Topological defects in gauge theories of open p-branes

Abstract

We study phase transitions induced by topological defects in compact Abelian gauge theories of open p-branes in (d+1) space-time dimensions. Starting from a massive antisymmetric tensor theory for the open p-branes we show how the condensation of topological defects can lead to a decoupled phase with a massless tensor coupled to closed (p − 1)-branes and a massive tensor coupled to open (p + 1)-branes. We also consider the case, relevant in string theory, in which the boundaries of the p-branes are constrained to live on a Dirichlet n-brane.

Duality and confinement in massive antisymmetric tensor gauge theories

“…In [10] it was proved that the confinement phase we found in the 4-dimensional case and for rank p = 1 for the MGTs described by the action (2.3), is present also in arbitrary space-time dimensions and for arbitrary p (p ≤ d − 1). Simply invoquing the duality we know that the phase is present also in the TMGTs, described by the action (2.4), in arbitrary space-time dimensions and for arbitrary rank antysymmetric tensor fields.…”

“…In this magnetic condensation phase, a lenghty calculation shows that the self energy of a circular charge loop of radius R is proportional to R ln R, and this gives rise to logarithmic confinement of electric strings (logarithmic confinement phase) [18]. The monopoles Q are always in a plasma phase : their condensation (after the condensation of t µ ), as it was shown in [10], gives a volume law and thus the usual confinement strings.…”

The Generalization of Chern-Simons Current and the Topological Tensor Current of p-Branes

“…In recent years, the study of p-branes are also of importance in understanding string duality, M-theory unification and small distance structure of space (space-time). As they have also been proved to be topological defects in gauge theory [6][7][8], we can study them by using some proper topological methods. The starting point of this paper is to find a gauge field theory foundation of the φ-mapping topological current of p-branes introduced in our previous work [9].…”

The Branch Processes of Chern-Simons (CS) p-Branes

“…In resent years, CS p-branes have also been proven to be topological defects in gauge theory [13][14][15]. Antisymmetric tensor gauge fields determine all of the features of a p-brane and have been widely studied in the theory of p-brane [14,[16][17][18][19][20].…”

“…Antisymmetric tensor gauge fields determine all of the features of a p-brane and have been widely studied in the theory of p-brane [14,[16][17][18][19][20]. For example, in [14,[20][21][22][23][24], from the perspective of a higher dimensional theory, the topological theories of p-branes in M-theory were studied. Ren et al [6] found that the topological p-branes are created at every isolated zero of order parameter field φ.…”