Symmetries and strings in field theory and gravity

Journal Article · Fri Apr 15 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.83.084019· OSTI ID:21541485

Banks, Tom ^[1]; Seiberg, Nathan ^[1]

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1. School of Natural Sciences, Institute for Advanced Study, Einstein Drive, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 (United States)

We discuss aspects of global and gauged symmetries in quantum field theory and quantum gravity, focusing on discrete gauge symmetries. An effective Lagrangian description of Z{sub p} gauge theories shows that they are associated with an emergent Z{sub p} 1-form (Kalb-Ramond) gauge symmetry. This understanding leads us to uncover new observables and new phenomena in nonlinear {sigma} models. It also allows us to expand on Polchinski's classification of cosmic strings. We argue that in models of quantum gravity, there are no global symmetries, all continuous gauge symmetries are compact, and all charges allowed by Dirac quantization are present in the spectrum. These conjectures are not new, but we present them from a streamlined and unified perspective. Finally, our discussion about string charges and symmetries leads to a more physical and more complete understanding of recently found consistency conditions of supergravity.

• OSTI ID: 21541485
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Journal Name: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 83; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
BOSON-EXCHANGE MODELS
CLASSIFICATION
FIELD THEORIES
FUNCTIONS
GAUGE INVARIANCE
GRAVITATION
INVARIANCE PRINCIPLES
LAGRANGIAN FUNCTION
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
PARTICLE MODELS
PERIPHERAL MODELS
QUANTIZATION
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
QUANTUM GRAVITY
SIGMA MODEL
SPECTRA
SUPERGRAVITY
SYMMETRY
UNIFIED-FIELD THEORIES