Abelian instantons and monopole scattering
Abstract It is usually assumed that 4D instantons can only arise in non-Abelian theories. In this paper we re-examine this conventional wisdom by explicitly constructing instantons in an Abelian gauge theory: QED 4 with N f flavors of Dirac fermions, in the background of a Dirac monopole. This is th...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SpringerOpen
2024-11-01
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| Series: | Journal of High Energy Physics |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP11(2024)165 |
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| author | Csaba Csáki Rotem Ovadia Ofri Telem John Terning Shimon Yankielowicz |
| author_facet | Csaba Csáki Rotem Ovadia Ofri Telem John Terning Shimon Yankielowicz |
| author_sort | Csaba Csáki |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract It is usually assumed that 4D instantons can only arise in non-Abelian theories. In this paper we re-examine this conventional wisdom by explicitly constructing instantons in an Abelian gauge theory: QED 4 with N f flavors of Dirac fermions, in the background of a Dirac monopole. This is the low-energy effective field theory for fermions interacting with a ’t Hooft-Polyakov monopole, in the limit where the monopole is infinitely heavy (hence pointlike) and static. This theory, whose non-topological sectors were studied by Rubakov and Callan, has a far richer structure than previously explored. We show how to calculate the topological instanton number, demonstrate the existence of ’t Hooft zero modes localized around such instantons, and show how instantons in the path integral provide the underlying mechanism for the Callan-Rubakov process: monopole-catalyzed baryon decay with a cross section that saturates the unitarity bound. Our computation relies on correctly identifying the relevant 2D EFT for monopole catalysis as Axial QED 2 in an effective AdS 2 metric. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c9c10c6aba114ad28694ed0f775d45e3 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1029-8479 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-11-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of High Energy Physics |
| spelling | doaj-art-c9c10c6aba114ad28694ed0f775d45e32025-01-05T12:05:53ZengSpringerOpenJournal of High Energy Physics1029-84792024-11-0120241115610.1007/JHEP11(2024)165Abelian instantons and monopole scatteringCsaba Csáki0Rotem Ovadia1Ofri Telem2John Terning3Shimon Yankielowicz4Department of Physics, LEPP, Cornell UniversityRacah Institute of Physics, Hebrew University of JerusalemRacah Institute of Physics, Hebrew University of JerusalemQMAP, Department of Physics, University of CaliforniaThe Raymond and Beverly Sackler School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv UniversityAbstract It is usually assumed that 4D instantons can only arise in non-Abelian theories. In this paper we re-examine this conventional wisdom by explicitly constructing instantons in an Abelian gauge theory: QED 4 with N f flavors of Dirac fermions, in the background of a Dirac monopole. This is the low-energy effective field theory for fermions interacting with a ’t Hooft-Polyakov monopole, in the limit where the monopole is infinitely heavy (hence pointlike) and static. This theory, whose non-topological sectors were studied by Rubakov and Callan, has a far richer structure than previously explored. We show how to calculate the topological instanton number, demonstrate the existence of ’t Hooft zero modes localized around such instantons, and show how instantons in the path integral provide the underlying mechanism for the Callan-Rubakov process: monopole-catalyzed baryon decay with a cross section that saturates the unitarity bound. Our computation relies on correctly identifying the relevant 2D EFT for monopole catalysis as Axial QED 2 in an effective AdS 2 metric.https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP11(2024)165Effective Field TheoriesField Theories in Lower DimensionsNonperturbative EffectsSolitons Monopoles and Instantons |
| spellingShingle | Csaba Csáki Rotem Ovadia Ofri Telem John Terning Shimon Yankielowicz Abelian instantons and monopole scattering Journal of High Energy Physics Effective Field Theories Field Theories in Lower Dimensions Nonperturbative Effects Solitons Monopoles and Instantons |
| title | Abelian instantons and monopole scattering |
| title_full | Abelian instantons and monopole scattering |
| title_fullStr | Abelian instantons and monopole scattering |
| title_full_unstemmed | Abelian instantons and monopole scattering |
| title_short | Abelian instantons and monopole scattering |
| title_sort | abelian instantons and monopole scattering |
| topic | Effective Field Theories Field Theories in Lower Dimensions Nonperturbative Effects Solitons Monopoles and Instantons |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP11(2024)165 |
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