Gauge and topological symmetries in the bulk quantization of gauge theories

Jun, 2000
36 pages
Published in:
  • Nucl.Phys.B 597 (2001) 583-614
e-Print:
Report number:
  • LPTHE-00-20,
  • NYU-TH-30-5-00

Citations per year

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Abstract:
A gauge theory with 4 physical dimensions can be consistently expressed as a renormalizable topological quantum field theory in 5 dimensions. We extend the symmetries in the 5-dimensional framework to include not only a topological BRST operator S that encodes the invisibility of the "bulk" (the fifth dimension), but also a gauge BRST operator W that encodes gauge-invariance and selects observables. These symmetries provide a rich structure of Ward identities which assure the renormalizability of the theory, including non-renormalization theorems. The 5-dimensional approach considerably simplifies conceptual questions such as for instance the Gribov phenomenon and fermion doubling. A confinement scenario in the 5-dimensional framework is sketched. We detail the five-dimensional mechanism of anomalies, and we exhibit a natural lattice discretization that is free of fermion doubling.
  • gauge field theory: Yang-Mills
  • invariance: Becchi-Rouet-Stora
  • symmetry: topological
  • dependence: gauge
  • Ward identity
  • quantization
  • renormalization