Stephen S. Pinsky

Quantum chromodynamics and other field theories on the light cone

Abstract In recent years light-cone quantization of quantum field theory has emerged as a promising method for solving problems in the strong coupling regime. The approach has a number of unique features that make it particularly appealing, most notably, the ground state of the free theory is also a ground state of the full theory. We discuss the light-cone quantization of gauge theories from two perspectives: as a calculational tool for representing hadrons as QCD bound states of relativistic quarks and gluons, and also as a novel method for simulating quantum field theory on a computer. The light-cone Fock state expansion of wavefunctions provides a precise definition of the parton model and a general calculus for hadronic matrix elements. We present several new applications of light-cone Fock methods, including calculations of exclusive weak decays of heavy hadrons, and intrinsic heavy-quark contributions to structure functions. A general non-perturbative method for numerically solving quantum field theories, “discretized light-cone quantization”, is outlined and applied to several gauge theories. This method is invariant under the large class of light-cone Lorentz transformations, and it can be formulated such that ultraviolet regularization is independent of the momentum space discretization. Both the bound-state spectrum and the corresponding relativistic light-cone wavefunctions can be obtained by matrix diagonalization and related techniques. We also discuss the construction of the light-cone Fock basis, the structure of the light-cone vacuum, and outline the renormalization techniques required for solving gauge theories within the Hamiltonian formalism on the light cone.

A new perturbative approach to nonlinear problems

A recently proposed perturbative technique for quantum field theory consists of replacing nonlinear terms in the Lagrangian such as φ4 by (φ2)1+δ and then treating δ as a small parameter. It is shown here that the same approach gives excellent results when applied to difficult nonlinear differential equations such as the Lane–Emden, Thomas–Fermi, Blasius, and Duffing equations.

Continuous Hahn polynomials and the Heisenberg algebra

Continuous Hahn polynomials have surfaced in a number of somewhat obscure physical applications. For example, they have emerged in the description of two‐photon processes in hydrogen, hard‐hexagon statistical mechanical models, and Clebsch–Gordan expansions for unitary representations of the Lorentz group SO(3,1). In this paper it is shown that there is a simple and elegant way to construct these polynomials using the Heisenberg algebra.

Towards a SDLCQ test of the Maldacena conjecture

Abstract We consider the Maldacena conjecture applied to the near horizon geometry of a D1-brane in the supergravity approximation and present numerical results of a test of the conjecture against the boundary field theory calculation using DLCQ. We previously calculated the two-point function of the stress-energy tensor on the supergravity side; the methods of Gubser, Klebanov, Polyakov, and Witten were used. On the field theory side, we derived an explicit expression for the two-point function in terms of data that may be extracted from the supersymmetric discrete light cone quantization (SDLCQ) calculation at a given harmonic resolution. This yielded a well defined numerical algorithm for computing the two-point function. For the supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory with 16 supercharges that arises in the Maldacena conjecture, the algorithm is perfectly well defined; however, the size of the numerical computation prevented us from obtaining a numerical check of the conjecture. We now present numerical results with approximately 1000 times as many states as we previously considered. These results support the Maldacena conjecture and are within 10–15% of the predicted numerical results in some regions. Our results are still not sufficient to demonstrate convergence, and, therefore, cannot be considered to a numerical proof of the conjecture. We present a method for using a “flavor” symmetry to greatly reduce the size of the basis and discuss a numerical method that we use which is particularly well suited for this type of matrix element calculation.

N=1 super Yang-Mills theory on a (3+1) dimensional transverse lattice with one exact supersymmetry

We formulate N=1 super Yang-Mills theory in 3+1 dimensions on a two dimensional transverse lattice using supersymmetric discrete light-cone quantization in the large-N{sub c} limit. This formulation is free of fermion species doubling. We are able to preserve one supersymmetry. We find a rich, nontrivial behavior of the mass spectrum as a function of the coupling g{radical}(N{sub c}), and see some sort of transition in the structure of a bound state as we go from the weak coupling to the strong coupling. Using a toy model we give an interpretation of the rich behavior of the mass spectrum. We present the mass spectrum as a function of the winding number for those states whose color flux winds all the way around in one of the transverse directions. We use two fits to the mass spectrum and the one that has a string theory justification appears preferable. For those states whose color flux is localized we present an extrapolated value for m{sup 2} for some low-energy bound states in the limit where the numerical resolution goes to infinity.

