Electric-magnetic duality in non-Abelian gauge theories
The duality transformation of the vacuum expectation value of the operator which creates magnetic vortices (the 't Hooft loop operator in the Higgs phase), is performed in the radial gauge (x/sub ..mu../A/sup a//sub ..mu../(x) = 0). It is found that in the weak coupling region (small g) of a pure Yang-Mills theory the dual operator creates electric vortices whose strength is 1/g. The theory is self-dual in this region, and the effective coupling of the dual Lagrangian is 1/g. (It is self-dual also in the extreme strong coupling region). Thus the above duality transformation reduces to electric-magnetic duality where the electric field in the 't Hooft loop operators transforms into a magnetic field in the dual operator. In a spontaneously broken gauge theory these results are valid only within the region where the vortices (or the monopoles) are concentrated, or in directions of the algebra space of unbroken symmetry, as self-duality holds only for this subset of fields. Noting that the 't Hooft loop operator project into the subspace of these field configurations we find that it is an electric-magnetic duality for the spontaneously broken theory as well. In the strong coupling region a strong coupling expansion in powers 1/g is suggested.
- Research Organization:
- International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy
- OSTI ID:
- 6405861
- Journal Information:
- Ann. Phys. (N.Y.); (United States), Vol. 153:2
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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