Restricting affine Toda theory to the half line

Jul, 1998
39 pages
Published in:
  • JHEP 09 (1998) 016
e-Print:

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Abstract:
We restrict affine Toda field theory to the half-line by imposing certain boundary conditions at x=0x=0. The resulting theory possesses the same spectrum of solitons and breathers as affine Toda theory on the whole line. The classical solutions describing the reflection of these particles off the boundary are obtained from those on the whole line by a kind of method of mirror images. Depending on the boundary condition chosen, the mirror must be placed either at, in front, or behind the boundary. We observe that incoming solitons are converted into outgoing antisolitons during reflection. Neumann boundary conditions allow additional solutions which are interpreted as boundary excitations (boundary breathers). For an(1)a_n^{(1)} and cn(1)c_n^{(1)} Toda theories, on which we concentrate mostly, the boundary conditions which we study are among the integrable boundary conditions classified by Corrigan et.al. As applications of our work we study the vacuum solutions of real coupling Toda theory on the half-line and we perform semiclassical calculations which support recent conjectures for the a2(1)a_2^{(1)} soliton reflection matrices by Gandenberger.
  • field theory: affine
  • field theory: Toda
  • dimension: 2
  • boundary condition
  • soliton
  • energy
  • approximation: semiclassical