Vacuum Energies of Non--Abelian String--Configurations in 3+1 Dimensions

Abstract

We develop a method to compute the fermion contribution to the vacuum polarization energy of string--like configurations in a non--abelian gauge theory. This calculation has been hampered previously by a number of technical obstacles. We use gauge invariance of the energy and separation of length scales in the energy density to overcome these obstacles. We present a proof-of-principle investigation that shows that this energy is small in the MS-bar renormalization scheme. The generalization to other schemes is straightforward.

21 pages, 5 tables, matches version accepted by Nucl Phys B

References in corpus (2)

• Quantum Energies of Strings in a 2+1 Dimensional Gauge Theory
• Quantum stabilization of Z-strings, a status report on D=3+1 dimensions

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Quantum Corrections to Soliton Energies
• Stable charged cosmic strings
• Fermion Energies in the Background of a Cosmic String
• Gauge Invariance and Vacuum Energies of Non-Abelian String-Configurations
• Isospin Invariance and the Vacuum Polarization Energy of Cosmic Strings
• Quantum Stabilization of a Closed Nielsen-Olesen String
• Quantum Stabilization of Cosmic Strings
• Quantum stabilization of a hedgehog type of cosmic string
• Cosmic Strings Stabilized by Fermion Fluctuations