Spontaneous chiral-symmetry breaking in three-dimensional QED

Journal Article · Sun Jun 15 04:00:00 EDT 1986 · Phys. Rev. D; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.33.3704· OSTI ID:5571843

Appelquist, T W; Bowick, M; Karabali, D; Wijewardhana, L C.R.

A detailed analysis is given of chiral-symmetry breaking in the large-flavor (N) limit of quantum electrodynamics in (2+1) dimensions. Analytical and numerical solutions of the homogeneous Dyson-Schwinger equation for the fermion self-energy combined with a computation of the effective potential for the fermion bilinear show that it is energetically preferable for the theory to dynamically generate a mass for fermions. The magnitude of the mass is roughly exponentially suppressed in N from the fundamental dimensionful scale ..cap alpha..equivalentN e/sup 2/ of the gauge coupling constant, but the scale at which the self-mass begins to damp rapidly appears to be of order ..cap alpha.., so that there is no spontaneous breaking of an approximate scale invariance that the underlying theory possesses at momentum small compared to ..cap alpha... Higher-order 1/N corrections are analyzed and it is shown that the 1/N expansion can be used consistently to demonstrate chiral-symmetry breaking. Open issues and possible improvements of the analysis are given and some avenues for future investigation suggested.

• Research Organization: Department of Physics, J. W. Gibbs Laboratory, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76ER03075
• OSTI ID: 5571843
• Journal Information: Phys. Rev. D; (United States), Journal Name: Phys. Rev. D; (United States) Vol. 33:12; ISSN PRVDA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

645301 -- High Energy Physics-- Particle Invariance Principles & Symmetries-- General-- (-1987)
645400* -- High Energy Physics-- Field Theory
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
BASIC INTERACTIONS
BOSON EXPANSION
CHIRAL SYMMETRY
COUPLING CONSTANTS
DYSON REPRESENTATION
ELECTRODYNAMICS
ENERGY
FERMIONS
FIELD THEORIES
GAUGE INVARIANCE
INTERACTIONS
INVARIANCE PRINCIPLES
LIE GROUPS
MASS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
PARTICLE MODELS
QUANTUM CHROMODYNAMICS
QUANTUM ELECTRODYNAMICS
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
SELF-ENERGY
SIGMA MODEL
SPACE-TIME
STRONG INTERACTIONS
SU GROUPS
SU-2 GROUPS
SYMMETRY
SYMMETRY BREAKING
SYMMETRY GROUPS
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS