Talk:Yang–Mills theory

Latest comment: 7 months ago by Johnjbarton in topic Unsolved problem in physics

Integrable solutions of classical Yang-Mills equations and QFT (Disputed section)

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Disputed section

One of the main difficulties that one meets on managing Yang-Mills theory at low energies is that Hamiltonian homogeneous equations of the theory admit essentially chaotic solutions and nobody is able to formulate a quantum field theory starting from such solutions. But, beside chaotic solutions, this theory also admits integrable solutions that can be used for these aims. These solutions can be found with the so called Smilga's choice [1] that permits to fully map Yang-Mills theory on a   massless field theory and, for this case, the infrared theory has been recently formulated [2]. So, one can compute the propagator and the spectrum [3]. The results appear to be in agreement with computations with lattice field theory [4] yielding a zero momentum propagator

 

being

 ,

and a mass spectrum

 

proper to an harmonic oscillator. The ghost field has the same propagator as a free particle, i.e. it decouples from the gluon field.

An example of such classical solutions can be yielded for SU(2) gauge group (but it is also easy to obtain it for SU(3))

 

being a Jacobi elliptic function,   and   integration constants and  . This solution for Yang-Mills equations holds only if the following dispersion relation holds

 

showing in this way as a massless theory can have classical massive solutions.

Computation of the gluon propagator is essential because it permits to obtain, starting from quantum chromodynamics, a Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model and all hadronic phenomenology seen at lower energies can be derived. Research in this field is currently very active and important results are expected shortly.

References

  1. ^ A. V. Smilga, Lectures on Quantum Chromodynamics, World Scientific (2001).
  2. ^ M. Frasca, Strongly coupled quantum field theory, Phys. Rev. D 73, 027701 (2006).
  3. ^ M. Frasca, Infrared gluon and ghost propagators, Phys. Lett. B 670, 73 (2008).
  4. ^ A. Cucchieri, T. Mendes, What's up with IR gluon and ghost propagators in Landau gauge? A puzzling answer from huge lattices, PoS (LATTICE 2007) 297

Canonic versus dynamic Yang-Mills field and continuity equations

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I have just finished drafting a new section for this article, below. I will leave this in talk for a few days before posting, for review and comment.

In Yang-Mills gauge theory, the field equations which generalize Maxwell’s equations for electrodynamic may be cast in one of two interrelated forms: canonic, and dynamic.

Canonic field equation

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In canonic form, one starts with the two spacetime-covariant equations   and   reviewed in the last section, uses the non-abelian field strength   with non-commuting   rather than   as also just reviewed, and in addition, advances all of the remaining ordinary derivatives to gauge-covariant derivatives,  . It is also helpful to use the uppercase notation   and   to denote for the electric and magnetic charge densities in the canonic equations, retaining the lowercase notation for the dynamic form to be reviewed below. With the foregoing, the Yang-Mills extension of Maxwell’s “electric” and “magnetic” equations, in canonic form are as follows:

 
 

The Yang-Mills canonic magnetic charge density, although generalized above, remains equal to zero just like the magnetic charge density in Maxwell’s electrodynamics. This is no longer because of the commutator  , but rather because of the Jacobi identity   combined with the further identity  , both reviewed in the Mathematical overview.

Canonic continuity equation

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Applying   to the above charge density, the identity   reviewed in the Mathematical overview enables us to the calculate Yang-Mills canonic continuity relation:

  ,

which includes a perturbation tensor defined by:

 .

The trace   of the above is the standard expression for the perturbation in the Klein–Gordon (relativistic Schrödinger) equation.

Dynamic field equation

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In dynamic form, one still begins with Maxwell’s electrodynamic equations   and  , and still uses the non-commuting field strength   with  , but does nothing further. That is, one keeps the remaining derivatives ordinary and keeps the source density notation in lowercase. Consequently, in dynamic form, the Yang-Mills generalization of Maxwell's electric charge equation (Gauss and Ampere) is:

 

while the dynamic Yang-Mills generalization of Maxwell's magnetic charge equation (Gauss and Faraday) is:

 

These are simply Maxwell equations without change, aside from the promotion of   with  , to   with  . That is, these are Maxwell’s equations for non-commuting gauge fields, with nothing else changed. However, the identity which causes the uppercase-denoted magnetic source density to vanish in the canonic equation,  , do not operate to vanish the lowercase-denoted magnetic source density to vanish from the dynamic equation,  . Instead, using the “zero” from the canonic magnetic charge equation, we are able to calculate in the above that the dynamic   differs from zero by the index-cyclic derivatives   of the non-zero Yang-Mills gauge field commutator. PatentPhysicist (talk) 20:28, 28 February 2021 (UTC)Reply

Dynamic continuity equation

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To obtain the dynamic Yang-Mills continuity equation, we apply the ordinary derivative to the dynamic Yang-Mills electric charge equation above. Using the zero from the above canonic continuity equation, it is straightforward to find that:

 

This dynamic continuity equation is not equal to zero. Rather, this differs from zero by the double-contracted product   of the perturbation tensor with the Yang-Mills field strength tensor. Conversely, this continuity relation is equal to zero, only when the perturbation tensor  .

I have just added the new section above, on Canonic versus dynamic Yang-Mills field and continuity equations, to the main article. PatentPhysicist (talk) 20:10, 2 March 2021 (UTC)Reply

I have just added a new section to this article. Feedback welcome. PatentPhysicist (talk) 16:00, 6 March 2021 (UTC)Reply

Section deletion

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Most seriously, confusion between gauge choice and renormalizability: "Of course, adding a mass by hand destroys renormalizability, so it is necessary to find a way that this can be restored. The Higgs mechanism used for the Electroweak interaction is best-known example of how to obtain a non-zero vector boson mass without sacrificing renormalizability." Adding a mass by hand to a theory renders the theory no longer gauge invariant, which is not an issue of renormalizability.

