1 Gauge elds

We have U(1) symmetry at each point in space-time. We usually multiply the matter eld by a phase e
i(x,t)
. Using the
covariant derivative D

= @

+ieA

we can write the SE for a particle moving in an EM eld as

1
2m
D
2
i
= iD
t

which is gauge invariant. For some complex eld

L =
1
2
@

'(@

||
2

this has global gauge symmetry, while if we add a gauge eld

L =
1
2
D

'(D

v
V

||
2

we have local gauge symmetry.

We want to turn A into a dynamical eld as well. We start with a lattice version.
We focus on a specic square in the x
1
x
2
plane. A is associated with links, ' is associated with lattice points.
' transforms like
'(n, m) !e
i(n,m)
(n, m)
A transforms like
A
1
!A
1

(1, 0) (0, 0)
a
which means
e
iA1a
!e
i(1,0)
e
iA1a
e
i(0,0)
For each link we can dene an element of the group U(1)
'
A
!e
i(A)
'
A
1
U
AB
!e
i(A)
U
AB
e
(B)
and this reproduces the transformation of A (here A
1
is the 1 component of the 4 vector, A is the index of the point and
a is the lattice constant)
U
AB
= e
iA1(A)a
!e
i(A)
e
iA1(A)a
e
i(A)
Expanding gives the correct transformation for A

1 +iA
1
(A)a !
Also
U
AB
'
B
!e
i(A)
U
AB
e
i(B)
e
i(B)
'
B
= e
i(A)
U
AB
'
B
which lets us dene the covariand derivative as
U
AB
'
B
'
A
a
!e
i(A)
U
AB
'
B
'
A
a
which transforms as expected. Expanding gives
e
iA1(A)a
'
B
'
A
= (1 +iA
1
(A)a)('
A
+a@
x
1'
A
) '
A
= a(@
x
1' +iA
1
')
hence it represents the derivative. What we are really after is a kinetic term for A

which doesnt contain '. What gauge

invariant term can we build from Us? We can complete a square
U
AB
U
BC
U
1
DC
U
1
AD
If we transform this the phases cancel
U
AB
U
BC
U
1
DC
U
1
AD
!e
i(A)
U
AB
U
BC
U
1
DC
U
1
AD
e
i(A)
when they are numbers as with U(1) they commute and we get invariance. To generalize to cases where they dont
commute we can take a trace and use the fact that it is cyclical.
We expand this
U
AB
U
BC
U
1
DC
U
1
AD
= e
iA1(A)a
e
iA2(B)a
e
iA1(D)a
e
iA2(A)a
and evaluating everything in terms of the values at location A
= e
iA1a
exp (i(A
2
+a@
x
1A
2
a)) exp (i(A
1
+a@
x
2A
1
a)) e
iA2a
= exp
_
ia
2
(@
x
1A
2
@
x
2A
1
)
_
= 1 +ia
2
(@
x
1A
2
@
x
2A
1
)
a
4
2
(@
x
1A
2
@
x
2A
1
)
2
+O(a
6
)
strictly speaking we should have taken terms of a^4 in all expansions up to now but they dont contribute. The rst term
is a constant and the second is a curl which can be turned into a boundary term and will not aect dynamics. Thus the
leading order contribution will enter the lagrangian as
L !

d
4
x(@

A
v
@
v
A

)
2
2
UUU
1
U
1
= exp
_
ia
2
F
x
1
x
2
_
We also add an arbitrary Yang-Mills constant g which we have freedom to add

d
4
x

x
i
,x
j
exp
_
ia
2
F
x
i
x
j
_
=

d
4
x

x
i
,x
j
_
F
2
x
i
x
j
_
!
1
g
2

d
4
x
1v1

2v2
F
12
F
v1v2
S =
1
g
2

latticepoints

i>j

1 +ia
2
F
ij

a
4
2
(F
ij
)
2
+...

=
1
g
2

d
4
x
a
4

i>j

a
4
2
(F
ij
)
2
+...

