Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 44 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For a differentiable curve in the SO(3) group with , differentiating gives , where . Conversely, if is a real skew-symmetric matrix, is an orthogonal matrix and has determinant . HenceThe displayed generators of the SO(3) Lie algebra areThey are linearly independent and span the three independent entries of a real skew-symmetric matrix. Equivalently, . The vector triple-product identity then givesThus the structure constants of a Lie algebra in this basis are
Use a real, antisymmetric convention throughout the SO(3) vector Higgs model. With gauge coupling , the gauge covariant derivative and gauge field strength areThere is no factor of in these formulas because are real antisymmetric generators. For a local non-Abelian gauge transformation , with in the SO(3) group, the compatible transformation of the gauge potential isIt gives and . These covariance laws fix the relative signs in the gauge covariant derivative and gauge field strength.
An SO(3) invariant quartic scalar potential isSince , this scalar potential is gauge-invariant. Its minimum is the sphere , rather than a preferred direction in the internal vector space.
Writing , the cross product form of the gauge covariant derivative is . In components this isCorrespondingly, the gauge field strength has components
A covariantly constant vector Higgs field has constant norm, becauseThe last equality uses antisymmetry of the gauge potential. On a connected region write this norm as . If , the vector Higgs field is identically zero. If , the SO(3) group acts transitively on unit vectors, so choose a smooth local non-Abelian gauge transformation rotating to . In this unitary gauge, with constant. This is a local construction, and is global on a trivial contractible region; a nontrivial bundle can require more than one gauge patch.
For nonzero , substituting the constant aligned vector Higgs field into gives . For nonzero gauge coupling, the most general compatible gauge potential and gauge field strength arewhere is an arbitrary real one-form. Thus the surviving gauge group is the stabilizer subgroup of . A covariantly constant vector Higgs field does not force the gauge field strength to vanish: it only requires the curvature to annihilate that field.
For the Higgs mechanism, choose a vacuum of the SO(3) invariant quartic scalar potential, so the constant norm is . The canonically normalized kinetic term then containsThe two broken-direction gauge bosons have mass (or if the sign of is unrestricted), while the gauge boson remains massless. The two angular Goldstone bosons supply the massive vectors' longitudinal gauge-boson polarizations. The radial fluctuation remains a physical scalar field, with for this normalization. The condition selects backgrounds without broken-direction gauge potentials; fluctuations about such a vacuum exhibit the two massive modes. Constancy of the norm alone does not require it to minimize the scalar potential.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 46 4 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Choose Lie-algebra generators with and an invariant orthonormal color metric. Since the coupling is placed outside the gauge kinetic term, it is absorbed into in the connection convention. The gauge field strength and adjoint covariant derivative areThe structure constants are antisymmetric in and obey the Jacobi identity. These definitions give on an adjoint-valued field. The field is a Grassmann-odd Faddeev-Popov ghost field; the Lie bracket in contracts its color components in the same way as for any adjoint field.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 46 4 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Let be the separated gauge-invariant insertions. Their BRST symmetry variations vanish: the gauge field strength and its gauge covariant derivatives transform by adjoint commutators, and invariant color contractions remove these commutators. Thus .
Make the infinitesimal change of integration variables in the normalized expectation of . The action is invariant up to its boundary term and, by assumption, the measure has no Jacobian anomaly. ThereforeSince is generated by the BRST charge, this is the graded BRST Ward identityHere is the graded commutator. For even it is the ordinary commutator printed in the question; for odd it is an anticommutator. Separation of the other insertions from avoids the additional coincident-point contact terms. An operator need not itself be BRST-closed for this identity to hold.
A BRST-exact insertion has zero correlation with physical, gauge-invariant insertions. This is the decoupling of BRST-exact insertions in physical correlation functions. In the associated BRST cohomology, physical information is represented by closed states or operators modulo exact ones, schematically , using the nilpotence of the BRST charge in the anomaly-free theory. Gauge-fixing fields thereby do not supply additional physical observables.
For example, the gauge parameter dependence is exact:Differentiating a normalized physical correlation function with respect to inserts this expression; the BRST Ward identity makes that derivative zero under the same invariant-measure and boundary assumptions. This illustrates gauge-fixing parameter independence from BRST symmetry.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 302 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
A Non-Abelian gauge theory promotes an internal group representation symmetry to a spacetime-dependent transformation and introduces a gauge field so that differentiation transforms covariantly. The symmetry is a gauge redundancy: physically meaningful quantities must be invariant under local changes of field representative. We work in four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime with signature , and use skew-Hermitian matrix generators throughout.