DLCQ bound states of N = ( 2 , 2 ) super-Yang-Mills theory at finite and large N

We consider the 1+1 dimensional N = (2,2) supersymmetric matrix model which is obtained by dimensionally reducing N = 1 super Yang-Mills from four to two dimensions. The gauge groups we consider are U(Nc) and SU(Nc), where Nc is finite but arbitrary. We adopt light-cone coordinates, and choose to work in the light-cone gauge. Quantizing this theory via Discretized Light-Cone Quantization (DLCQ) introduces an integer, K, which restricts the light-cone momentum-fraction of constituent quanta to be integer multiples of 1/K. Solutions to the DLCQ bound state equations are obtained for K=2,3,...,6 by discretizing the light-cone supercharges, which results in a supersymmetric spectrum. Our numerical results imply the existence of normalizable massless states in the continuum limit K ->infinity, and therefore the absence of a mass gap. The low energy spectrum is dominated by string-like (or many parton) states. Our results are consistent with the claim that the theory is in a screening phase.

Antiperiodic boundary conditions in supersymmetric DLCQ

It is of considerable importance to have a numerical method for solving supersymmetric theories that can support a non-zero central charge. The central charge in supersymmetric theories is in general a boundary integral and therefore vanishes when one uses periodic boundary conditions. One is therefore prevented from studying BPS states in the standard supersymmetric formulation of DLCQ (SDLCQ). We present a novel formulation of SDLCQ where the fields satisfy anti-periodic boundary conditions. The Hamiltonian is written as the anti-commutator of two charges, as in SDLCQ. The antiperiodic SDLCQ we consider breaks supersymmetry at finite resolution, but requires no renormalization and becomes supersymmetric in the continuum limit. In principle, this method could be used to study BPS states. However, we find its convergence to be disappointingly slow.

SDLCQ supersymmetric discrete light cone quantization

In these lectures we discuss the application of discrete light cone quantization (DLCQ) to supersymmetric field theories. We will see that it is possible to formulate DLCQ so that supersymmetry is exactly preserved in the discrete approximation. We call this formulation of DLCQ, SDLCQ and it combines the power of DLCQ with all of the beauty of supersymmetry. In these lecture we will review the application of SDLCQ to several interesting supersymmetric theories. We will discuss two dimensional theories with (1,1), (2,2) and (8,8) supersymmetry, zero modes, vacuum degeneracy, massless states, mass gaps, theories in higher dimensions, and the Maldacena conjecture among other subjects.

DLCQ spectrum ofN=(8,8)super Yang-Mills theory

We consider the 1+1 dimensional N = (8,8) supersymmetric matrix field theory obtained from a dimensional reduction of ten dimensional N = 1 super Yang-Mills. The gauge groups we consider are U(N) and SU(N), where N is finite but arbitrary. We adopt light-cone coordinates, and choose to work in the light-cone gauge. Quantizing this theory via Discretized Light-Cone Quantization (DLCQ) introduces an integer, K, which restricts the light-cone momentum-fraction of constituent quanta to be integer multiples of 1/K. Solutions to the DLCQ bound state equations are obtained for K=2,3 and 4 by discretizing the light-cone super charges, which preserves supersymmetry manifestly. We discuss degeneracies in the massive spectrum that appear to be independent of the light-cone compactification, and are therefore expected to be present in the decompactified limit K ->infinity. Our numerical results also support the claim that the SU(N) theory has a mass gap.

Spontaneous symmetry breaking of (1+1)-dimensional [phi][sup 4] theory in light-front field theory. III

We study spontaneous symmetry breaking in phi^4_(1+1) using the light-front formulation of the field theory. Since the physical vacuum is always the same as the perturbative vacuum in light-front field theory the fields must develop a vacuum expectation value through the zero-mode components of the field. We solve the nonlinear operator equation for the zero-mode in the one-mode approximation. We find that spontaneous symmetry breaking occurs at lambda_critical = 4 pi(3+sqrt 3), which is consistent with the value lambda_critical = 54.27 obtained in the equal time theory. We calculate the value of the vacuum expectation value as a function of the coupling constant in the broken phase both numerically and analytically using the delta expansion. We find two equivalent broken phases. Finally we show that the energy levels of the system have the expected behavior within the broken phase.