Regensburg 1998 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Downloads | Help

MP: Theoretische und Mathematische Grundlagen der Physik

MP 5: Quantisierung und Symmetrie

MP 5.3: Fachvortrag

Tuesday, March 24, 1998, 14:40–15:00, H45

Gribov vs BRST — •S.V. Shabanov¹ and F.G. Scholtz² — ¹Institute for Theoretical Physics, FU-Berlin, Arnimallee 14, WE 2, D-14195, Berlin, Germany — ²Department of Physics, University of Stellenbosch, 7600 Stellenbosch, South Africa

We investigate the way in which the Gribov problem is manifested in the BRST quantization of simple quantum mechanical models by comparing models with and without a Gribov problem. We show that the hermiticity and nilpotency of the BRST charge together with the Batalin-Vilkovisky theorem yield non-trivial supplementary conditions on gauge fixing fermions. The conventional gauge fixing fermion, that gives rise to the Faddeev-Popov integral, fails to satisfy the supplementary conditions due to the Gribov problem. Alternatively, enforcing the conventional gauge fixing fermion, these supplementary conditions imply restrictions on the BRST physical states for which the Batalin-Vilkovisky theorem holds. We find that these BRST physical states are not isomorphic to the Dirac states. This can be interpreted as a violation of the Batalin-Vilkovisky theorem on the space of Dirac states and implies a breakdown of unitarity and a general dependence of physical quantities on the gauge condition [1].

[1] F.G. Scholtz, S.V. Shabanov, Ann. Phys. (NY) (1997) in press; hep-th/9701051