Hamiltonian gauge theory with corners: constraint reduction and flux superselection

arXiv2207.00568MaRDI QIDQ6403769FDOQ6403769

Authors: Aldo Riello, M. Schiavina 

Publication date: 1 July 2022

Abstract: We study the Hamiltonian formulation of gauge theory on manifolds with corners, and characterize symplectic reduction whenever the theory admits a local momentum map for the gauge group action. This is achieved by adapting reduction by stages to the case of gauge subgroups that emerge in the presence of corners. We start from a decomposition of the local momentum map into a bulk term called constraint map, and a boundary term called flux map. The first stage, or constraint reduction, views the constraint as the zero locus of a momentum map for a normal subgroup $mathcal{G}_{c}ircsubsetmathcalG$ (the constraint gauge group). The second stage, or flux superselection, interprets the flux map as the momentum map for the residual action of the flux gauge group $underlinemathcalGdoteqmathcalG/mathcal{G}_{c}irc$. Whereas the only physically admissible value of the constraint map is zero, the flux map is (largely) unconstrained. Equivariance is controlled by cocycles of the flux gauge group. Reduction assigns to the boundary a Poisson manifold $underlineunderlinemathcalP$, whose symplectic leaves correspond to the preimages with respect to the flux map of the coadjoint (or affine) orbits of the flux gauge group. We call them superselection sectors, for they provide a classical analogue of the phenomenon of quantum superselection. To the corner, we further assign a symplectic Lie algebroid over a Poisson manifold, $mathsf{A}_{partial}omathcal{P}_{partial}$, and a Poisson submanifold of on-shell configurations $mathcal{C}_{partial}subsetmathcal{P}_{partial}$. Both $mathcal{C}_{partial}$ and $underlineunderlinemathcalP$ fibrate over a common space of superselections. We work out in detail the application of the formalism to a class of Yang--Mills theories, and discuss applications to Chern--Simons and $BF$ theories.

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Momentum maps; symplectic reduction (53D20) Yang-Mills and other gauge theories in quantum field theory (81T13) Quantization in field theory; cohomological methods (81T70) Moduli problems for differential geometric structures (58D27) Variational principles and methods for infinite-dimensional Hamiltonian and Lagrangian systems (37K58)

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