For the compact Simple Lie group , its real Lie algebra has a negative-definite Killing form. Hence is a positive invariant bilinear form on a Lie algebra. Choose a -orthonormal basis , , with . Invariance makes fully antisymmetric. This construction uses the Adjoint representation and works independently of any chosen scalar representation.
Let be a Lie-algebra-valued gauge potential, with the coupling absorbed into this connection. If is the given finite-dimensional irreducible representation of , its Lie algebra representation definesFor a finite local transformation , require and . Differentiating the first equation forces the gauge-field transformation lawThus the gauge potential transforms inhomogeneously; an ordinary derivative alone would leave an uncancelled derivative of .
The commutator of gauge covariant derivatives determines the gauge field strength:The Lie algebra representation preserves the bracket, so this formula holds for any , including a trivial scalar representation. The gauge field strength itself is defined in the gauge algebra. The transformation of the connection impliesIt is therefore covariant, rather than invariant as a Lie-algebra-valued quantity.
For infinitesimal , the same equations give the infinitesimal gauge transformation with an anti-Hermitian connection:Substitution into cancels the terms containing and gives , the gauge covariance of a scalar covariant derivative.
The Yang-Mills theory has Lagrangian densityThis is the Killing-form Yang-Mills Lagrangian. Its sign uses a positive internal form and the stated spacetime signature. In a -orthonormal basis it is . Gauge invariance follows because is invariant under the adjoint group action. Infinitesimally, the variation is proportional toAfter rescaling , the gauge coupling appears in and in the non-Abelian part of the canonically normalized field strength. Squaring that field strength gives cubic and quartic gauge-field self-interactions. An ordinary local quadratic mass term in the gauge potential is not invariant because its transformation contains .
For the scalar field kinetic term, compactness supplies a positive invariant Hermitian form on its representation space. One can obtain it by averaging any positive form with normalized Haar measure, the unitarization of a compact-group representation. Then is unitary for , and is anti-Hermitian. The Yang-Mills theory coupled to an arbitrary scalar representation hasHere is any real gauge-invariant scalar potential, so . For example,is available for every unitary representation, with giving a bounded quartic contribution. Other invariant interactions may exist for particular representations; the potential is not required to depend only on .
The scalar kinetic term is gauge-invariant because both covariant derivatives transform by the same unitary . Infinitesimally its variation vanishes byThe potential is invariant by its defining condition. For a real irreducible representation, use the averaged positive symmetric form instead and write the kinetic term as ; all transformation and invariance arguments remain valid. Expansion of the covariant kinetic term produces both the linear gauge-scalar interaction and the quadratic term needed by local gauge invariance.
The invariant inner products, gauge covariant derivatives and gauge field strength together construct the full theory for every compact Simple Lie group and every supplied finite-dimensional irreducible representation of the scalar fields. Both finite and infinitesimal transformation laws have been included, and every sign follows the same anti-Hermitian convention.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 304 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use Lie algebra generators with , and define the adjoint gauge covariant derivative by . Varying the gauge field strength gives . Antisymmetry followed by integration by parts therefore givesFor variations vanishing at the boundary, the Yang-Mills equations areThe Jacobi identity for the commutators of gauge covariant derivatives, using , gives the gauge-theory Bianchi identity:In the second form of the gauge-theory Bianchi identity . The identity is a geometric consequence of the definition of curvature, not a second dynamical field equation.
For the usual non-Abelian Yang-Mills theory, the quantum running coupling becomes strong at low energies. Dimensional transmutation generates a scale absent from the classically scale-invariant equations. The expected confining dynamics and massive colour-singlet spectrum involve confinement and a mass gap, rather than freely propagating weakly coupled coloured waves. These nonperturbative effects are not captured by simply solving the classical equations; this is not a claim of a mathematical proof of the Yang-Mills mass gap.
