Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / In this dissertation I use lattice gauge theory to study models of electroweak symmetry breaking that involve new strong dynamics. Electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB) is the process by which elementary particles acquire mass. First proposed in the 1960s, this process has been clearly established by experiments, and can now be considered a law of nature. However, the physics underlying EWSB is still unknown, and understanding it remains a central challenge in particle physics today. A natural possibility is that EWSB is driven by the dynamics of some new, strongly-interacting force. Strong interactions invalidate the standard analytical approach of perturbation theory, making these models difficult to study. Lattice gauge theory is the premier method for obtaining quantitatively-reliable, nonperturbative predictions from strongly-interacting theories. In this approach, we replace spacetime by a regular, finite grid of discrete sites connected by links. The fields and interactions described by the theory are likewise discretized, and defined on the lattice so that we recover the original theory in continuous spacetime on an infinitely large lattice with sites infinitesimally close together. The finite number of degrees of freedom in the discretized system lets us simulate the lattice theory using high-performance computing. Lattice gauge theory has long been applied to quantum chromodynamics, the theory of strong nuclear interactions. Using lattice gauge theory to study dynamical EWSB, as I do in this dissertation, is a new and exciting application of these methods. Of particular interest is non-perturbative lattice calculation of the electroweak S parameter. Experimentally S ~ -0.15(10), which tightly constrains dynamical EWSB. On the lattice, I extract S from the momentum-dependence of vector and axial-vector current correlators. I created and applied computer programs to calculate these correlators and analyze them to determine S. I also calculated the masses and other properties of the new particles predicted by these theories. I find S > 0.1 in the specific theories I study. Although this result still disagrees with experiment, it is much closer to the experimental value than is the conventional wisdom S > 0.3. These results encourage further lattice studies to search for experimentally viable strongly-interacting theories of EWSB.

The use of tidal information and its application to, and value within, the study of climate change, sea-level rise and the tides effects on marine life is well known. However, little work has been done on the more technical aspects of tidal measurements and the use within maritime safety in accordance with international standards. This thesis will address the key technical elements in the design and realisation of the national tide gauge network around the South African coastline and how the data collected can be used to increase maritime safety around the South African coast, as well as the additional benefits the data may have both nationally and internationally. The South African Navy's national tide database, both actual records and predictions, as well as current and historical records, was used in order to establish the requirements for a sustainable tide gauge network. In addition, various case studies and data analysis were carried out, as were personal communications with various naval personnel. Establishing and maintaining a sustainable tide gauge network requires research and testing of various tide gauges. Identification of the correct locations to install the tide gauges is key to its success. Although the current South African Tide gauge network is not complete it does provide adequate coverage and is vitally important in the production of navigational products. The manner in which the raw collected tide data is processed and used for creating predictions meets international requirements and standards. Tidal predictions are a necessity for shallow water maritime operations and shallow water navigation, under keel and masthead clearances. The tide gauge network provides data to various organisations for storm surge and tsunami warnings while contributing to the “blue economy” through projects like Operation Phakisa. This thesis provides a comprehensive overview of South Africa's tide gauge network, investigates and justifies the reasons behind the locations and gives in depth examples of the essential use of tidal information for maritime safety.

The main theme of this thesis is the formulation of self-duality for extended objects (p-branes). An approach to self-duality for membranes is developed using the correspondence between the large N limit of SU(N) gauge theories and the membrane theory. This correspondence is established via the use of the coadjoint orbit method. It is shown that classical gauge field theories can be formulated on the coadjoint orbits of an infinite dimensional group (a semidirect product of the group of gauge transformations and the Heisenberg-Weyl group); in Chap. II this construction is carried out for Yang-Mills, Cherns-Simons, topological Yang-Mills and F A B theories, as well as the Wess-Zumino-Novikov-Witten model. In Chap. III it is shown that for homogeneous fields (i.e. gauge mechanics) and in the N -1-" limit, the coadjoint orbit action becomes identical to the membrane action in the light cone gauge. The self-duality equations for gauge fields then translate into the self-duality equations for membranes. In Chap. IV another approach is developed, one which allows us to formulate the self-duality equations for a much larger class of extended objects. This generalized self-duality is based on the notion of p-fold vector products. We exhibit several classes of solutions for these generalized self-dual extended objects and classify all the cases in which they exist. We also show that the self-intersecting string instantons, introduced by Polyakov constitute a special case of these solutions. Of particular interest are two octonionic classes: a membrane in 7 dimensions and a 3-brane in 8 dimensions. To simplify the calculations in these cases we developed an approach to octonionic symbolic computing making use of "Mathematica". Some possible applications of self-dual extended objects are briefly discussed. / Ph. D.

