Using Covariant Polarisation Sums in QCD

Covariant gauges lead to spurious, non-physical polarisation states of gauge bosons. In QED, the use of the Feynman gauge, $$\sum _{\lambda } \varepsilon _\mu ^{(\lambda )}\varepsilon _\nu ^{(\lambda )*} = -\eta _{\mu \nu }$$ ∑ λ ε μ ( λ ) ε ν ( λ ) ∗ = - η μ ν , is justified by the Ward identity which ensures that the contributions of non-physical polarisation states cancel in physical observables. In contrast, the same replacement can be applied only to a single external gauge boson in squared amplitudes of non-abelian gauge theories like QCD. In general, the use of this replacement requires to include external Faddeev–Popov ghosts. We present a pedagogical derivation of these ghost contributions applying the optical theorem and the Cutkosky cutting rules. We find that the resulting cross terms $$\mathcal {A}(c_1,\bar{c}_1;\ldots )\mathcal {A}(\bar{c}_1,c_1;\ldots )^*$$ A ( c 1 , c ¯ 1 ; … ) A ( c ¯ 1 , c 1 ; … ) ∗ between ghost amplitudes cannot be transformed into $$(-1)^{n/2}|\mathcal {A}(c_1,\bar{c}_1;\ldots )|^2$$ ( - 1 ) n / 2 | A ( c 1 , c ¯ 1 ; … ) | 2 in the case of more than two ghosts. Thus the Feynman rule stated in the literature holds only for two external ghosts, while it is in general incorrect.

Infinite-dimensional fermionic symmetry in supersymmetric gauge theories

We establish the existence of an infinite-dimensional fermionic symmetry in four-dimensional supersymmetric gauge theories by analyzing semiclassical photino dynamics in abelian $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 1 theories with charged matter. The symmetry is parametrized by a spinor-valued function on an asymptotic S2 at null infinity. It is not manifest at the level of the Lagrangian, but acts non-trivially on physical states, and its Ward identity is the soft photino theorem. The infinite-dimensional fermionic symmetry resides in the same $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 1 supermultiplet as the physically non-trivial large gauge symmetries associated with the soft photon theorem.

Celestial superamplitude in $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 4 SYM theory

Celestial amplitude is a new reformulation of momentum space scattering amplitudes and offers a promising way for flat holography. In this paper, we study the celestial amplitudes in $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 4 Super-Yang-Mills (SYM) theory aiming at understanding the role of superconformal symmetry in celestial holography. We first construct the superconformal generators acting on the celestial superfield which assembles all the on-shell fields in the multiplet together in terms of celestial variables and Grassmann parameters. These generators satisfy the superconformal algebra of $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 4 SYM theory. We also compute the three-point and four-point celestial super-amplitudes explicitly. They can be identified as the conformal correlation functions of the celestial superfields living at the celestial sphere. We further study the soft and collinear limits which give rise to the super-Ward identity and super-OPE on the celestial sphere, respectively. Our results initiate a new perspective of understanding the well-studied $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 4 SYM amplitudes via 2D celestial conformal field theory.

On ambiguities and divergences in perturbative renormalization group functions

There is an ambiguity in choosing field-strength renormalization factors in the $$ \overline{\mathrm{MS}} $$ MS ¯ scheme starting from the 3-loop order in perturbation theory. More concerning, trivially choosing Hermitian factors has been shown to produce divergent renormalization group functions, which are commonly understood to be finite quantities. We demonstrate that the divergences of the RG functions are such that they vanish in the RG equation due to the Ward identity associated with the flavor symmetry. It turns out that any such divergences can be removed using the renormalization ambiguity and that the use of the flavor-improved β-function is preferred. We show how our observations resolve the issue of divergences appearing in previous calculations of the 3-loop SM Yukawa β-functions and provide the first calculation of the flavor-improved 3-loop SM β-functions in the gaugeless limit.

The Master Ward Identity for Scalar QED

It is emphasized that for interactions with derivative couplings, the Ward Identity (WI) securing the preservation of a global symmetry should be modified. Scalar QED is taken as an explicit example. More precisely, it is rigorously shown in scalar QED that the naive WI and the improved Ward Identity (‘Master Ward Identity’, MWI) are related to each other by a finite renormalization of the time-ordered product (‘T-product’) for the derivative fields, and we point out that the MWI has advantages over the naive WI—in particular with regard to the proof of the MWI. We show that the MWI can be fulfilled in all orders of perturbation theory by an appropriate renormalization of the T-product, without conflict with other standard renormalization conditions. Relations with other recent formulations of the MWI are established.

Covariant phase space and soft factorization in non-Abelian gauge theories

We perform a careful study of the infrared sector of massless non-abelian gauge theories in four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime using the covariant phase space formalism, taking into account the boundary contributions arising from the gauge sector of the theory. Upon quantization, we show that the boundary contributions lead to an infinite degeneracy of the vacua. The Hilbert space of the vacuum sector is not only shown to be remarkably simple, but also universal. We derive a Ward identity that relates the n-point amplitude between two generic in- and out-vacuum states to the one computed in standard QFT. In addition, we demonstrate that the familiar single soft gluon theorem and multiple consecutive soft gluon theorem are consequences of the Ward identity.

Supersymmetry anomalies and the Wess–Zumino model in a supergravity background

We briefly recall the procedure for computing the Ward identities in the presence of a regulator which violates the symmetry being considered. We compute the first nontrivial correction to the supersymmetry Ward identity of the Wess–Zumino model in the presence of background supergravity using dimensional regularization. We find that the result can be removed using a finite local counter term and so there is no supersymmetry anomaly.

New magnetic symmetries in (d + 2)-dimensional QED

Previous analyses of asymptotic symmetries in QED have shown that the subleading soft photon theorem implies a Ward identity corresponding to a charge generating divergent large gauge transformations on the asymptotic states at null infinity. In this work, we demonstrate that the subleading soft photon theorem is equivalent to a more general Ward identity. The charge corresponding to this Ward identity can be decomposed into an electric piece and a magnetic piece. The electric piece generates the Ward identity that was previously studied, but the magnetic piece is novel, and implies the existence of an additional asymptotic “magnetic” symmetry in QED.