Write the gauge condition as to distinguish it from the structure constants. Under an infinitesimal gauge transformation, . Define the Faddeev-Popov operator by . In a Euclidean convention, the gauge-fixing and ghost additions can be chosen asA nonlocal kernel would require a double integral; a local functional instead makes a local differential operator. Choosing a local gauge functional thus retains a local gauge-fixed action and the ordinary local interaction structure of perturbative quantum field theory.
The fields and are independent Grassmann-valued fields in the Adjoint representation, Lorentz scalars with ghost numbers and . They are the Faddeev-Popov ghost fields: their functional integral produces , the Faddeev-Popov determinant correcting the volume element along a gauge orbit. They are internal fields, not physical asymptotic particles. Their statistics supply a minus sign for every closed ghost loop. No auxiliary field is needed in the displayed gauge-fixing representation.
In axial gauge, , soWith the Fourier transform convention , the ghost Feynman rules in the original normalization of areMomentum conservation accompanies the vertex; each ghost loop has the extra minus sign. With a canonically normalized field , the vertex is instead . The gauge fixing term is quadratic and introduces no further interaction vertex.
The Euclidean quadratic kernel of is . For , its inverse isThis follows by multiplication with the kernel: the piece gives , and the piece supplies the missing . The strict axial-gauge propagator is thereforeIt obeys . Every ghost attachment to an internal gauge propagator therefore vanishes in the strict limit; equivalently, on the gauge slice. Thus the interacting Faddeev-Popov ghosts decouple. Residual gauge transformations and the poles at require compatible boundary conditions and an axial-gauge pole prescription.
After Wick rotation, the corresponding Minkowski propagator has replaced by and the usual overall factor , with a compatible causal prescription. The fixed makes the gauge-fixed propagator nonmanifestly Lorentz covariant. Nevertheless, gauge invariance makes physical observables independent of this gauge-choice vector, so their perturbative predictions are Lorentz invariant. Already at tree level, contraction with conserved external currents removes all terms containing or , leaving . The quantum Ward identities give the analogous cancellation in complete physical amplitudes; arbitrary gauge-dependent Green functions need not be independent of .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 305 1 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Keep the color matrix intact: . Under parity, invariance of its contraction with the vector current requiresUnder charge conjugation, the fermionic reordering in part (b) transposes the color matrix as well as the spinor matrix. For a fixed color matrix , becomes . Hence invariance of the interaction requiresThis is not a rule that changes the sign of every individual color component: transposition also acts on the generators of the fundamental representation.
Write the gauge field strength as . Since , the charge conjugation rule gives . Including the coordinate reflection in CP symmetry,For generators normalized by , the color contraction equals . The two charge-conjugation minus signs cancel, and transposition reverses the order inside the trace without changing it. The Levi-Civita symbol acquires under the remaining reflection. ThusThe Yang-Mills theta term is CP-odd; a generic fixed nonzero produces CP violation. Setting removes this source. Although the density is a total derivative, it can affect the quantum theory through nontrivial topological sectors; the local transformation test is not rendered irrelevant by that fact.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 305 2 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The three real components form the Adjoint representation of . Around a nonzero vacuum, a local gauge transformation rotates the direction of to the third axis. In this unitary gauge, the two angular fields are removed from the scalar parametrization and become longitudinal polarizations of two gauge bosons, through the Higgs mechanism. Thus describes the perturbative physical fluctuations, with .
The subgroup generated by fixes , giving . Define the physical vector fieldsThe gauge covariant derivative on the radial configuration isso the scalar kinetic term becomes .
Here is an exact form of the Lagrangian in these physical fields, up to its additive vacuum constant. DefineandThe minus sign in the printed non-Abelian gauge field strength gives precisely these signs. ThenIts quadratic terms give , , and . The two massive vectors have six real polarization degrees of freedom in total; the massless vector has two and the scalar one. Their total of nine equals the original six vector plus three scalar degrees of freedom.
Under the surviving , and have opposite charges and is neutral. The Yang-Mills theory supplies and couplings and quartic charged-vector self-interactions. The scalar term supplies and , together with the cubic and quartic scalar self-interactions. There is no direct term.
