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Karl-Henning Rehren

Publications and source records attributed to Karl-Henning Rehren.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Hidden gauge invariance

The role of gauge invariance is reconsidered by "deriving it without assuming it" within an autonomous approach to interactions of Standard Model particles. In this approach, the renormalizable interactions are purely constrained by quantum principles, notably the representation on a Hilbert space, which forces interactions to be "string-localized". To some surprise, most interactions fulfilling the constraints enjoy an emergent but possibly "hidden" gauge invariance (uncovered via redefinitions of quantum fields). It is exact and unbroken even in the presence of massive vector bosons. It plays a major role in proving that S-matrices are insensitive to the string-localization, and in fact coincide with S-matrices of local interactions from the gauge theory approach on indefinite state spaces. Thus, particle physics with massless and massive vector bosons can be implemented without indefinite state spaces and ghosts.

hep-th↗
arXiv2025

Dressed fields for Quantum Chromodynamics

String-localized QFT allows to explain Standard Model interactions in an autonomous way, committed to quantum principles rather than a "gauge principle", thus avoiding an indefinite state space and compensating ghosts. The resulting perturbative scattering matrix is known (at tree-level) to be insensitive to the non-locality of the auxiliary "string-localized fields" used in the construction. For the examples of Yang-Mills and QCD, we prove that it is actually equivalent to the perturbative S-matrix of gauge theory, restricted to physical particle states. The role of classical gauge invariance is revealed along the way. The main tool are "dressed fields", that are intermediate between free fields and interacting fields, and for which we give explicit formulas at all orders. The renormalization of loops, as well as non-perturbative issues are not adressed, but we hint at the possibility, enabled by our approach, that qualitative traces of confinement may be visible already at the level of the dressed fields.

hep-th↗
arXiv2025

The full electroweak interaction: an autonomous account

The precise renormalizable interactions in the bosonic sector of electroweak theory are intrinsically determined in the autonomous approach to perturbation theory. This proceeds directly on the Hilbert-Fock space built on the Wigner unirreps of the physical particles, with their given masses: those of three massive vector bosons, a photon, and a massive scalar (the "higgs"). Neither "gauge choices" nor an unobservable "mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking" is invoked. Instead, to proceed on Hilbert space requires using string-localized fields to describe the vector bosons. In such a framework, the condition of string independence of the S-matrix yields consistency constraints on the coupling coefficients, the essentially unique outcome being the experimentally known one. The analysis can be largely carried out for other configurations of massive and massless vector bosons, paving the way towards consideration of consistent mass patterns beyond those of the electroweak theory.

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arXiv2024

Non-abelian models in sQFT

It is shown how string-localized QFT predicts interactions of the Standard Model. Detailed computations are presented for various non-abelian models: Yang-Mills, QCD, Higgs-Kibble. They serve as backup for [11,12] and as "proof of concept" for the treatment of the full Standard Model [4,5].

hep-th↗
arXiv2024

sQFT: an autonomous explanation of the interactions of quantum particles

Successful applications of a conceptually novel setup of Quantum Field Theory, that accounts for all subtheories of the Standard Model (QED, Electroweak Interaction and Higgs, Yang-Mills and QCD) and beyond (Helicity 2), call for a perspective view in a broader conceptual context. The setting is "autonomous" in the sense of being intrinsically quantum. Its principles are: Hilbert space, Poincaré symmetry and causality. Its free quantum fields are obtained from Wigner's unitary representations of the Poincaré group, with only physical and observable degrees of freedom. A "quantization" of an "underlying" classical theory is not needed. It allows renormalizable perturbation theory with interactions whose detailed structure, and in some cases even the particle content, is predicted by internal consistency. The results confirm and extend observable predictions for the interactions of the SM without assuming a "principle" of gauge invariance.

