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978-0-521-11463-9 - Classical Solutions in Quantum Field Theory: Solitons and Instantons in High Energy
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Erick J. Weinberg
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CLASSICAL SOLUTIONS IN QUANTUM

FIELD THEORY

Classical solutions play an important role in quantum field theory, high energy
physics, and cosmology. Real time soliton solutions give rise to particles, such as
magnetic monopoles, and extended structures, such as domain walls and cosmic
strings, that have implications for the cosmology of the early universe. Imaginary
time Euclidean instantons are responsible for important nonperturbative effects,
while Euclidean bounce solutions govern transitions between metastable states.
Written for advanced graduate students and researchers in elementary par-
ticle physics, cosmology, and related fields, this book brings the reader up to
the level of current research in the field. The first half of the book discusses the
most important classes of solitons: kinks, vortices, and magnetic monopoles. The
cosmological and observational constraints on these are covered, as are more for-
mal aspects, including BPS solitons and their connection with supersymmetry.
The second half is devoted to Euclidean solutions, with particular emphasis on
Yang–Mills instantons and on bounce solutions.

e r i c k j . w e i n b e rg is a Professor of Physics in the Department of Physics,

Columbia University. Since 1996 he has been Editor of Physical Review D. His
research interests include the implications of solitons and instantons for high
energy physics, cosmology, and black holes, as well as a variety of other topics in
quantum field theory.

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edition
V. E. Korepin, N. M. Bogoliubov and A. G. Izergin Quantum Inverse Scattering Method and
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N. Manton and P. Sutcliffe Topological Solitons

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N. H. March Liquid Metals: Concepts and Theory

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L. O’Raifeartaigh Group Structure of Gauge Theories †
T. Ortı́n Gravity and Strings †
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R. Penrose and W. Rindler Spinors and Space-Time Volume 2: Spinor and Twistor Methods in
Space-Time Geometry †
S. Pokorski Gauge Field Theories, 2 nd edition †
J. Polchinski String Theory Volume 1: An Introduction to the Bosonic String
J. Polchinski String Theory Volume 2: Superstring Theory and Beyond
J. C. Polkinghorne Models of High Energy Processes †
V. N. Popov Functional Integrals and Collective Excitations †
L. V. Prokhorov and S. V. Shabanov Hamiltonian Mechanics of Gauge Systems
R. J. Rivers Path Integral Methods in Quantum Field Theory †
R. G. Roberts The Structure of the Proton: Deep Inelastic Scattering †
C. Rovelli Quantum Gravity †
W. C. Saslaw Gravitational Physics of Stellar and Galactic Systems †
R. N. Sen Causality, Measurement Theory and the Differentiable Structure of Space-Time
M. Shifman and A. Yung Supersymmetric Solitons
H. Stephani, D. Kramer, M. MacCallum, C. Hoenselaers and E. Herlt Exact Solutions of Einstein’s
Field Equations, 2 nd edition †
J. Stewart Advanced General Relativity †
J. C. Taylor Gauge Theories of Weak Interactions †
T. Thiemann Modern Canonical Quantum General Relativity
D. J. Toms The Schwinger Action Principle and Effective Action
A. Vilenkin and E. P. S. Shellard Cosmic Strings and Other Topological Defects †
R. S. Ward and R. O. Wells, Jr Twistor Geometry and Field Theory †
E. J. Weinberg Classical Solutions in Quantum Field Theory: Solitons and Instantons in High
Energy Physics
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Classical Solutions in
Quantum Field Theory
Solitons and Instantons in High
Energy Physics

ERICK J. WEINBERG
Columbia University

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Weinberg, Erick J.
Classical solutions in quantum field theory : solitons and instantons in high
energy physics / Erick J. Weinberg.
p. cm. – (Cambridge monographs on mathematical physics)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-521-11463-9 (hardback)
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To Carolyn, Michael, and Cate

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Contents

Preface page xiii

1 Introduction 1
1.1 Overview 1
1.2 Conventions 3

2 One-dimensional solitons 6
2.1 Kinks 6
2.2 Quantizing about the kink 13
2.3 Zero modes and collective coordinates 22
2.4 Fermions and fermion zero modes 24
2.5 Kinks in more spacetime dimensions 27
2.6 Multikink dynamics 29
2.7 The sine-Gordon–massive Thirring model equivalence 34

