Abstract

We propose a description of the vacuum in Yang-Mills theory and arrive at a physical interpretation of the pseudoparticle solution and the attendant violation of symmetries. The existence of topologically inequivalent classical gauge fields gives rise to a family of quantum mechanical vacua, parametrized by a $\mathrm{CP}$-nonconserving angle. The requirement of vacuum stability against gauge transformations renders the vacua chirally noninvariant.

Keywords

InstantonPhysicsHomogeneous spaceGauge theoryVacuum stateTheoretical physicsQuantumYang–Mills theoryGauge (firearms)Mathematical physicsQuantum field theoryQuantum mechanicsInterpretation (philosophy)Introduction to gauge theoryGeometryMathematicsPhilosophy

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Publication Info

Year
1976
Type
article
Volume
37
Issue
3
Pages
172-175
Citations
1242
Access
Closed

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Cite This

R. Jackiw, C. Rebbi (1976). Vacuum Periodicity in a Yang-Mills Quantum Theory. Physical Review Letters , 37 (3) , 172-175. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.37.172

Identifiers

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.37.172