This thesis is devoted to a discussion of various aspects of supersymmetric quantum field theories in four and two dimensions. In four dimensions, 𝒩 = 1 supersymmetric quantum gauge theories on various four-manifolds are constructed. Many of their properties, some of which are distinct to the theories on flat spacetime, are analyzed. In two dimensions, general 𝒩 = (2, 2) nonlinear sigma models on S² are constructed, both for chiral multiplets and twisted chiral multiplets. The explicit curvature coupling terms and their effects are discussed. Finally, 𝒩 = (0, 2) gauged linear sigma models with nonabelian gauge groups are analyzed. In particular, various dualities between these nonabelian gauge theories are discussed in a geometric content, based on their Higgs branch structure. / Ph. D.

Understanding physical configurations and how these can emerge from the underlying gauge theory is a fundamental problem in modern particle physics. This thesis investigates the study of these configurations primarily focussing on the need for gauge invariance in constructing the gauge invariant fields for any physical theory. We consider Wu’s approach to gauge invariance by identifying the gauge symmetry preserving conditions in quantum electrodynamics and demonstrate how Wu’s conditions for one-loop order calculations (under various regularisation schemes) leads to the maintenance of gauge invariance. The need for gauge invariance is stressed and the consequences discussed in terms of the Ward identities for which various examples and proofs are presented in this thesis. We next consider Zwanziger’s description of a mass term in Yang-Mills theory, where an expansion is introduced in terms of the quadratic and cubic powers of the field strength. Although Zwanziger introduced this expansion there is, however, no derivation or discussion about how it arises and how it may be extended to higher orders. We show how Zwanziger’s expansion in terms of the inverse covariant Laplacian can be derived and extended to higher orders. An explicit derivation is presented, for the first time, for the next to next to leading order term. The role of dressings and their factorisation lies at the heart of this analysis.

Desenvolvemos aqui um estudo das formulações alternativas-equivalentes da Relatividade Geral, baseada no formalismo de conexões de Ashtekar. Iniciamos discutindo a estrutura matemática necessária de fibrados e conexões, e a teoria de sistemas Hamiltonianos vinculados. Em seguida, damos uma breve introdução ao formalismo métrico de Einstein e então passamos ao formalismo geometrodinâmico canônico (formalismo ADM). Introduzimos as transformações no espaço de fase que geram as formulações alternativas, de forma generalizada tal que possamos obter ambas as variáveis complexas de Ashtekar ou as variáveis reais de Barbero, ou mesmo qualquer forma intermediária por meio do parâmetro de Immirzzi. / We develop here a study of the alternative-equivalent formulations of General Relativity, based on Ashtekars connexion formalism. We begin discussing the mathematical structure needed of fibre bundles and connexions, and the theory of constrained Hamiltonian systems. Next, we give a brief introduction for Einsteins metric formalism and then we pass to the canonical geometrodynamic formalism (ADM formalism). We introduce the transformations of the phase space which generate the alternative formulations, in a generalized form such that we can obtain both Ashtekars complex variables or Barberos real variables, or even any intermediary form by using the Immirzzi parameter.