=
1
g
2

d
4
xF
2
v
where the F term drops from IBP leaving a boundary term. This is all in Euclidean space. How does F transform?
F

!@

(A
v
@
v
) @
v
(A

) = F

For some continuous group G with g(x) 2 G assigned to lattice points we can dene the transformation of U
xy
2 G
assigned to links
U
AB
!g(A)U
AB
g(B)
1
If g isnt abelian
U
AB
U
BC
U
1
DC
U
1
AD
!g(A)U
AB
U
BC
U
1
DC
U
1
AD
g(A)
1
Tr
_
U
AB
U
BC
U
1
DC
U
1
AD
_
!Tr
_
U
AB
U
BC
U
1
DC
U
1
AD
_
U
AB
is a group element which can be written in terms of members of the algebra as
U
A
= e
iA1a
and in general
U
j
(x) = e
iAj(x)a
!g(x)e
iAj(x)a
g(x +a x
j
)
1
g(x) (1 +iA
j
(x)a)
_
g(x)
1
+a@
j
g(x)
1
_
g, @
j
g(x)
1
are matrices
1 +ia
_
g(x)A
j
(x)g(x)
1
ig(x)@
j
g(x)
1
_
and thus
A
j
(x) !g(x)A
j
(x)g(x)
1
ig(x)@
j
g(x)
1
and checking that this works in the U(1) case we considered, where g(x) = e
i(x)
we have
A
j
(x) !A
j
(x) ie
i(x)
@
j
e
i(x)
= A
j
(x) @
j
(x)
as expected.
Taking the distances between sites asx
i
, x
j
U
AB
U
BC
U
1
DC
U
1
AD
= exp
_
iA
i
(x)x
i
_
exp
_
iA
j
(x +x
i
)x
j
_
exp
_
iA
i
(x +x
j
)x
i
_
exp
_
iA
j
(x)x
j
_
(1)
= exp
_
ix
i
x
j
F
ij
+higher orders
_
where F is in the algebra. 0th order terms in drop, and rst order terms drop (setting x
i
or x
j
to 0 all we do is
go back and forth and this doesnt contribute anything). We can see that the product is antisymmetric under an i j
exchange hence F is antisymmetric. This is a generalization of the eld strength tensor. What is F? We expand like before
to elds at x
exp
_
iA
i
(x)x
i
_
exp
_
iA
j
(x)x
j
+i@
i
A
j
x
i
x
j
_
exp
_
iA
i
(x)x
i
i@
j
A
i
x
i
x
j
_
exp
_
iA
j
(x)x
j
_

_
1 +iA
i
(x)x
i
_ _
1 +iA
j
(x)x
j
+i@
i
A
j
x
i
x
j
_ _
1 iA
i
(x)x
i
i@
j
A
i
x
i
x
j
_ _
1 iA
j
(x)x
j
_
3
terms with x
i
x
j
= i@
i
A
j
x
i
x
j
i@
j
A
i
x
i
x
j
[A
i
, A
j
]x
i
x
j
We kept terms that go like x
i
x
j
giving
F
ij
= @
i
A
j
@
j
A
i
+i[A
i
, A
j
]
01/28/13
If G is SU(N), U2 G then A are hermitian traceless matrices. Under the transformation
(1) !g(A)(1)g(A)
1
and hence
F
ij
!g(x)F
ij
g(x)
1
which can also be shown by writing it in terms of A and transforming A since A !gAg
1
ig@
i
g
1
.
We want to build an invariant kinetic term from F
ij
. We can guess Tr(F) but this is either 0 or a total derivative. However
Tr(F
v
F

) is gauge invariant. If we also want it to be LI we need to contract indices so we choose

Tr(F
1v1
F
2v2
)
12

v1v2
F
1v1
is actually an object with 4 indices, 2 spacetime indices which indicate directions and 2 indices of the gauge group
since it is a matrix (for SU(N) a NxN traceless hermitian matrix). The trace is taken over the gauge group indices only,
and the Lorentz indices contract with the s.
We want to investigate if this is a good kinetic term. Where will terms like @

A
1
show up?
- In terms like F
1
= @

A
1
...
Tr(F
1v1
F
2v2
)
12

v1v2
= Tr(F
1
F
v1
)
v

1
2
Tr ((@

A
1
..)(@
v
A
1
..))
v
For a scalar the kinetic term was
1
2
Tr (@

'@
v
')

There is a twist since we can add a constant term

[U] = m
0
, [A] =
1
x
= m, [F] = m
2
and so F
2
has when integrated over x
4
will give a unitless action.
The kinetic term is