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arXiv2023

Quantum general covariance

The structure of quantum interactions with fields of helicity two ("gravitons") is strongly constrained by three principles: positivity (Hilbert space), covariance, and locality of observables. To fulfil them simultaneously, some (non-observable) fields need to be non-local. We work with string-localized fields. The results then follow from the condition that entities closely related to observables, like the S-matrix, be local and string-independent. They in particular reproduce the interactions dictated by general covariance in classical field theory. Graviton-matter couplings are consistent only when the graviton self-interaction is taken into account as well.

hep-th↗
arXiv2022

How the Higgs potential got its shape

String-localized quantum field theory allows renormalizable couplings involving massive vector bosons, without invoking negative-norm states and compensating ghosts. We analyze the most general coupling of a massive vector boson to a scalar field, and find that the scalar field necessarily comes with a quartic potential which has the precise shape of the shifted Higgs potential. In other words: the shape of the Higgs potential has not to be assumed, but arises as a consistency condition among fundamental principles of QFT: Hilbert space, causality, and covariance. The consistency can be achieved by relaxing the localization properties of auxiliary quantities, including interacting charged fields, while observable fields and the S-matrix are not affected. This is an instance of the "L-V formalism" - a novel model-independent scheme that can be used as a tool to "renormalize the non-renormalizable" by adding a total derivative to the interaction.

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arXiv2021

Infraparticle quantum fields and the formation of photon clouds

A non-perturbative and exactly solvable quantum field theoretical model for a "dressed Dirac field" is presented, that exhibits all the kinematical features of QED: an appropriate delocalization of the charged field as a prerequisite for the global Gauss Law, superselected photon clouds (asymptotic expectation values of the Maxwell field), infraparticle nature of charged particles that cannot be separated from their photon clouds, broken Lorentz symmetry. The model serves as an intermediate leg on a new roadmap towards full QED, formulated as an off-shell theory, i.e., including a perturbative construction of its interacting charged fields. It also fills a gap in recent discussions of the "Infrared Triangle", and points the way towards a new scattering theory for theories with massless particles of helicity $\geq 1$, in which infraparticles can be described at the level of charged fields, rather than just states.

hep-th↗
arXiv2021

On the spacetime structure of infrared divergencies in QED

We investigate analytic properties of string-integrated correlation functions and propagators with emphasis on their infrared behaviour. These are relevant in various models of quantum field theory with massless fields, including QED.

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arXiv2021

The Master Ward Identity for scalar QED

It is emphasized that for interactions with derivative couplings, the Ward Identity (WI) securing the preservation of a global U(1) symmetry should be modified. Scalar QED is taken as an explicit example. More precisely, it is rigorously shown in scalar QED that the naive WI and the improved Ward Identity ("Master Ward Identity", MWI) are related to each other by a finite renormalization of the time-ordered product ("T-product") for the derivative fields; and we point out that the MWI has advantages over the naive WI - in particular with regard to the proof of the MWI. We show that the MWI can be fulfilled in all orders of perturbation theory by an appropriate renormalization of the T-product, without conflict with other standard renormalization conditions. Relations with other recent formulations of the MWI are established.

math-ph↗
arXiv2020

Spacelike deformations: Higher-helicity fields from scalar fields

In contrast to Hamiltonian perturbation theory which changes the time evolution, "spacelike deformations" proceed by changing the translations (momentum operators). The free Maxwell theory is only the first member of an infinite family of spacelike deformations of the complex massless Klein-Gordon quantum field into fields of higher helicity. A similar but simpler instance of spacelike deformation allows to increase the mass of scalar fields.

math-ph↗
arXiv2020

Gauss' Law and String-Localized Quantum Field Theory

The quantum Gauss Law as an interacting field equation is a prominent feature of QED with eminent impact on its algebraic and superselection structure. It forces charged particles to be accompanied by "photon clouds" that cannot be realized in the Fock space, and prevents them from having a sharp mass. Because it entails the possibility of "measurement of charges at a distance", it is well-known to be in conflict with locality of charged fields in a Hilbert space. We show how a new approach to QED advocated by the authors, that avoids indefinite metric and ghosts, can secure causality and achieve Gauss' Law along with all its nontrivial consequences. We explain why this is not at variance with recent results in a paper by Buchholz et al.