Nós trabalhamos em três problemas relacionados com as teorias de gauge a temperatura finita. O primeiro discute a invariância de gauge da massa física do elétron num espaço de dimensão arbitrária a temperatura zero. Obtivemos a massa física a partir do polo do propagador fermiônico e demonstramos que a maneira usual de definir este propagador funciona para gauges covariantes mas não para gauges não covariantes. Em seguida propusemos um novo propagador e verificamos de duas formas diferentes que a massa física obtida a partir deste funciona para um gauge definido com parâmetros de controle tais que ele possa ser generalizado para as duas classes estudadas. O segundo problema é sobre a interação de n fótons num espaço de (1+1) dimensões no limite de altas temperaturas. Usando o formalismo de tempo imaginário e o modelo de Schwinger, mostramos que todos os termos das amplitudes causais retardadas com um ou mais loops têm contribuição nula. Interpretamos fisicamente este resultado e fizemos um paralelo de como ele se relaciona com a invariância CPT da teoria. A última parte é relacionada à gravitação quântica em (3+1) dimensões. Discutimos a possibilidade de obtermos as funções de n grávitons 1PI nos limites estático e de comprimento de onda longo em função de polinômios que podem ser escritos e relacionados de uma maneira simples. Para tanto, usamos as identidades de Ward e a invariância de Weyl de forma a relacionar as funções de n e (n+1) grávitons. Em seguida, utilizamos o formalismo da equação de transporte de Boltzmann para compreender melhor os resultados. / We have worked in three problems related to finite temperature gauge theory. The first one discusses the gauge invariance of the electron physical mass in an arbitrary dimension space at zero temperature. We have obtained the physical mass from the pole of the fermion propagator and we have demonstrated that the usual form to define this propagator works well for covariant gauges, but not for non covariant gauges. Then, we have proposed anew fermion propagator and we verified in two different ways that the physical mass obtained from this new one works for a gauge defined with control parameters so that it could be generalized for both classes studied. The second problem is on the n photon interaction in a space with (1+1) dimensions at hard thermal loops. Using the imaginary time formalism and the Schwinger\'s model, we have shown that all terms of the retarded causal amplitudes with one or more loops have null contribution. We have got a physical interpretation of this result and we have done a parallel of how it relates with the CPT invariance of this theory. The last one is related with quantum gravitation in (3+1) dimensions. We have discussed the possibility to obtain the 1PI n graviton functions in static and long-wavelength limits from polynomials which could be written and related in a simple manner. To this end, we used the Ward identities and the Weyl invariance to relate the n and (n+1) graviton functions. Then, we used the Boltzmann transport equation formalism to get a better understanding of the results.

Estudando o processo q q BARRA W Brown, Mikaelian, Sahdev, Samuel descobriram um zero na distribuição angular do W quando seu momento magnético tem o valor característico de uma partícula de gauge. Goebel, Halzen e Leveille mostraram que este zero é uma consequência da fatorização da amplitude em um termo que contém a dependência da carga ou outros índices de simetria interna, e outro que contém a dependência dos spins ou índices de polarização. Esta fatorização existe em geral para amplitudes de processos envolvendo quatro partículas na aproximação árvore, quando uma ou mais destas partículas é um campo de gauge. Portanto a existência de um zero na seção de choque é uma prova direta da estrutura de gauge da teoria. A fatorização baseia-se em uma identidade, identidade de Jacobi espacial generalizada, cuja demonstração ou significado físico ainda não fora elucidado. O objetivo do presente trabalho é estudar esta identidade de Jacobi espacial generalizada. Para tanto calculamos, no capítulo I, a amplitude de um processo de espalhamento gluon-gluon envolvendo cinco partículas e reorganizando esta amplitude por analogia com um processo de interação fóton-pion, mostramos que não existe, no caso de cinco partículas, a identidade de Jacobi espacial generalizada, mas sim uma série de identidades espaciais parciais, que se compõe, no processo de quatro partículas, em uma única identidade. No capítulo II estudamos um processo envolvendo quatro partículas, das quais três campos escalares, porém agora aproximação de um loop, e mostramos que também não existe identidade de Jacobi espacial generalizada. / Brown, Mikaelian, Sahdev, and Samuel discovered that the angular distribution of the process q q BARRA W in lowest order has a zero, if the magnetic moment f the W has the characteristic value of a gauge field. Goebel, Halzen and Leveille showed that this zero is a consequence of a factorizability of the amplitude into one factor which contains the dependence on the charge or other internal, symmetry indices, and another which contains the dependence on the spin or polarization indices. This factorization is found to hold for any four particle tree-approximation amplitude, when one or more of the four particles is a gauge-field. Therefore, the study of the angular distribution of the process q q BARRA W, directly probes the gauge structure of the theory. The factorization hinges on a spatial generalized Jacobi identity obeyed by the polarization-dependent factors of the vertices, whose physical significance or general demonstration was not known. The purpose of the present work is to study this identity. With this in mind we work out, in chapter I, the amplitude of a scattering gluon-gloun with five particles. Reorganizing this amplitude by analogy with an interaction process photon-pion, we show that does not exist, in this case, the spatial generalized Jacobi identity, but instead many spatial partial identities that compose themselves, in the case of a four particle process, in one single identity. In chapter II, we study a process with four particles, three of them scalar fields, but in the one loop approximation, and show that, in this case too, does not exist the spatial generalized Jacobi identity.