3 Solitons in more dimensions—Vortices and strings 38

3.1 First attempt—global vortices 38
3.2 Derrick’s theorem 42
3.3 Gauged vortices 44
3.4 Multivortex solutions 47
3.5 Quantization and zero modes 49
3.6 Adding fermions 52

4 Some topology 57
4.1 Vacuum manifolds 57
4.2 Homotopy and the fundamental group π1 (M) 58
4.3 Fundamental groups of Lie groups 61
4.4 Vortices and homotopy 64
4.5 Some illustrative vortex examples 68
4.6 Higher homotopy groups 74
4.7 Some results for higher homotopy groups 77

5 Magnetic monopoles with U(1) charges 81

5.1 Magnetic monopoles in electromagnetism 81
5.2 The ’t Hooft–Polyakov monopole 89

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x Contents

5.3 Another gauge, another viewpoint 94

5.4 Solutions with higher magnetic charge 96
5.5 Zero modes and dyons 97
5.6 Spin from isospin, fermions from bosons 100
5.7 Fermions and monopoles 104

6 Magnetic monopoles in larger gauge groups 108

6.1 Larger gauge groups—the external view 108
6.2 Larger gauge groups—topology 115
6.2.1 SU(3) broken to SU(2)×U(1) 115
6.2.2 A Z2 monopole 119
6.2.3 A light doubly charged monopole 120
6.2.4 Electroweak monopoles? 121
6.3 Monopoles in grand unified theories 121
6.3.1 SU(5) monopoles 122
6.3.2 SO(10) monopoles 124
6.4 Chromodyons 125
6.5 The Callan–Rubakov effect 128

7 Cosmological implications and experimental bounds 130

7.1 Brief overview of big bang cosmology 130
7.2 Symmetry restoration and cosmological phase transitions 133
7.3 The Kibble mechanism 136
7.4 Gravitational and cosmological consequences of domain walls
and strings 139
7.5 Evolution of the primordial monopole abundance 142
7.6 Observational bounds and the primordial monopole problem 145

8 BPS solitons, supersymmetry, and duality 149

8.1 The BPS limit as a limit of couplings 149
8.2 Energy bounds 151
8.3 Supersymmetry 155
8.4 Multisoliton solutions 160
8.5 The moduli space approximation 163
8.6 BPS monopoles in larger gauge groups 166
8.7 Montonen–Olive duality 172

9 Euclidean solutions 175

9.1 Tunneling in one dimension 175
9.2 WKB tunneling with many degrees of freedom 178
9.3 Path integral approach to tunneling: instantons 181
9.4 Path integral approach to tunneling: bounces 186
9.5 Field theory 190

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Contents xi

10 Yang–Mills instantons 192

10.1 A0 = 0 gauge 192
10.2 Yang–Mills vacua: A0 = 0 gauge 194
10.3 Yang–Mills vacuum: axial gauge 201
10.4 Some topology 203
10.5 ’t Hooft symbols 207
10.6 The unit instanton 209
10.7 Multi-instanton solutions 212
10.8 Counting parameters with an index theorem 213
10.9 Larger gauge groups 220
10.10 The Atiyah–Drinfeld–Hitchin–Manin construction 223
10.11 The ADHM construction for larger gauge groups 228
10.12 One-loop corrections 231

11 Instantons, fermions, and physical consequences 236

11.1 Anomalies 236
11.2 Spectral flow and fermion zero modes 239
11.3 QCD and the U(1) problem 245
11.4 Baryon number violation by electroweak processes 246
11.5 CP violation and the θF F̃ term 248

12 Vacuum decay 254

12.1 Bounces in a scalar field theory 254
12.2 The thin-wall approximation 263
12.3 Evolution of the bubble after nucleation 265
12.4 Tunneling at finite temperature 267
12.5 Including gravity: bounce solutions 272
12.6 Interpretation of the bounce solutions 284
12.7 Curved spacetime evolution after bubble nucleation 291

