Sophia S. Chabysheva

A light-front coupled-cluster method for the nonperturbative solution of quantum field theories

Abstract We propose a new method for the nonperturbative solution of quantum field theories and illustrate its use in the context of a light-front analog to the Greenberg–Schweber model. The method is based on light-front quantization and uses the exponential-operator technique of the many-body coupled-cluster method. The formulation produces an effective Hamiltonian eigenvalue problem in the valence Fock sector of the system of interest, combined with nonlinear integral equations to be solved for the functions that define the effective Hamiltonian. The method avoids the Fock-space truncations usually used in nonperturbative light-front Hamiltonian methods and, therefore, does not suffer from the spectator dependence, Fock-sector dependence, and uncanceled divergences caused by such truncations.

On the nonperturbative solution of Pauli--Villars-regulated light-front QED: A comparison of the sector-dependent and standard parameterizations

Abstract We consider quantum electrodynamics quantized on the light front in Feynman gauge and regulated in the ultraviolet by the inclusion of massive, negative-metric Pauli–Villars (PV) particles in the Lagrangian. The eigenstate of the electron is approximated by a Fock-state expansion truncated to include one photon. The Fock-state wave functions are computed from the fundamental Hamiltonian eigenvalue problem and used to calculate the anomalous magnetic moment, as a point of comparison. Two approaches are considered: a sector-dependent parameterization, where the bare parameters of the Lagrangian are allowed to depend on the Fock sectors between which the particular Hamiltonian term acts, and the standard choice, where the bare parameters are the same for all sectors. Both methods are shown to require some care with respect to ultraviolet divergences; neither method can allow all PV masses to be taken to infinity. In addition, the sector-dependent approach suffers from an infrared divergence that requires a nonzero photon mass; due to complications associated with this divergence, the standard parameterization is to be preferred. We also show that the self-energy effects obtained from a two-photon truncation are enough to bring the standard-parameterization result for the anomalous moment into agreement with experiment within numerical errors. This continues the development of a method for the nonperturbative solution of strongly coupled theories, in particular quantum chromodynamics.

Basis of symmetric polynomials for many-boson light-front wave functions.

We provide an algorithm for the construction of orthonormal multivariate polynomials that are symmetric with respect to the interchange of any two coordinates on the unit hypercube and are constrained to the hyperplane where the sum of the coordinates is one. These polynomials form a basis for the expansion of bosonic light-front momentum-space wave functions, as functions of longitudinal momentum, where momentum conservation guarantees that the fractions are on the interval [0,1] and sum to one. This generalizes earlier work on three-boson wave functions to wave functions for arbitrarily many identical bosons. A simple application in two-dimensional ϕ(4) theory illustrates the use of these polynomials.

Symmetric multivariate polynomials as a basis for three-boson light-front wave functions.

We develop a polynomial basis to be used in numerical calculations of light-front Fock-space wave functions. Such wave functions typically depend on longitudinal momentum fractions that sum to unity. For three particles, this constraint limits the two remaining independent momentum fractions to a triangle, for which the three momentum fractions act as barycentric coordinates. For three identical bosons, the wave function must be symmetric with respect to all three momentum fractions. Therefore, as a basis, we construct polynomials in two variables on a triangle that are symmetric with respect to the interchange of any two barycentric coordinates. We find that, through the fifth order, the polynomial is unique at each order, and, in general, these polynomials can be constructed from products of powers of the second- and third-order polynomials. The use of such a basis is illustrated in a calculation of a light-front wave function in two-dimensional ϕ(4) theory; the polynomial basis performs much better than the plane-wave basis used in discrete light-cone quantization.

Nonperturbative calculation of the electron's magnetic moment with truncation extended to two photons

The Pauli-Villars regularization scheme is applied to a calculation of the dressed-electron state and its anomalous magnetic moment in light-front-quantized QED in Feynman gauge. The regularization is provided by heavy, negative-metric fields added to the Lagrangian. The light-front QED Hamiltonian then leads to a well-defined eigenvalue problem for the dressed-electron state expressed as a Fock-state expansion. The Fock-state wave functions satisfy coupled integral equations that come from this eigenproblem. A finite system of equations is obtained by truncation to no more than two photons and no positrons; this extends earlier work that was limited to dressing by a single photon. Numerical techniques are applied to solve the coupled system and compute the anomalous moment, for which we obtain agreement with experiment, within numerical errors, but observe a small systematic discrepancy that should be due to the absence of electron-positron loops and of three-photon self-energy effects. We also discuss the prospects for application of the method to quantum chromodynamics.

Application of the light-front coupled-cluster method to φ4 theory in two dimensions

As a first numerical application of the light-front coupled-cluster (LFCC) method, we consider the odd-parity massive eigenstate of

Two-dimensional light-front ϕ 4 theory in a symmetric polynomial basis

\phi_{1+1}^4

Nonperturbative Pauli-Villars regularization of vacuum polarization in light-front QED

theory. The eigenstate is built as a Fock-state expansion in light-front quantization, where wave functions appear as coefficients of the Fock states. A standard Fock-space truncation would then yield a finite set of linear equations for a finite number of wave functions. The LFCC method replaces Fock-space truncation with a more sophisticated truncation, one which reduces the eigenvalue problem to a finite set of nonlinear equations without any restriction on Fock space. We compare our results with those obtained with a Fock-space truncation that yields the same number of equations.

First nonperturbative calculation in light-front QED for an arbitrary covariant gauge

We study the lowest-mass eigenstates of

Light-Front \varvec{\phi ^4_{1+1}} Theory Using a Many-Boson Symmetric-Polynomial Basis

{\ensuremath{\phi}}_{1+1}^{4}