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

Journal Article · · Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States)
 [1]; ;  [2]
  1. Department of Physics, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63130 (United States)
  2. Department of Physics, The Ohio State University, 174 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43210 (United States)

We study spontaneous symmetry breaking in (1+1)-dimensional [phi][sup 4] theory using the light-front formulation of 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][sub critical]=4[pi](3+ [radical]3 )[mu][sup 2], which is consistent with the value [lambda][sub critical]=54.27[mu][sup 2] obtained in the equal-time theory. We calculate 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 for the broken phase.

OSTI ID:
6426686
Journal Information:
Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States), Vol. 48:2; ISSN 0556-2821
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English