Appendix A: Roots and weights 295

A.1 Root systems 295
A.2 Weights 302

Appendix B: Index theorems for BPS solitons 305

B.1 Vortices 306
B.2 Monopoles 308

References 312
Index 324

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Preface

Semiclassical methods based on classical solutions play an important role in

quantum field theory, high energy physics, and cosmology. Real-time soliton
solutions give rise both to new particles, such as magnetic monopoles, and to
extended structures, such as domain walls and cosmic strings. These could have
been produced as topological defects in the very early universe. Confronting
the consequences of such objects with observation and experiment places impor-
tant constraints on grand unification and other potential theories of high energy
physics beyond the standard model. Imaginary-time Euclidean instanton solu-
tions are responsible for important nonperturbative effects. In the context of
quantum chromodynamics they resolve one puzzle—the U(1) problem—while
raising another—the strong CP problem—whose resolution may entail the exis-
tence of a new species of particle, the axion. The Euclidean bounce solutions
govern transitions between metastable vacuum states. They determine the rates
of bubble nucleation in cosmological first-order transitions and give crucial infor-
mation about the evolution of these bubbles after nucleation. These bounces
become of particular interest if there is a string theory landscape with a myriad
of metastable vacua.
This book is intended as a survey and overview of this field. As the title
indicates, there is a dual focus. On the one hand, solitons and instantons arise as
solutions to classical field equations. The study of their many varieties and their
mathematical properties is a fascinating subfield of mathematical physics that is
of interest in its own right. Much of the book is devoted to this aspect, explaining
how the solutions are discovered, their essential properties, and the topological
underpinnings of many of the solutions. However, the physical significance of
these classical objects can only be fully understood when they are seen in the
context of the corresponding quantum field theories. To that end, there is also
a discussion of quantum effects, including those arising from the interplay of
fermion fields with topologically nontrivial classical solutions, and of some of the
phenomenological consequences of instantons and solitons.
The first half of this book focuses on real-time classical solutions. I focus in par-
ticular on three classes of solitons—kinks, vortices, and magnetic monopoles—in
one, two, and three spatial dimensions, respectively. Several chapters are devoted
to their classical properties and many aspects of their quantum behavior. These
are followed by a chapter that discusses the cosmological consequences of domain
walls and cosmic strings—the dimensionally extended manifestations of kinks and

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xiv Preface

vortices—and of magnetic monopoles, and the implications of these for proposed

high energy theories. Finally, there is a chapter discussing solitons in the BPS
limit, including the connections with supersymmetry and duality.
After considering solitons, I turn to Euclidean solutions. Although these are
solutions of classical equations, they are associated with tunneling processes that
are truly quantum mechanical phenomena. An introductory chapter presenting
an overview of this connection is followed by two chapters on Yang–Mills instan-
tons. The first of these is primarily concerned with the mathematical properties of
these solutions and their interpretation in terms of vacuum tunneling. Fermions
are introduced in the second chapter, which discusses the physical consequences
flowing from the instantons. A final chapter describes the bounce solutions and
vacuum transitions.
Of necessity, some topics had to be omitted. In particular, Q-balls, nontopo-
logical solitons whose existence is based on the possession of a conserved charge
rather than on topology, are not covered, nor are skyrmions, a fascinating class
of topological solitons.
My goal has been to make the book accessible to advanced graduate students
and other newcomers to the field, but also useful for more experienced researchers.
I assume that the reader has had an introductory course in quantum field theory
and some familiarity with non-Abelian gauge theories, but only the mathematical
background of a typical physics graduate student. The homotopy theory needed
to understand the topological underpinnings of the solitons is presented and
explained. An appendix discusses roots, weights, and other necessary properties
of Lie groups and algebras, building on the familiar results associated with SU(2).
I owe much to the colleagues and students with whom I have collaborated in
research in this field. I thank Claude Bernard, Xingang Chen, Norman Christ,
Huidong Guo, Alan Guth, Jim Hackworth, Conor Houghton, Roman Jackiw, Tom
Kibble, Alex Kusenko, Bum-Hoon Lee, Choonkyu Lee, Hakjoon Lee, Kimyeong
Lee, Sang-Hoon Lee, Arthur Lue, Ali Masoumi, Dimitrios Metaxas, Chris Miller,
Doug Rajaraman, Alex Ridgway, Jon Rosner, Koenraad Schalm, and Piljin Yi.
I am grateful to the late Sidney Coleman, from whom I learned field theory and
much more.
I am also grateful for the suggestions and comments on aspects of this book
from Adam Brown, Dan Kabat, Kimyeong Lee, Eugene Lim, Andy Millis,
I-Sheng Yang, and Piljin Yi. I am particularly grateful to Ali Masoumi and Xiao
Xiao for carefully reading and pointing out errors in the final text.
Parts of this book were written at the Korea Institute for Advanced Study and
at the Aspen Center for Physics. I am grateful to both institutions. My research
over the years has been supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy. My
stays at Aspen were supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation.
Finally, I thank Carolyn for her support, her encouragement, and her gentle
prodding.

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