# Georgi-Goldstone Realization of Chiral Symmetry in Quantum Chromodynamics

## Abstract

It is shown that quantum chromodynamics based on asymptotic freedom and confinement exhibits the vector mode of chiral symmetry conjectured by Georgi.

($``$): e-mail address: raghunath.acharya@asu.edu   

I shall begin by summarizing the key results constituting conventional wisdom in standard Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD).

Firstly, in vector-like gauge theories and in QCD in particular, non-chiral symmetries such as $`SU_{L+R}(2)SU_L(2)\times SU_R(2)`$ or $`SU_{L+R}(3)SU_L(3)\times SU_R(3)`$ cannot be spontaneously broken. This is the Vafa-Witten result . In QCD with large $`N_c`$, Coleman and Witten  showed that chiral symmetry is broken to diagonal $`U(N_F)`$ and thus, if chiral symmetry is broken, it must happen in such a manner that flavor symmetry is preserved. Secondly, chiral $`SU_L(3)\times SU_R(3)`$ symmetry in QCD with massless $`u,d,s`$ quarks must be spontaneously broken. However, it is difficult to show  that chiral $`SU_L(2)\times SU_R(2)`$ symmetry in QCD with massless $`u,d`$ quarks is also spontaneously broken. Thirdly, QCD may very well exhibit the Higgs mode for the vector current and the Goldstone mode for the axial vector current i.e.,  the massless scalars arising from Goldstone theorem get ‘eaten up’ by the gauge vector field which consequently acquires a finite mass. This important conjecture was introduced by Georgi in 1989 who called it as a new realization of chiral symmetry (“vector mode” ) since it involves both the Wigner-Weyl and Nambu-Goldstone modes. This is Georgi’s conjecture .

To quote Weinberg , “A recent paper of Georgi, can be interpreted as proposing that QCD at zero temperature is near a second order phase transition, at which the broken chiral $`SU_L(3)\times SU_R(3)`$ symmetry has a $`(8,1)+(1,8)`$ representation, consisting of the octet of pseudoscalar Goldstone bosons plus an octet of massless scalars, that on the broken symmetry side of the phase transition, become the helicity-zero states of the massive vector meson octet, $`\mathrm{}`$. It is intriguing and mysterious that at the second order phase transition at which chiral $`SU_L(2)\times SU_R(2)`$ of massless QCD becomes unbroken , this symmetry may become local with $`\rho `$ and $`A_1`$ as massless gauge bosons”.

As a final point one may observe that the charges corresponding to spontaneously broken local gauge symmetries are screened and the vector mesons are massive. This is a manifestation of spontaneously broken local symmetries. For instance, the well-known example  is the Abelian Higgs model: in the spontaneously broken phase, the vector field has a finite mass (thus the field is of finite range) and the conserved current does not have a total charge in the physical Hilbert space.

The nature of spontaneously broken chiral symmetry  is intimately connected to spontaneously broken scale invariance. It has been emphasized by Adler  that there are two examples of relativistic field theories which exhibit spontaneously broken scale invariance where chiral symmetry is also broken. These are Johnson-Baker-Wiley model of quantum electrodynamics  and asymptotically free gauge theories. This indeed may be a general feature as we pointed out recently in our investigation  of spontaneously broken chiral symmetry in QCD. Let us review this connection briefly.

Unbroken scale invariance can be expressed as

$$Q_D(t)|0>=0,$$
(1)   
where the dilatation charge is

$$Q_D(t)=d^3xD_0(𝐱,t),$$
(2)   
defined in terms of $`D_\mu (𝐱,t)`$, the dilatation current. Equivalently,

$$^\mu D_\mu |0>=0.$$
(3)   
Invoking Coleman’s theorem , which is valid for continuous symmetries, we can then prove that the divergence of the dilatation current itself must vanish identically:

$$^\mu D_\mu =0.$$
(4)   
On the other hand, it turns out that we know that the divergence of the dilatation current is determined by the trace anomaly  in QCD:

$$^\mu D_\mu =\frac{1}{2}\frac{\beta (g)}{g}G_{\mu \nu }^\alpha G_\alpha ^{\mu \nu }+\underset{i}{}m_i[1+\gamma _i(\theta )]\overline{\psi }_i\psi _i,$$
(5)   
where the second term vanishes for massless quarks in the chiral limit. Consequently the beta function must vanish. It is well-known that in an asymptotically free theory of QCD which also exhibits confinement, the behavior of $`\beta (g)`$ is such that it decreases as $`g`$ increases and never turns over. Consequently $`g=0`$ is the only possibility and hence the theory reduces to triviality. We therefore conclude by reductio ad absurdum that scale invariance must be broken spontaneously by the QCD vacuum state

$$Q_D(t)|0>0.$$
(6)   
Thus, scale invariance is broken both “spontaneously” by the vacuum state and explicitly by the trace anomaly. Consequently, the states obtained by successive repeated application of $`Q_D(t)`$ on the vacuum state are neither vacuum states nor are they necessarily degenerate.