With suitable fermions, this spectrum offers a massless photon and massive charged mediators of short-range weak charged currents, so it captures part of the weak/electromagnetic pattern. It differs crucially from the electroweak interaction of the Standard Model: the latter gauges , uses a complex Higgs doublet, and breaks to . Three rather than two generators are broken, leaving a massive neutral Z boson as well as and a photon. Its charge operator and independent hypercharge coupling give a nontrivial weak mixing angle. The present theory has no massive neutral mediator, no such mixing angle, and does not reproduce the observed chiral fermion charge assignments or their usual Yukawa couplings from the standard doublet/singlet assignments.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 302 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Use the real Lie-algebra convention of the question, with a gauge covariant derivative . The gauge field strength is its curvature:Write . To first order in ,Substitute . The mixed second derivatives of cancel. The terms containing first derivatives of cancel in pairs. The remaining terms areThe Jacobi identity combines the last two into . ConsequentlyThe transformation is homogeneous even though the connection transformation contains an inhomogeneous derivative term.
For a finite-dimensional Lie algebra, define its Adjoint representation by and its Killing form byIt is a symmetric bilinear form by cyclicity of the trace. The Jacobi identity gives . Set , , . ThenThis proves the invariant bilinear form on a Lie algebra property, without assuming simplicity or nondegeneracy.
For definiteness use the Minkowski metric and take a real compact semisimple Lie algebra as the gauge algebra. Its positive internal metric is . A Killing-form Yang-Mills Lagrangian with the coupling absorbed into the connection isThe spacetime metric is unchanged by internal gauge transformations. HenceThus gauge invariance follows directly from invariance of the Killing form. Other overall conventions are possible, but the energy sign must be checked rather than inferred from a prefactor in isolation.
For physical kinetic terms the internal form must be real, nondegenerate and positive definite after choosing the overall sign. If and , the above convention has Lagrangian and physical energy densityThe canonical Hamiltonian density also contains the nondynamical multiplier and a spatial divergence. With and , integration by parts using the invariant bilinear form on a Lie algebra givesThe Gauss law constraint in gauge theory sets . If the boundary flux vanishes, or the appropriate boundary contribution is included, the integrated physical Hamiltonian is the positive energy displayed above.
An indefinite internal form would give gauge-field polarizations with opposite kinetic signs. A degenerate form would fail to supply a kinetic term for some directions. The compactness criterion from the Killing form says that negative-definiteness of the Killing form of a real finite-dimensional algebra is equivalent to compact semisimplicity; thus the pure Killing-form construction selects compact semisimple real forms. One cannot use a complex-bilinear Killing form on arbitrary complex field components as if it were a positive Hermitian metric.
This does not prohibit Abelian gauge theories. A compact Abelian factor has zero Killing form, so it needs a separately chosen positive invariant bilinear form on a Lie algebra, rather than the Killing form. More generally an algebra with a positive invariant metric on a Lie algebra is compact reductive, namely a direct sum of a compact semisimple algebra and an Abelian center. A noncompact group can also share the same compact Lie algebra through global covering choices in an Abelian factor; positivity is a statement about the algebra and internal metric, not by itself a classification of global gauge-group topology. Quantum matter anomalies and global restrictions would require additional input; no matter content is specified here.
For the finite matrix transformation, let and regard as a multiplication operator. The identity givesTaking commutators of these differential operators cancels the adjacent multiplication operators , yieldingThis argument keeps the derivatives acting on test fields and avoids treating as just a matrix.
There is a normalization issue in the printed last paragraph. The standard Killing form defined through the adjoint trace on isnot simply . For example, with and , the defining trace is , whereas the adjoint trace is . The printed trace formula can be used as a rescaled invariant form, with the constant absorbed into the gauge coupling; it has exactly the invariance needed here. For either normalization,by cyclicity. This proves finite Yang-Mills gauge transformation invariance, with the healthy sign chosen for anti-Hermitian gauge fields. The normalization discrepancy is not a failure of gauge invariance.
Finally let . Since is traceless and skew-Hermitian, this exponential lies in . Expanding the finite formula givesThus the stated infinitesimal transformation is the derivative of the finite transformation at the identity. It describes transformations in the identity component; arbitrary global or large gauge transformations need not be generated by one globally defined infinitesimal parameter.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 305 1 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Use without summing in individual component transformations. The Dirac current transforms asSince the coupling is real, invariance of its contraction fixes the time reversal of an electromagnetic gauge field:These equations use a compatible gauge; an additional pure gauge transformation would not change the gauge field strength.
