arXiv subjects

V. P. Nair

Publications and source records attributed to V. P. Nair.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Elements of Geometric Quantization and Applications to Fields and Fluids

These lecture notes (from the Second Autumn School in High Energy Physics and Quantum Field Theory, Yerevan 2014) cover a number of topics related to geometric quantization. Most of the material is presented from a physicist's point of view. The original notes are posted at \verb+http://theorphyslab-ysu.info/VW_ASW-2014/uploads/ArmeniaLectures.pdf+. The have been revised with some additions and changes, although referencing is still somewhat dated. These notes are posted here as they may be good background material for some recent papers.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

The role of the spin connection in quantum Hall effect: A perspective from geometric quantization

The topological terms of the bulk effective action for the integer quantum Hall effect, capturing the dynamics of gauge and gravitational fluctuations, reveal a curiosity, namely, the Abelian potential for the magnetic field appears in a particular combination with the Abelian spin connection. This seems to hold for quantum Hall effect on complex projective spaces of arbitrary dimensions. An interpretation of this in terms of the algebra of symplectic transformations is given. This can also be viewed in terms of the metaplectic correction in geometric quantization.

hep-th↗

arXiv2015

Thermofield dynamics and Gravity

Thermofield dynamics is presented in terms of a path-integral using coherent states, equivalently, using a coadjoint orbit action. A field theoretic formulation in terms of fields on a manifold ${\mathcal M} \times {\tilde{\mathcal M}}$ where the two components have opposite orientation is also presented. We propose formulating gravitational dynamics for noncommutative geometry using thermofield dynamics, doubling the Hilbert space modeling the noncommutative space. We consider 2+1 dimensions in some detail and since ${\mathcal M}$ and ${\tilde{\mathcal M}}$ have opposite orientation, the commutative limit leads to the Einstein-Hilbert action as the difference of two Chern-Simons actions.

hep-th↗

arXiv2015

Boundary Conditions as Dynamical Fields

The possibility of treating boundary conditions in terms of a bilocal dynamical field is formalized in terms of a boundary action. This allows for a simple path-integral perturbation theory approach to physical effects such as radiation from a time-dependent boundary. The nature of the action which governs the dynamics of the bilocal field is investigated for a limited case (which includes the Robin boundary conditions).

hep-th↗

arXiv2015

Effect of impurities on the Josephson current through helical metals: Exploiting a neutrino paradigm

In this letter we study the effect of time-reversal symmetric impurities on the Josephson supercurrent through two dimensional helical metals such as on topological insulator surface state. We show that contrary to the usual superconducting-normal metal-superconducting junctions, the suppression of supercurrent in superconducting-helical metal-superconducting junction is mainly due to fluctuations of impurities in the junctions. Our results, which is a condensed matter realization of a part of the MSW effect for neutrinos, shows that the relationship between normal state conductance and critical current of Josephson junctions is significantly modified for Josephson junctions on the surface of topological insulators. We also study the temperature-dependence of supercurrent and present a two fluid model which can explain some of recent experimental results in Josephson junctions on the edge of topological insulators.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2015

Fermions, Mass-Gap and Landau Levels: Gauge invariant Hamiltonian for QCD in D=2+1

A gauge-invariant reformulation of QCD in three spacetime dimensions is presented within a Hamiltonian formalism, extending previous work to include fermion fields in the adjoint and fundamental representations. A priori there are several ways to define the gauge-invariant versions of the fermions; a consistent prescription for choosing the fermionic variables is presented. The fermionic contribution to the volume element of the gauge orbit space and the gluonic mass-gap is computed exactly and this contribution is shown to be closely related to the mechanism for induction of Chern-Simons terms by parity-odd fermions. The consistency of the Hamiltonian scheme with known results on index theorems, Landau Levels and renormalization of Chern-Simons level numbers is shown in detail. We also comment on the fermionic contribution to the volume element in relation to issues of confinement and screening.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Hydrodynamics with gauge anomaly: Variational principle and Hamiltonian formulation

We present a variational principle for relativistic hydrodynamics with gauge-anomaly terms for a fluid coupled to an Abelian background gauge field. For this we utilize the Clebsch parametrization of the velocity field. We also set up the Hamiltonian formulation and the canonical framework for the theory. While the equations of motion only involve the density and velocity fields, i.e., the Clebsch potentials only appear in the combination which is the velocity field, the generators of symmetry transformations (including the Hamiltonian) depend explicitly on one of the Clebsch potentials, if the background field is time-dependent. For the special case of time-independent background fields, this feature is absent.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Relativistic Particle and Relativistic Fluids: Magnetic Moment and Spin-Orbit Interactions

We consider relativistic charged particle dynamics and relativistic magnetohydrodynamics using symplectic structures and actions given in terms of co-adjoint orbits of the Poincaré group. The particle case is meant to clarify some points such as how minimal coupling (as defined in text) leads to a gyromagnetic ratio of $2$, and to set the stage for fluid dynamics. The general group-theoretic framework is further explained and is then used to set up Abelian magnetohydrodynamics including spin effects. An interesting new physical effect is precession of spin density induced by gradients in pressure and energy density. The Euler equation (the dynamics of the velocity field) is also modified by gradients of the spin density.

hep-th↗

arXiv2013

Quantum field theories with boundaries and novel instabilities

Quantum physics on manifolds with boundary brings novel aspects due to boundary conditions. One important feature is the appearance of localised negative eigenmodes for the Laplacian on the boundary. These can potentially lead to instabilities. We consider quantum field theories on such manifolds and interpret these as leading to the onset of phase transitions.

