Abstract
We show how Yang-Mills theory on S3 × ℝ can exhibit a spectrum with continuous bands if coupled either to a topological 3-form gauge field, or to a dynamical axion with heavy Peccei-Quinn scale. The basic mechanism consists in associating winding histories to a bosonic zero mode whose role is to convert a circle in configuration space into a helix. The zero mode is, respectively, the holonomy of the 3-form field or the axion momentum. In these models different θ sectors coexist and are only mixed by (non-local) volume operators. Our analysis sheds light on, and extends Seiberg’s proposal for modifying the topological sums in quantum field theories. It refutes a recent claim that B + L violation at LHC is unsuppressed.
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Bachas, C., Tomaras, T. Band structure in Yang-Mills theories. J. High Energ. Phys. 2016, 143 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP05(2016)143
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP05(2016)143