Yang-Mills theory is about massless vector bosons, so the entire section regarding Proca mass is irrelevant. The equation   is also given by the Proca equation only when there are no external currents, as seen in the fourth equation from this page (Proca action), which can be rearranged into   in general, after setting several physical constants to 1.

The mistakes along with the lack of relevant citations is why I have deleted the section.--Vampyricon (talk) 04:28, 7 March 2021 (UTC)Reply

Follow up to section deletion

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I appreciate the clarification regarding the gauge choice versus renormalizability. I found something interesting on this point at https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/394740/massive-vector-boson-propagators-and-renormalizability.

As to the Proca mass: Start with the fourth equation from this page, which you reference: Proca action. (As it happens, I am the one who added this external source equation several days ago.)

 

Also, contrast the same equation without a Proca mass:

 

If you operate with   on each side of (2), and assume flat spacetime where  , then you obtain:

 

and accordingly, the current is conserved,  , by mathematical identity.

Now go back to (1) with   and operate with  . Here, we obtain:

 

That is,   with the physical constants set to 1. Beyond the identity that produces the 0 in (3), if   is still independently required as a conservation condition when there are external currents – as I believe it is, but please correct me if you disagree – then   still holds for   and an external current. But, if I am wrong about this being required, is there anything that would prevent us from imposing   anyway, as a gauge condition, to remove one of the four degrees of freedom from   to give it the required one longitudinal plus two transverse degrees of freedom of a massive vector boson?

Also, I do not agree that “Yang-Mills theory is about massless vector bosons, so the entire section regarding Proca mass is irrelevant.” Actually, Yang-Mills gauge theory starts with massless vector bosons, but a major unsolved question is why – for example in   QCD with   massless gluons in the adjoint representation – one also comes upon massive vector bosons / mesons which mediate those interactions, physically. Those massive mesons may be described using propagators with a Proca mass, just like any other massive vector boson. But https://www.claymath.org/sites/default/files/yangmills.pdf is about understanding how this comes about from a theory with massless gluons which should supposedly have infinite range and be free particles, but are in fact confined: “for QCD to describe the strong force successfully...[i]t must have a ‘mass gap,’ [which] is necessary to explain why the nuclear force is strong but shortranged.” And "[i]t must have 'quark [and gluon] confinement'...to explain why we never see individual quarks" and gluons. So Proca mass is certainly not irrelevant. I am happy to discuss this also. PatentPhysicist (talk) 18:18, 7 March 2021 (UTC)Reply

Respectfully suggested improvements for Yang–Mills_theory#Mathematical_overview

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The Mathematical overview for Yang–Mills_theory is not wrong in any way I can see, but I respectfully suggest the following improvements:

1) This whole subsection does not contain a single external source citation. It would be helpful to have one or more citations to support the various formulas in this subsection. One good source which has been my bible since 1984 is Halzen, F.; Martin, A.D. (1984). Quarks and Leptons: An Introductory Course in Modern Particle Physics. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-88741-6., although not all of the Mathematical overview formulas are in there. If others are aware of some good references to establish the mathematics in this subsection, they should be added.

Now as to some specifics regarding formula discussions which I believe need to be improved:

2) Although true and correct, the relation   and the commutator   are merely stated, with no more. These should be better developed, and their derivation explicitly shown. Indented below is in the nature of what I respectfully suggest:

The commutator
 
can be derived as follows: With   and using   apply the commutator   to operate on any field   Attentive to the product rule, one may obtain:
 
Given that   this includes the relation
 
which is further seen to contain:
 

3) The following existing material is important, but needs improvement:

A Bianchi identity holds

 

which is equivalent to the Jacobi identity

 

since  .

Specifically, derivation of the identity   which underlies other important identities (including the above magnetic monopole / Bianchi identity) should be explicitly shown. It would also be helpful to connect together  

4) It should also be pointed out that, as it is for the Electromagnetic tensor in Maxwell’s electrodynamics, the field strength trace is zero:

 

5) Finally, continuity equations underlie charge conservation, and so are very important to include. Specifically, just as   is an identity central to charge conservation in Maxwell's equations, so too,   is an identity central to charge conservation in any Yang-Mills gauge theory. Accordingly, I respectfully suggest adding material to show the identity   along the lines of what is indented below:

We may obtain a Yang-Mills continuity identity as follows: Start with the relations   and  , then write:
 
from which we deduce that   and thus   The Jacobian identity   combined with the foregoing relations further implies that  . Further combining with  , we finally deduce that:
 
This is the Yang-Mills generalization of the continuity identity   from electrodynamics. PatentPhysicist (talk) 17:57, 13 March 2021 (UTC)Reply
I posted the above edit suggestions on March 13. There has been no talk in response one way or the other. I will keep this here on the talk page through the weekend. If there are no objections and nobody finds any errors in the above, I will make changes to the main page in accordance with what I have laid out above, early next week. PatentPhysicist (talk) 14:54, 18 March 2021 (UTC)Reply
This part was removed and for good reasons. Please, avoid to put such a stuff in the article. Thanks.--Pra1998 (talk) 17:47, 18 March 2021 (UTC)Reply

Unsolved problem in physics

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The box with the "Unsolved problem in physics" has no references. Nothing in List of unsolved problems in physics matches the box content.

The one item in the List article about Yang Mills had completely different content from the box. Johnjbarton (talk) 00:32, 9 April 2024 (UTC)Reply