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Sector Theory

Huzihiro Araki

Published Oct 21, 1999• 0 citations
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Abstract

Abstract In the previous sections we treated the irreducible representation space associated with the vacuum state. In this chapter we treat other representation spaces necessary to describe particle systems with the vacuum as a background. Such representation spaces are characterized as transportable localized excitations on the vacuum background. If we assume Haag’s duality of the vacuum representation, such a localized excitation is described by a localized endomorphism of the observables and its equivalence classes correspond to different representations called sectors(eigensubspaces of the superselection rules in each of which unrestricted superposition principle holds). From the discussion about composition and conjugation of localized endomorphisms, we define the statistics (of a sector) which represents the behaviour of more than two equivalent localized excitations under permutation, and we derive the connection of spin and statistics. We also introduce the lattice of local field algebras as operators intertwining different sectors, and the gauge group acting on them. Then the local observable algebras are the gauge invariant part of the local field algebras and sectors are inequivalent representations of the gauge group. The local field algebras can be chosen to satisfy the standard commutation or anticommutation relations between space-like separated regions and we can derive the connection of spin and statistics of sectors. In this way we obtain a deep understanding of the reason why Fermi fields in spatially separated regions anticommute.

DOI
10.1093/oso/9780198517733.003.0006

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Abstract In the previous sections we treated the irreducible representation space associated with the vacuum state. In this chapter we treat other representation spaces necessary to describe particle systems with the vacuum as a background. Such representation spaces are characterized as transportable localized excitations on the vacuum background. If we assume Haag’s duality of the vacuum representation, such a localized excitation is described by a localized endomorphism of the observables and its equivalence classes correspond to different representations called sectors(eigensubspaces of the superselection rules in each of which unrestricted superposition principle holds). From the discussion about composition and conjugation of localized endomorphisms, we define the statistics (of a sector) which represents the behaviour of more than two equivalent localized excitations under permutation, and we derive the connection of spin and statistics. We also introduce the lattice of local field algebras as operators intertwining different sectors, and the gauge group acting on them. Then the local observable algebras are the gauge invariant part of the local field algebras and sectors are inequivalent representations of the gauge group. The local field algebras can be chosen to satisfy the standard commutation or anticommutation relations between space-like separated regions and we can derive the connection of spin and statistics of sectors. In this way we obtain a deep understanding of the reason why Fermi fields in spatially separated regions anticommute.
It has been discussed earlier that ( weak quasi-) quantum groups allow for conventional interpretation as internal symmetries in local quantum theory. From general arguments and explicit examples their consistency with (braid-) statistics and locality was established. This work addresses to the reconstruction of quantum symmetries and algebras of field operators. For every algebra A of observables satisfying certain standard assumptions, an appropriate quantum symmetry is found. Field operators are obtained which act on a positive definite Hilbert space of states and transform covariantly under the quantum symmetry. As a substitute for Bose/Fermi (anti-) commutation relations, these fields are demonstrated to obey local braid relation. Contents 1 Introduction 1 2 The Notion of Quantum Symmetry 5 3 Algebraic Methods for Field Construction 9 3.1 Observables and superselection sectors in local quantum field theory . . . . 10 3.2 Localized endomorphisms and fusion structure . . . . . ....
Quantization is defined as the act of assigning an appropriate C*-algebra [Formula: see text] to a given configuration space Q, along with a prescription mapping self-adjoint elements of [Formula: see text] into physically interpretable observables. This procedure is adopted to solve the problem of quantizing a particle moving on a homogeneous locally compact configuration space Q=G/H. Here [Formula: see text] is chosen to be the transformation group C*-algebra corresponding to the canonical action of G on Q. The structure of these algebras and their representations are examined in some detail. Inequivalent quantizations are identified with inequivalent irreducible representations of the C*-algebra corresponding to the system, hence with its superselection sectors. Introducing the concept of a pre-Hamiltonian, we construct a large class of G-invariant time-evolutions on these algebras, and find the Hamiltonians implementing these time-evolutions in each irreducible representation of [Formula: see text]. “Topological” terms in the Hamiltonian (or the corresponding action) turn out to be representation-dependent, and are automatically induced by the quantization procedure. Known “topological” charge quantization or periodicity conditions are then identically satisfied as a consequence of the representation theory of [Formula: see text].
We present details of a mathematical theory of superselection sectors and their statistics in local quantum theory over (two- and) three-dimensional space-time. The framework for our analysis is algebraic quantum field theory. Statistics of superselection sectors in three-dimensional local quantum theory with charges not localizable in bounded space-time regions and in two-dimensional chiral theories is described in terms of unitary representations of the braid groups generated by certain Yang-Baxter matrices. We describe the beginnings of a systematic classification of those representations. Our analysis makes contact with the classification theory of subfactors initiated by Jones. We prove a general theorem on the connection between spin and statistics in theories with braid statistics. We also show that every theory with braid statistics gives rise to a “Verlinde algebra”. It determines a projective representation of SL(2, ℤ) and, presumably, of the mapping class group of any Riemann surface, even if the theory does not display conformal symmetry.
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Based on the treatment of the chiral Ising model by Mack and Schomerus, we present examples of localized endomorphisms ̺ loc 1 and ̺ loc 1/2. It is shown that they lead to the same superselection sectors as the global ones in the sense that unitary equivalence π0 ◦ ̺ loc 1 ∼ = π1 and π0 ◦ ̺ loc 1/2 ∼ = π1/2 holds. Araki’s formalism of the selfdual CAR algebra is used for the proof. We prove local normality and extend representations and localized endomorphisms to a global algebra of observables which is generated by local von Neumann algebras on the punctured circle. In this framework, we manifestly prove fusion rules and derive statistics operators. 1
A subtheory of a quantum field theory specifies von Neumann subalgebras [Formula: see text] (the ‘observables’ in the space-time region [Formula: see text]) of the von Neumann algebras [Formula: see text] (the 'field' localized in [Formula: see text]). Every local algebra being a (type III1) factor, the inclusion [Formula: see text] is a subfactor. The assignment of these local subfactors to the space-time regions is called a ‘net of subfactors’. The theory of subfactors is applied to such nets. In order to characterize the ‘relative position’ of the subtheory, and in particular to control the restriction and induction of superselection sectors, the canonical endomorphism is studied. The crucial observation is this: the canonical endomorphism of a single local subfactor extends to an endomorphism of the field net, which in turn restricts to a localized endomorphism of the observable net. The method allows one to characterize, and reconstruct, local extensions ℬ of a given theory [Formula: see text] in terms of the observables. Various non-trivial examples are given. Several results go beyond the quantum field theoretical application.