Coordinate differentiation at introduces , because the time coordinate is reversed and the spatial coordinates are unchanged. HenceThus the electric field is even and the magnetic field is odd. The chirality matrix is even by part (a). The two tensor signs cancel in the dipole contraction, but antiunitarity conjugates its explicit . Therefore the time-reversal parity of a fermion electric dipole operator isIt is a time-reversal symmetry violating interaction, and, under the usual local relativistic quantum field theory hypotheses of the CPT theorem, it violates CP symmetry. A nonzero coefficient is absent from the renormalizable tree-level Standard Model Lagrangian: the broken-phase fermion electric dipole moment operator has mass dimension five, and its electroweak-invariant completion requires a Higgs field and has dimension six. However, it can arise as a radiatively induced effective interaction in the Standard Model, whose CKM matrix contains a CP-violating phase. It is not forbidden to all orders. An explicit primary calculation of quark dipoles is Czarnecki and Krause's Standard Model calculation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 305 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Take , , metric , and a Higgs potential with , . The gauge-scalar electroweak interaction isHere . With the printed plus-sign convention for , define ; thus . The minus sign in the nonlinear gauge field strength follows from this convention.
The minima have , with . A gauge transformation rotates the vacuum to . In unitary gauge, the three angular Goldstone bosons are removed, leaving and one real Higgs boson. The generator annihilates the vacuum, because its lower component has and hypercharge . This identifies the unbroken electromagnetic gauge group.
The quadratic terms from the Higgs field kinetic term areDefine the Weinberg angle and physical fields byThe neutral combinations areThe neutral gauge-boson mass matrix is . It has eigenvalues zero and , with the zero eigenvector giving . Expanding the Higgs potential about its minimum gives . Therefore the tree-level electroweak gauge-boson masses and scalar mass areAlso and . The three removed Goldstone bosons supply the longitudinal polarization vector degrees of freedom of the massive electroweak gauge bosons.
Replacing by in the neutral mass term gives all the Higgs boson couplings to Z bosons in unitary gauge:There are exactly the cubic and quartic elementary tree-level Feynman diagrams. Differentiating with respect to the identical fields gives Feynman rules and , respectively. There is no elementary vertex for the real neutral radial field.
Higgs interaction vertices
. The two elementary Higgs boson couplings to Z bosons, with dashed scalar legs and wavy vector legs. Details. Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 302 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Use anti-Hermitian representation matrices for the unitary representation, so . Absorb the gauge coupling into the connection, consistently with the transformation law in the PDF. The appropriate gauge covariant derivative isThis has a plus sign because the inhomogeneous part of the connection transformation is . Its variation isThus gauge covariance of a scalar covariant derivative givesThe cancellation uses that is a Lie algebra representation, including its commutator identity.
The gauge field strength isIt is the curvature appearing in . The index positions in the PDF are related by the constant Minkowski metric; lowering the index in its transformation law gives the convention used here.
Take signature , let be a real symmetric gauge-invariant internal form, and let be the positive Hermitian form preserved by the unitary matter representation. One consistent Lorentz transformation scalar Lagrangian density isHere , , and give a simple stable potential. The coupling is in the kinetic normalization because it was absorbed into ; it is not inserted again into . Taking a zero or another gauge-invariant potential is also possible. A positive nondegenerate gives the usual physical gauge kinetic energy, as for a compact gauge algebra. More generally the invariance calculation below applies to any symmetric invariant bilinear form on a Lie algebra, including the Killing form.
Under the infinitesimal gauge-field transformation law,Invariance and symmetry of give the cancellation. For matter, both and transform by , so anti-Hermiticity givesfor either pairing used in the Lagrangian. Its potential is a function of the invariant scalar norm. Therefore , establishing gauge invariance of this Yang-Mills theory coupled to a scalar. Contraction of spacetime indices with the Minkowski metric gives Lorentz invariance.
For the Adjoint representation, define the Lie algebra structure constants byInternal superscripts here are basis labels, as in the paper; spacetime indices alone are raised with the Minkowski metric. The adjoint covariant derivative and curvature have componentsThese formulas involve no extra factor of , because the generators use the Lie-algebra convention rather than Hermitian physics generators.