1
4g
2
Tr(F
1v1
F
2v2
)
12

v1v2
=
1
4g
2
Tr(F
2
)
g is the Yang-Mills coupling constant. In the scalar case we could have absorbed it into a denition of ' but here apparently
we cant absorb it into F because F has terms with A and ones with A
2
and then we would not be able to properly rescale
A.
We found
L =
1
4g
2
Tr(F
2
)
and we dene

A =
A
g
which gives
F = g

@
i

A
j
@
j

A
i
+ig[

A
i
,

A
j
]

g

F
ij
This lets us develop perturbatively around small g. We now drop the hats in notation. The leading order L is
L =
1
4
Tr
_
(@

A
v
@
v
A

)
2
_

ig
2
Tr
_
(@

A
v
@
v
A

)
2
[A

, A
v
]
_
+
g
2
4
Tr [[A

, A
v
] [A

, A
v
]]
The rst term is a propagator, the second is a 3 point vertex and the third is a 4 point vertex.
To discuss the interaction terms more thoroughly, we write A in a certain basis:
A

= A
a

T
a
, a = 1, 2, ...dimG
where
4
Tr(T
a
, T
b
) =
ab
, [T
a
, T
b
] = if
abc
T
c
Then
F
v
= F
a
v
T
a
where
F
a
v
= Tr(T
a
F
v
)
= @

A
a
v
@
v

A
a

gf
abc

A
b

A
c
v
And the rst kinetic term is

1
4
dimG

a=1
_
@

A
a
v
@
v
A
a

_
2
and the second
#gf
abc
_
@

A
a
v
@
v
A
a

_
A
b

A
c
v
and the last term is
#f
abe
f
ecd
A
a

A
b
v
A
c
A
vd
The two last terms dont exist for photons but they do for gluons. This is analogous to the fact that they dont have
charge. A photon has 2 degrees of freedom and A

has 4. There is a procedure for inverting? the rst term and extracting
these degrees of freedom.
We now consider an interaction with a matter eld:
L =
1
4e
2
F
2
+
1
2

v
(D

')(D
v
')

F
v
= @

A
v
@
v

A

, D

= @

+ie

A

and under local U(1)

A

!

A

1
e
@

(x), F !F
and we can dene =

e
which gives

!

A

(x)
also '(x) = e
ieb (x)
'(x), D

' !e
ieb (x)
D

'
Again we dont write hats from now on.
L =
1
4
(@

A
v
@
v
A

) +
1
2

v
(@

' +ieA

')(@
v
'

ieA
v
'

)
=
1
4
(@

A
v
@
v
A

) +
1
2

v
(@

')(@
v
'

) +
1
2
ieA

((@
v
')'

'(@
v
'

)) +
e
2
2

v
A

A
v
|'|
2
The term with e is coupled to the current of '. It looks like
5
- Sideshow
For a charged particle the U(1) currents are J
0
= (x), J
i
= 0. hence for 2 currents the action is
exp

dt

d
3
x(@

A
v
@
v
A

) +A
0
J
0

The solution will be some

A
0
(x)
which under an FT is
A
0
(p
0
= 0, p)
-
How do we couple elds in the Lagrangian? For some YM with gauge group G.

1
4g
2
Tr (F
v
)
2
and we take ' to be a eld in the fundamental '(x) !g(x)'(x) and the cov. derivative goes like D

' = (@

+iA

) ' !
g(x)D

' which means we can add a kinetic term

+
1
2

v
(D

')

(D
v
')
L =
1
4
dimG

a=1
_
@

A
a
v
@
v
A
a

_
2
+#gf
abc
_
@

A
a
v
@
v
A
a

_
A
b

A
c
v
+g
2
f
abe
f
ecd
A
a

A
b
v
A
c
A
vd
+
1
2

+ig

'

@
v
+ig

A
v

'
The last term is
1
2

v
(@

')

(@
v
') + #g

'

' (@

')

'

+...
we can rewrite the second term
gA
a

_
(@

')

T
a
' '

T
a
@

'
_
The term in the brackets is again a current. T
a
are NxN matrices. ' is an N component vector.
01/31/13
6
1.1 Higgs Mechanism
Spon. Symmetry Breaking
Example:
Suppose we have a complex scalar eld
L =
1
2

v
@

'

