Lectures on matrix field theory (Q318394)

The noncommutativity of spacetime is very often considered as resulting from merging the principles of general relativity and quantum mechanics. The easiest and most tractable models are based either on the commutation relations that are the same as these of quantum mechanics or on approximation of algebra of functions by finite-dimensional matrices. In both cases the approximation of the field theory is closely linked to matrix models. The book presents an extensive review of the mentioned noncommutative models and the approaches to quantum field theory formulated on them. The first chapters present an introduction (written mostly in the language of theoretical physics) to the algebra of Moyal deformation and the algebra of the fuzzy sphere, mentioning very briefly some related models of fuzzy tori, fuzzy disc and fuzzy \(\mathbb{C}P^2\). Then the book introduces the formulation and basic features of the \(\Phi^4\) field theory showing a spectrum of results that include the ultraviolet-infrared mixing, exact solutions, phase structure, fixed points as well as some elements of the Monte Carlo simulations. The following chapter presents the so-called multitrace approach to the Moyal plane and fuzzy sphere and links the models to random matrix theory. The last chapter offers an introduction to the gauge filed theory on the Moyal hyperplanes and noncommutative tori as well as the fuzzy sphere. The book collects almost all that has been achieved on the topic within the recent years, including all major results of many authors. As such, it is a nice reference work for graduate students and beginning researchers who want to pursue research in this area. Having all the results and different approaches collected in one place, together with the exhaustive list of references make this a valuable compendium to everyone working on noncommutative models of quantum field theory.