QED and string theory
Abstract
We analyze the D9-bar Dbar 9 system in type IIB string theory using Dp-brane probes. It is shown that the world-volume theory of the probe Dp-brane contains two-dimensional and four-dimensional QED in the cases with p = 1 and p = 3, respectively, and some applications of the realization of these well-studied quantum field theories are discussed. In particular, the two-dimensional QED (the Schwinger model) is known to be a solvable theory and we can apply the powerful field theoretical techniques, such as bosonization, to study the D-brane dynamics. The tachyon field created by the D9-bar Dbar 9 strings appears as the fermion mass term in the Schwinger model and the tachyon condensation is analyzed by using the bosonized description. In the T-dualized picture, we obtain the potential between a D0-brane and a D8-bar Dbar 8 pair using the Schwinger model and we observe that it consists of the energy carried by fundamental strings created by the Hanany-Witten effect and the vacuum energy due to a cylinder diagram. The D0-brane is treated quantum mechanically as a particle trapped in the potential, which turns out to be a system of a harmonic oscillator. As another application, we obtain a matrix theory description of QED using Taylor's T-duality prescription, which is actually applicable to a wide variety of field theories including the realistic QCD. We show that the lattice gauge theory is naturally obtained by regularizing the matrix size to be finite.
- Publication:
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Journal of High Energy Physics
- Pub Date:
- April 2004
- DOI:
- 10.1088/1126-6708/2004/04/051
- arXiv:
- arXiv:hep-th/0403247
- Bibcode:
- 2004JHEP...04..051S
- Keywords:
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- D-branes Brane Dynamics in Gauge Theories Tachyon Condensation;
- High Energy Physics - Lattice;
- High Energy Physics - Theory
- E-Print:
- 33 pages, Latex, 4 figures, a reference added