Global gauge anomalies for theories with the Green-Schwarz local-anomaly-cancellation mechanism

1989 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 1934-1937 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasunari Tosa
Author(s):  
Yasunori Lee ◽  
Yuji Tachikawa

Abstract Global gauge anomalies in 6d associated with non-trivial homotopy groups π6(G) for G = SU(2), SU(3), and G2 were computed and utilized in the past. In the modern bordism point of view of anomalies, however, they come from the bordism groups Ω7spin (BG), which are in fact trivial and therefore preclude their existence. Instead, it was noticed that a proper treatment of the 6d Green-Schwarz mechanism reproduces the same anomaly cancellation conditions derived from π6(G). In this paper, we revisit and clarify the relation between these two different approaches.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ferruccio Feruglio

Abstract The conditions for the absence of gauge anomalies in effective field theories (EFT) are rivisited. General results from the cohomology of the BRST operator do not prevent potential anomalies arising from the non-renormalizable sector, when the gauge group is not semi-simple, like in the Standard Model EFT (SMEFT). By considering a simple explicit model that mimics the SMEFT properties, we compute the anomaly in the regularized theory, including a complete set of dimension six operators. We show that the dependence of the anomaly on the non-renormalizable part can be removed by adding a local counterterm to the theory. As a result the condition for gauge anomaly cancellation is completely controlled by the charge assignment of the fermion sector, as in the renormalizable theory.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joe Davighi ◽  
Nakarin Lohitsiri

Abstract In this note we review the role of homotopy groups in determining non-perturbative (henceforth ‘global’) gauge anomalies, in light of recent progress understanding global anomalies using bordism. We explain why non-vanishing of πd(G) is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for there being a possible global anomaly in a d-dimensional chiral gauge theory with gauge group G. To showcase the failure of sufficiency, we revisit ‘global anomalies’ that have been previously studied in 6d gauge theories with G = SU(2), SU(3), or G2. Even though π6(G) ≠ 0, the bordism groups $$ {\Omega}_7^{\mathrm{Spin}}(BG) $$ Ω 7 Spin BG vanish in all three cases, implying there are no global anomalies. In the case of G = SU(2) we carefully scrutinize the role of homotopy, and explain why any 7-dimensional mapping torus must be trivial from the bordism perspective. In all these 6d examples, the conditions previously thought to be necessary for global anomaly cancellation are in fact necessary conditions for the local anomalies to vanish.


1987 ◽  
Vol 02 (12) ◽  
pp. 977-982 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERTO PERCACCI

It is shown that the Faddeev-Shatashvili approach to the quantization of anomalous gauge theories can be extended to the case of global gauge anomalies.


2015 ◽  
Vol 92 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi-Zhuang You ◽  
Cenke Xu
Keyword(s):  

2006 ◽  
Vol 21 (05) ◽  
pp. 1033-1052
Author(s):  
HUAZHONG ZHANG

We study more extensively and completely for global gauge anomalies with some semisimple gauge groups as initiated in Ref. 1. A detailed and complete proof or derivation is provided for the Z2 global (nonperturbative) gauge anomaly given in Ref. 1 for a gauge theory with the semisimple gauge group SU (2) × SU (2) × SU (2) in D = 4 dimensions and Weyl fermions in the irreducible representation (IR) ω = (2, 2, 2) with 2 denoting the corresponding dimensions. This Z2 anomaly was used in the discussions related to all the generic SO (10) and supersymmetric SO (10) unification theories1 for the total generation numbers of fermions and mirror fermions. Our result1 shows that the global anomaly coefficient formula is given by A(ω) = exp [iπQ2(□)] = -1 in this case with Q2(□) being the Dynkin index for SU (8) in the fundamental IR (□) = (8) and that the corresponding gauge transformations need to be topologically nontrivial simultaneously in all the three SU (2) factors for the homotopy group Π4( SU (2) × SU (2) × SU (2))is also discussed, and as shown by the results1 the semisimple gauge transformations collectively may have physical consequences which do not correspond to successive simple gauge transformations. The similar result given in Ref. 1 for the Z2 global gauge anomaly of gauge group SU (2) × SU (2) with Weyl fermions in the IR ω = (2, 2) with 2 denoting the corresponding dimensions is also discussed with proof similar to the case of SU (2) × SU (2) × SU (2). We also give a complete proof for some relevant topological results. We expect that our results and discussions may also be useful in more general studies related to global aspects of gauge theories. Gauge anomalies for the relevant semisimple gauge groups are also briefly discussed in higher dimensions, especially for self-contragredient representations, with discussions involving trace identities relating to Ref. 15. We also relate the discussions to our results and propositions in our previous studies of global gauge anomalies. We also remark the connection of our results and discussions to the total generation numbers in relevant theories.


1988 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 1655-1662 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Okubo ◽  
H. Zhang ◽  
Y. Tosa ◽  
R. E. Marshak
Keyword(s):  

2010 ◽  
Vol 302 (2) ◽  
pp. 513-580 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Gawȩdzki ◽  
Rafał R. Suszek ◽  
Konrad Waldorf

2003 ◽  
Vol 18 (19) ◽  
pp. 3273-3314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Faux ◽  
Dieter Lüst ◽  
Burt A. Ovrut

We analyze the structure of heterotic M-theory on K3 orbifolds by presenting a comprehensive sequence of M-theoretic models constructed on the basis of local anomaly cancellation. This is facilitated by extending the technology developed in our previous papers to allow one to determine "twisted" sector states in nonprime orbifolds. These methods should naturally generalize to four-dimensional models, which are of potential phenomenological interest.


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