To make the Killing-form sign explicit, write and . The literal contraction requested in the paper corresponds to . For a compact real form of a complex semisimple gauge algebra, its actual positive inner product has , since the Killing form is negative definite. With a complex adjoint scalar, the fully expanded Killing-form Lagrangian for an adjoint scalar isAll repeated internal labels are summed; explains the absence of from the quartic term. Invariance is equivalently the component identity . For a real adjoint scalar, omit complex conjugation and insert in the scalar kinetic and quadratic mass terms; the same invariance proof applies.
The PDF's identification of the Killing form with an inner product thus requires a sign convention. It also requires nondegeneracy if it is to give ordinary kinetic terms: on an Abelian gauge factor the Killing form vanishes, so an additional invariant metric is needed there. These qualifications do not alter the covariance identities or the formal gauge invariance of the displayed Killing-form contractions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 305 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The scalar potential can be written asIts vacuum manifold is the sphere . The Adjoint double cover from SU(2) to SO(3) rotates any nonzero vacuum expectation value to , with . A local unitary gauge removes the two angular fluctuations, leaving . This choice holds in a neighbourhood of the nonzero vacuum; a single global rotation cannot align arbitrary position-dependent fields, and topologically nontrivial configurations can obstruct a global unitary gauge.
The generator fixes the vacuum expectation value, while do not. Thus the Higgs mechanism in this SU(2) gauge theory with an adjoint Higgs field givesThe two angular Goldstone bosons become the longitudinal polarizations of two massive gauge bosons. Define physical fieldsThese labels describe the fields of this model; they do not identify it with the Standard Model. With the stated adjoint covariant derivative,To express all Yang-Mills theory terms in physical fields, introduce the gauge field strengthsThen and . Dropping the constant vacuum energy, the Lagrangian density isTaking the positive gauge coupling convention , the canonically normalized mass terms giveThe residual U(1) gauge symmetry makes oppositely charged. The Yang-Mills theory terms supply interactions of with and four-vector interactions. The Higgs mode has cubic and quartic self-interactions, together with and couplings; it is neutral under the surviving U(1) gauge symmetry.
Coupling fermions permits a massless electromagnetic gauge boson and massive charged mediators of the weak interaction; fermion couplings with chirality can produce parity-violating weak charged currents. However, this model has no massive neutral Z boson, and its only charge generator is . A fundamental doublet has opposite charges, so it cannot reproduce the observed doublet charge assignments through an independent hypercharge. The Standard Model instead has , a complex Higgs doublet, three absorbed Goldstone bosons, a massive Z boson and a weak mixing angle.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 302 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Let be a simple Lie group, let be Hermitian matrices for a finite-dimensional unitary representation , and normalizeA matter field transforms locally as , where . An ordinary derivative of does not transform covariantly because it differentiates . Introduce a gauge field and the gauge covariant derivativeDemanding determines the Yang-Mills gauge transformationTo first order in ,
The gauge field strength is defined by :or, in components,Covariance of the commutator givesThe commutator term distinguishes Yang-Mills theory from an Abelian gauge theory and produces cubic and quartic gauge-boson interactions.
For a Dirac field of mass in , the Lagrangian isEquivalently, the gauge term is proportional to . The cyclic property of the trace and make it invariant. Unitarity gives , while , so both the matter kinetic term and mass term are invariant. A complex scalar in a unitary representation may instead be coupled throughprovided the scalar potential is -invariant.
The simplicity assumption means that the Lie algebra is nonabelian and has no proper nonzero ideal of a Lie algebra. Its Adjoint representation is therefore irreducible, and every invariant symmetric bilinear form is proportional to the Killing form. Consequently the pure gauge kinetic term has one overall gauge coupling for a simple factor. The theory has no independent Abelian gauge direction; if the gauge algebra were a direct sum of simple and Abelian ideals, each factor could instead carry its own coupling. A simple group may still have a discrete center, but this does not add a gauge boson because gauge bosons are indexed by the Lie algebra.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 iii Paper 304 4 a Solution 2026-09-28
Write and . With the conventionthe gauge field must transform asThen . The conjugate field has . For the adjoint scalar,or . It transforms as . The gauge field strengthsimilarly transforms by conjugation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 iii Paper 305 3 b i Solution Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-03
For and , choose . The Yang-Mills gauge transformation iswhich ensures . Sinceconjugating this commutator immediately givesThus the gauge field strength is gauge covariant.
