Connes and Kreimer's algebraic formulation of renormalization theory

We show how, modulo the distinction between the antipode and the "twisted" or "renormalized" antipode, Connes and Kreimer's algebraic paradigm trivializes the proofs of equivalence of the (corrected) Dyson-Salam, Bogoliubov-Parasiuk-Hepp and Zimmermann procedures for renormalizing Feynman amplitudes. We discuss the outlook for a parallel simplification of computations in quantum field theory, stemming from the same algebraic approach.

hep-th↗

Noncommutative geometry and fundamental interactions: the first ten years

This is the full text of a survey talk for nonspecialists, delivered at the 66th Annual Meeting of the German Physical Society in Leipzig, March 2002. We have not taken pains to suppress the colloquial style. References are given only insofar as they help to underline the points made; this is not a full-blooded survey. The connection between noncommutative field theory and string theory is mentioned, but deemphasized. Contributions to noncommutative geometry made in Germany are emphasized.

hep-th↗

Improved Epstein-Glaser renormalization in coordinate space I. Euclidean framework

In a series of papers, we investigate the reformulation of Epstein-Glaser renormalization in coordinate space, both in analytic and Hopf algebraic terms. This first article deals with analytical aspects. Some of the historically good reasons for the divorces of the Epstein-Glaser method, both from mainstream quantum field theory and the mathematical literature on distributions, are made plain; and overcome.

hep-th↗

On the antipode of Kreimer's Hopf algebra

We give a new formula for the antipode of the algebra of rooted trees, directly in terms of the bialgebra structure. The equivalence, proved in this paper, among the three available formulae for the antipode, reflects the equivalence among the Bogoliubov-Parasiuk-Hepp, Zimmermann, and Dyson-Salam renormalization schemes.

hep-th↗

On the ultraviolet behaviour of quantum fields over noncommutative manifolds

By exploiting the relation between Fredholm modules and the Segal-Shale-Stinespring version of canonical quantization, and taking as starting point the first-quantized fields described by Connes' axioms for noncommutative spin geometries, a Hamiltonian framework for fermion quantum fields over noncommutative manifolds is introduced. We analyze the ultraviolet behaviour of second-quantized fields over noncommutative 3-tori, and discuss what behaviour should be expected on other noncommutative spin manifolds.

hep-th↗

The Standard Model as a noncommutative geometry: the low energy regime

We render a thorough, physicist's account of the formulation of the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics within the framework of noncommutative differential geometry (NCG). We work in Minkowski spacetime rather than in Euclidean space. We lay the stress on the physical ideas both underlying and coming out of the noncommutative derivation of the SM, while we provide the necessary mathematical tools. Postdiction of most of the main characteristics of the SM is shown within the NCG framework. This framework, plus standard renormalization technique at the one-loop level, suggest that the Higgs and top masses should verify 1.3 m_top \lesssim m_H \lesssim 1.73 m_top.

hep-th↗