Discutimos um modelo de calibre com simetria Z (N) na rede, sendo as variáveis dinâmicas definidas em faces de cubos. Mostramos a dualidade com um sistema de spins Z (N) em quatro dimensões e a autodualidade em seis dimensões para este modelo, utilizando o formalismo da matriz de transferência. Analisamos as funções de correlação invariantes por transformações de calibre, constatando os decaimentos exponenciais com o volume (para altas temperaturas e d &#8805 3) e com a área (para baixas temperaturas e d > 3). Para três dimensões, o modelo não apresenta transição de fase sendo exatamente solúvel. Estudamos também a versão U (1) do modelo e mostramos sua equivalência com uma teoria de campos clássica livre na região de baixas temperaturas / We discussus a model with a Z (N) gauge symmetry on a lattice, the dynamical variables being defined on faces of cubes. The duality with a Z (N) spin system in four dimensions and the selfduality in six dimensions is shown for this model, using the transfer matrix formalism. The gauge invariant correlation functions have been analysed and we verify their exponential decay with volume (at high temperatures and d &#8805 3) and with the área (at low temperatures and d > 3). For three dimensions, the model exhibits no phase transition, being exactly soluble. We also study a U (I) version o four model and show its equivalence with a free classical field theory in the low temperature region

Nesta tese apresentamos um estudo de como as simetrias grandes podem tornar as soluções de problemas como o da violação CP forte, mais naturais. Em particular, trataremos de estensões SU(3) IND.C\"\"SU(3) IND.L\"U (1) IND.X do modelo Padrão. Veremos como uma simetria discreta grande torna automática, em nível clássico, a simetria de Peccei-Quinn. O áxion do tipo invisível tem a sua massa protegida contra os efeitos semi-clássicos de gravitação quântica através da simetria Z IND.N. O limite perturbativo desses modelos também é investigado. A classe de modelos em que a simetria discreta é quase automática tem a sua validade perturbativa apenas em uma escala de energia relativamente baixa, na ordem dos TeV. É, então, proposta a extensão com um conteúdo mínimo de representação adicional onde o limite perturbativo pode ser ampliado para escalas de mais de uma dezena de TeV; deixando, portanto, esses modelos mais atrativos do ponto de vista fenomenológiconas energias que estarão sendo alcançadas em um futuro próximo nos aceleradores de partículas. / In this thesis we perform a study about how large discrete symmetries can make problems solutions like the strong CP violation, more natural. In particular, we shall treat of a SU(3)cSU(3)LU(1)x Standard Model extension. We shall see how a large discrete symmetry makes, at the classical level, the Peccei-Quin symmetry automatic. The invisible axion has it mass protected against quantum gravity semi-classical effects by means of a Zn symmetry. The perturbative limit of some of those models is investigated. The class of models in which the discrete symmetry is almost automatic can be treated with perturbation theory only at energy scales below few TeV. It is, then, proposed a model extension with a minimal representation content which extends the perturbative limit to scales of tens of TeV; making, therefore, the models more atractives from the phenomenological point of view at the energies scalas to be reached in the near future.