Integrable structures in quantum field theory

DOI10.1088/1751-8113/49/32/323006MaRDI QIDQ2818225zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Publication date 7 September 2016

Published in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1606.02952

conformal field theory integrability ODE/IM correspondence quantum field theory quantum inverse scattering method

Groups and algebras in quantum theory and relations with integrable systems (81R12) Two-dimensional field theories, conformal field theories, etc. in quantum mechanics (81T40) Inverse scattering problems in quantum theory (81U40) Exactly solvable models; Bethe ansatz (82B23)

Abstract: This review was born as notes for a lecture given at the YRIS school on integrability in Durham, in the summer of 2015. It deals with a beautiful method, developed in the mid-nineties by V.V. Bazhanov, S.L. Lukyanov and A.B. Zamolodchikov and, as such, called BLZ. This method can be interpreted as a field theory version of the quantum inverse scattering (QIS), also known as algebraic Bethe ansatz (ABA). Starting with the case of conformal field theories (CFT) we show how to build the field theory analogues of commuting transfer T matrices and Baxter Q-operators of integrable lattice models. These objects contain the complete information of the integrable structure of the theory, viz. the integrals of motion, and can be used, as we will show, to derive the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz (TBA) and non-linear integral (NLIE) equations. This same method can be easily extended to the description of integrable structures of certain particular massive deformations of CFTs; these, in turn, can be described as quantum group reductions of the quantum sine-Gordon model and it is an easy step to include this last theory in the framework of BLZ approach. Finally we show an interesting and surprising connection of the BLZ structures with classical objects emerging from the study of classical integrable models via the inverse scattering transform method. This connection goes under the name of ODE/IM correspondence and we will present it for the specific case of quantum sine-Gordon model only.

Review text

This paper provides a review and overview of the algebraic underpinnings of integrable structures in field theories. It presents the work of \textit{V. V. Bazhanov} et al. [Commun. Math. Phys. 177, No. 2, 381--398 (1996; Zbl 0851.35113); Commun. Math. Phys. 190, No. 2, 247--278 (1997; Zbl 0908.35114); Commun. Math. Phys. 200, No. 2, 297--324 (1999; Zbl 1057.81531); Nucl. Phys., B 489, No. 3, 487--531 (1997; Zbl 0925.81325)] in a uniform way that aims to be accessible to students and non-experts.NEWLINENEWLINEThe paper begins with an overview of conformal field theories as examples of massless integrable field theories and introduces the concepts of transfer matrices, Baxter \(Q\)-operators, thermodynamic Bethe ansatz and nonlinear integrals of motion in this simplified case.NEWLINENEWLINEThis notions are then extended to massive field theories by considering massive deformations of conformal field theories. The paper concludes with the ODE/IM correspondence, which is presented in the example of the sine-Gordon model.

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