hep-th↗
arXiv2019

Split property for free massless finite helicity fields

We prove the split property for any finite helicity free quantum fields. Finite helicity Poincaré representations extend to the conformal group and the conformal covariance plays an essential role in the argument. The split property is ensured by the trace class condition: Tr (exp(-s L_0)) is finite for all s>0 where L_0 is the conformal Hamiltonian of the Möbius covariant restriction of the net on the time axis. We extend the argument for the scalar case presented in [7]. We provide the direct sum decomposition into irreducible representations of the conformal extension of any helicity-h representation to the subgroup of transformations fixing the time axis. Our analysis provides new relations among finite helicity representations and suggests a new construction for representations and free quantum fields with non-zero helicity.

math-ph↗
arXiv2017

Pauli-Lubanski limit and stress-energy tensor for infinite-spin fields

String-localized quantum fields transforming in Wigner's infinite-spin representations were introduced by Mund, Schroer and Yngvason. We construct these fields as limits of fields of finite mass $m\to 0$ and finite spin $s\to\infty$. We determine a string-localized infinite-spin quantum stress-energy tensor with a novel prescription that does not refer to a classical Lagrangean.

hep-th↗
arXiv2017

Helicity decoupling in the massless limit of massive tensor fields

Massive and massless potentials play an essential role in the perturbative formulation of particle interactions. Many difficulties arise due to the indefinite metric in gauge theoretic approaches, or the increase with the spin of the UV dimension of massive potentials. All these problems can be evaded in one stroke: modify the potentials by suitable terms that leave unchanged the field strengths, but are not polynomial in the momenta. This feature implies a weaker localization property: the potentials are "string-localized". In this setting, several old issues can be solved directly in the physical Hilbert space of the respective particles: We can control the separation of helicities in the massless limit of higher spin fields and conversely we recover massive potentials with 2s+1 degrees of freedom by a smooth deformation of the massless potentials ("fattening"). We construct stress-energy tensors for massless fields of any helicity (thus evading the Weinberg-Witten theorem). We arrive at a simple understanding of the van Dam-Veltman-Zakharov discontinuity concerning, e.g., the distinction between a massless or a very light graviton. Finally, the use of string-localized fields opens new perspectives for interacting quantum field theories with, e.g., vector bosons or gravitons.

hep-th↗
arXiv2017

Relations between positivity, localization and degrees of freedom: the Weinberg-Witten theorem and the van Dam-Veltman-Zakharov discontinuity

The problem of accounting for the quantum degrees of freedom in passing from massive higher-spin potentials to massless ones and its inverse, the "fattening" of massless tensor potentials of helicity $\pm h$ to their massive $s = |h|$ counterparts, are solved - in a perfectly ghost-free approach - using "string-localized fields". This approach allows to overcome the Weinberg-Witten impediment against the existence of massless $|h| \geq 2$ energy-momentum tensors, and to qualitatively and quantitatively resolve the van Dam-Veltman-Zakharov discontinuity concerning, e.g., very light gravitons, in the limit $m \to 0$.

hep-th↗
arXiv2016

The hypergroupoid of boundary conditions for local quantum observables

We review the definition of hypergroups by Sunder, and we associate a hypergroup to a type III subfactor $N\subset M$ of finite index, whose canonical endomorphism $γ\in\mathrm{End}(M)$ is multiplicity-free. It is realized by positive maps of $M$ that have $N$ as fixed points. If the depth is $>2$, this hypergroup is different from the hypergroup associated with the fusion algebra of $M$-$M$ bimodules that was Sunder's original motivation to introduce hypergroups. We explain how the present hypergroup, associated with a suitable subfactor, controls the composition of transparent boundary conditions between two isomorphic quantum field theories, and that this generalizes to a hypergroupoid of boundary conditions between different quantum field theories sharing a common subtheory.

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