Conformal symmetry and a massless monopole in Yang-Mills theory with varying couplings

Particle Physics Theory seminar

Conformal symmetry and a massless monopole in Yang-Mills theory with varying couplings

  • Event time: 2:00pm
  • Event date: 15th March 2017
  • Speaker: Marc Gillioz (Ecole Polytechnique, Lausanne)
  • Location: Higgs Centre Seminar Room, Room 4305,

Event details

Quantum field theory can naturally be formulated with a cutoff that varies over space and time. This allows to study the breaking of conformal symmetry at the quantum level, described by a "local" renormalization group. For consistency, the quantum effective action of the theory must be enhanced with terms including derivatives of the couplings. Focusing on Yang-Mills theory with N=2 extended supersymmetry, an interesting new feature arises: the theory admits solitonic solutions with non-constant couplings. A simple example is the Wu-Yang magnetic monopole. Its mass can be regularized in the presence of varying couplings and turns out to be exactly zero.

About Particle Physics Theory seminars

The Particle Physics Theory seminar is a weekly series of talks reflecting the diverse interests of the group. Topics include analytic and numerical calculations based on the Standard Model of elementary particle physics, theories exploring new physics, as well as more formal developments in gauge theories and gravity..

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