Chiral bosons and improper constraints

• Autor(a) principal: Devecchi, F.P.
• Data de Publicação: 1994
• Outros Autores: Girotti, Horacio Oscar
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFRGS
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10183/103709
• topic: Fisica de particulas elementares e campos; Quebra espontanea de simetrias

We argue that a consistent quantization of the Floreanini-Jackiw model, as a constrained system, should start by recognizing the improper nature of the constraints. Then, each boundary condition defines a problem which must be treated separately. The model is settled on a compact domain which allows for a discrete formulation of the dynamics; thus, avoiding the mixing of local with collective coordinates. For periodic boundary conditions the model turns out to be a gauge theory whose gauge invariant sector contains only chiral excitations. For antiperiodic boundary conditions, the model is a second-class theory where the excitations are also chiral. In both cases, the equal-time algebra of the quantum energy-momentum densities is a Virasoro algebra. The Poincare symmetry holds for the finite as well as for the infinite domain.