@
v
' V

|'|
2

if we choose
V (') =
2
|'|
2
+|'|
4
+A, > 0
We have a circle of ground states at V=0 which satisfy
2
2
'
0
+ 4'
3
0
= 0
Ground states have the form
e
i(x)
'
0
(x)
We have one massless particle (in the

direction) and one massive particle in a quadratic potential. This particle is called
a Goldstone mode. Both these particles are real, and they originated in a single complex particle. The Lagrangian for is
L =
1
2

v
@

@
v
'
2
0
there is no potential since it must be symmetric under the action of the symmetry which is a shift ! +.
We add global gauge, and dene 2 [0, 2]. We introduce A

!A

, ! +, and the cov. derivative is

(@

+iA

)' = (@

+iA

)e
i(x)
'
0
= (@

+iA

)e
i(x)
'
0
= '
0
e
i(x)
(i@

(x) +iA

)
D

= @

+A

!@

( +) +A

hence it is indeed invariant. (we assume we dont have energies to excite '
0
so we leave it constant). This gives after
rescaling (with respect to g)
L =
1
4
F
2
v
+
1
2
'
2
0

v
(@

+gA

)(@
v
+gA
v
)
At g=0 we have a massless and a massless photon. If we choose some momenta there is 1 degrees of freedom and 2
photon degrees of freedom (polarizations)
for g 6= 0 the transformation is
! +g
and we choose a gauge = 0. The PI looks like

DDAe
...
- When doing a glocal symmetry trans. it seems that we have the same PI. (x) and (x) + are considered dierent
trajectoties in the PI since one is shifted relative to the other. When doing a gauge symmetry we consider such trajectories
as equivalent.
((x), A

(x)) $((x) +g, A

(x) @

)
If isnt aected by gauge and we have 2 transformations
A

!A

, ! +g
7
we have an innite number of vacua, but if
A

!A

, ! +g
there is only 1 vacuum. We can use this freedom to choose (x) = 0. This gives
L =
1
4
F
2
v
+
1
2
'
2
0
g
2

v
A

A
v
We no longer have gauge freedom. This is a massive vector eld. There are only 3 particles with kinetic terms since A
0
doesnt have one. The mass is M
2
= '
2
0
g
2
.
If we return to the mexican hat potential - we have
1) a massive vector eld with mass and
2) a massive scalar |'| - Higgs boson
3) 1 vacuum
At g=0 we had 1 vector (2 degs of freedom) and 2 scalar degrees of freedom which became 1 massive vector + 1 scalar
In the standard model we have SU(3) SU(2) U(1)
Each generator in
SU(2) U(1)
gives a vector eld, which gives 4 vector elds , w

, z
0
. The ws and z are massive, so we need 3
We start with 4 vectors (8df) from symmetry, which should go into 3 massive vectors (9 df)+ 1 massless vector (2df).
This means we need 3 scalars
We write the SU(2) U(1) lagrangian
L =
1
4
F
2
SU(2)

1
4
F
2
U(1)
+
1
2

v
(D

H)

(D
v
H) V (H

H)
H =

1/2
1/2

sits in the H fundamental of SU(2) (spin 1/2). It transforms like H ! gH, g 2 SU(2), H ! e

1
2

H under the two

symmetries
V =
2
H

H +(H

H)
2
D

H =

+ig
SU(2)
A

1
2
ig
U(1)
B

H
A

are 2x2 matrices, there are 3 since they come from the SU(2) generators. We want to develop around the minimum
of the potential. We look for a minimum of the form
H
0
=

h
0
0

for convenience. We look at the mass terms

_
A
a

1
2
B
a

H
_
2
B is a number times I and we get

h
0
0

h
0
0

,
1

h
0
0

0
h
0

,
2

h
0
0

0
ih
0

,
1
2
I

h
0
0

=
1
2

h
0
0

A
a

1
2
B
a

=
1
2
A
3

h
0
0

1
2
B

h
0
0

+
1
2
A
1

0
h
0

1
2
iA
2

0
h
0

=
1
4
(A
3

)
2
+
1
4

A
1

+iA
2

2
the linear combinations of A
3

, B

give 1 massive and 1 massless eld.

8