hep-th↗

arXiv2013

On the Gauge-invariant Functional Measure for Gauge Fields on CP^2

We introduce a general parametrization for nonabelian gauge fields on the four-dimensional space ${\mathbb{CP}}^2$. The volume element for the gauge-orbit space or the space of physical configurations is then investigated. The leading divergence in this volume element is obtained in terms of a higher dimensional Wess-Zumino-Witten action, which has previously been studied in the context of Kähler-Chern-Simons theories. This term, it is argued, implies that one needs to introduce a dimensional parameter to specify the integration measure, a step which is a nonperturbative version of the well-known dimensional transmutation in four-dimensional gauge theories.

hep-th↗

arXiv2013

The Isospin Asymmetry in Anomalous Fluid Dynamics

The dynamics of fluids in which the constituent particles carry nonabelian charges can be described succinctly in terms of group-valued variables via a generalization of the co-adjoint orbit action for particles. This formalism, which is particularly suitable for incorporating anomalies, has previously been used for the chiral magnetic and chiral vorticity effects. Here we consider the similar effect for the isospin which corresponds to an angular asymmetry for neutral pions.

hep-th↗

arXiv2013

Diffractive Effects and General Boundary Conditions in Casimir Energy

The effect of edges and apertures on the Casimir energy of an arrangement of plates and boundaries can be calculated in terms of an effective nonlocal lower-dimensional field theory that lives on the boundary. This formalism has been developed in a number of previous papers and applied to specific examples with Dirichlet boundary conditions. Here we generalize the formalism to arbitrary boundary conditions. As a specific example, the geometry of a flat plate and a half-plate placed parallel to it is considered for a number of different boundary conditions and the area-dependent and edge dependent contributions to the Casimir energy are evaluated. While our results agree with known results for those special cases (such as the Dirichlet and Neumann limits) for which other methods of calculation have been used, our formalism is suitable for general boundary conditions, especially for the diffractive effects.

hep-th↗

arXiv2012

Fluids, Anomalies and the Chiral Magnetic Effect: A Group-theoretic Formulation

It is possible to formulate fluid dynamics in terms of group-valued variables. This is particularly suited to the cases where the fluid has nonabelian charges and is coupled to nonabelian gauge fields. We explore this formulation further in this paper. An action for a fluid of relativistic particles (with and without spin) is given in terms of the Lorentz and Poincare (or de Sitter) groups. Considering the case of particles with flavor symmetries, a general fluid action which also incorporates all flavor anomalies is given. The chiral magnetic and chiral vorticity effects as well as the consequences of the mixed gauge-gravity anomaly are discussed.

hep-th↗

arXiv2012

The Quantum Effective Action, Wave Functions and Yang-Mills (2+1)

We explore the relationship between the quantum effective action and the ground state (and excited state) wave functions of a field theory. Applied to the Yang-Mills theory in 2+1 dimensions, we find the leading terms of the effective action from the ground state wave function previously obtained in the Hamiltonian formalism by solving the Schrodinger equation.

hep-th↗

arXiv2012

Supersymmetry and Mass Gap in 2+1 Dimensions: A Gauge Invariant Hamiltonian Analysis

A Hamiltonian formulation of Yang-Mills-Chern-Simons theories with $0\leq N\leq 4$ supersymmetry in terms of gauge-invariant variables is presented, generalizing earlier work on nonsupersymmetric gauge theories. Special attention is paid to the volume measure of integration (over the gauge orbit space of the fields) which occurs in the inner product for the wave functions and arguments relating it to the renormalization of the Chern-Simons level number and to mass-gaps in the spectrum of the Hamiltonians are presented. The expression for the integration measure is consistent with the absence of mass gap for theories with extended supersymmetry (in the absence of additional matter hypermultiplets and/or Chern-Simons couplings), while for the minimally supersymmetric case, there is a mass-gap, the scale of which is set by a renormalized level number, in agreement with indications from existing literature. The realization of the supersymmetry algebra and the Hamiltonian in terms of the gauge invariant variables is also presented.

hep-th↗

arXiv2012

Fuzzy spaces and new random matrix ensembles

We analyze the expectation value of observables in a scalar theory on the fuzzy two sphere, represented as a generalized hermitian matrix model. We calculate explicitly the form of the expectation values in the large-N limit and demonstrate that, for any single kind of field (matrix), the distribution of its eigenvalues is still a Wigner semicircle but with a renormalized radius. For observables involving more than one type of matrix we obtain a new distribution corresponding to correlated Wigner semicircles.

hep-th↗

arXiv2012

Gauge-invariant Mass Terms and Wave Functions

We outline a method of relating the quantum effective action and the ground state wave function of a field theory. This method, along with a gauge-invariant mass term and the previously obtained vacuum wave function, is used to arrive at the leading terms of the 3d-covariant quantum effective action for the Yang-Mills theory in three (or 2+1) dimensions. Some features of this effective action are also discussed.

hep-th↗

arXiv2011

Edges and Diffractive Effects in Casimir Energies

The prototypical Casimir effect arises when a scalar field is confined between parallel Dirichlet boundaries. We study corrections to this when the boundaries themselves have apertures and edges. We consider several geometries: a single plate with a slit in it, perpendicular plates separated by a gap, and two parallel plates, one of which has a long slit of large width, related to the case of one plate being semi-infinite. We develop a general formalism for studying such problems, based on the wavefunctional for the field in the gap between the plates. This formalism leads to a lower dimensional theory defined on the open regions of the plates or boundaries. The Casimir energy is then given in terms of the determinant of the nonlocal differential operator which defines the lower dimensional theory. We develop perturbative methods for computing these determinants. Our results are in good agreement with known results based on Monte Carlo simulations. The method is well suited to isolating the diffractive contributions to the Casimir energy.

hep-th↗