Let us now consider the commutator 

$$[Q_D(0),Q_a(0)]=id_QQ_a(0)$$
(7)   
which defines the scale dimension of the charge $`Q^a(0)`$, the generators of vector $`SU(N)`$ (the flavor (non-chiral) group of QCD). Eq.(7) may be “promoted” to arbitrary time by introducing the operator $`e^{iHt}`$ on the left, $`e^{iHt}`$ on the right (and inserting the unit operator $`1=e^{iHt}e^{iHt}`$ in the middle of the commutator on the left hand side):

$$[Q_D(t),Q_a(t)]=id_QQ_a(t).$$
(8)   
It is important to point out that operator relations such as Eq.(8) are unaffected by spontaneous symmetry breaking, which is manifested in the properties of physical states, as emphasized by Weinberg .

I shall now proceed to establish that the flavor vector charges, $`Q_a(t)=d^3xV_a^0(𝐱,t)`$, are screened, i.e., $`Q_a(t)=0`$, where $`V_a^\mu `$ are the conserved vector currents in QCD. ($`a=N_F^21`$, where $`N_F`$ is the number of flavors). Since $`V_a^\mu `$ are conserved, the corresponding vector charges $`Q_a(t)`$ commute with $`H`$:

$$[Q_a(t),H]=0,$$
(9)   
where $`H`$ is the Hamiltonian (density), $`H=\mathrm{\Theta }^{00}`$. Eq.(9) implies that the following double commutator also vanishes:

$$[Q_D(t),[Q_a(t),H]]=0,$$
(10)   
where $`Q_D(t)`$ is the dilation charge defined in Eq.(2). Let us now invoke the Jacobi identity to recast Eq.(10):

$$[Q_a(t),[H,Q_D(t)]]+[H,[Q_D(t),Q_a(t)]]=0.$$
(11)   
Since

$$[H,Q_D(t)]=i_\mu D^\mu (𝐱,t)0,$$
(12)   
by virtue of the trace anomaly, Eq.(5), and the second double commutator on the left hand side of Eq.(11) vanishes in view of Eqs.(8,9), we arrive at the important operator relation:

$$[Q_a(t),^\mu D_\mu (𝐱,t)]=0.$$
(13)   
Applying Eq.(13) on the vacuum state, we obtain:

$$[Q_a(t),^\mu D_\mu (𝐱,t)]|0=0.$$
(14)   
We now invoke the Vafa-Witten result 

$$Q_a(t)|0=0.$$
(15)   
From Eqs.(14,15), we conclude  that

$$𝒪(𝐱,t)|0Q_a(t)^\mu D_\mu (𝐱,t)|0=0$$
(16)   
where the operator $`𝒪`$ is local in space and time . Consequently we can utilize the all-powerful Federbush-Johnson theorem which applies to any local operator to conclude that

$$Q_a(t)^\mu D_\mu (𝐱,t)0$$
(17)   
where $`^\mu D_\mu (𝐱,t)`$ is governed by the trace anomaly, .

Since $`^\mu D_\mu (𝐱,t)`$ cannot vanish in QCD exhibiting both asymptotic freedom and confinement (except at $`g=0`$ ), we are led to conclude that the vector charges are screened, i.e., $`Q_a(t)=0`$, proving Georgi’s  conjecture: QCD at zero temperature exhibits chiral symmetry in the Nambu-Goldstone mode ($`N_F=3`$) and the vector symmetry is realized in the Higgs mode (“vector mode”) in the sense conjectured by Georgi, ı.e., the vector charges $`Q_a`$ are screened and the corresponding vector mesons become massive by devouring the would-be scalar Goldstone bosons which disappear from the physical spectrum. The key ingredients in this analysis are the Vafa-Witten theorem , the Federbush-Johnson theorem  and the trace anomaly for the divergence of the dilation current . Some concluding remarks are in order.

First of all, Eq.(9) which is the local version expressing current conservation $`^\mu V_\mu ^a=0`$ holds if the surface terms at infinity can be neglected. This is, a posteriori, justified since the vector charges $`Q_a(t)`$ must annihilate the vacuum (Vafa-Witten theorem) and hence the flavor vector symmetry cannot be spontaneously broken (i.e., there are no scalar Goldstone bosonsto produce a long range interaction which would have resulted in a non-vanishing surface term). Secondly, it may be worthwhile amplifying the connection between the vanishing of the vector charges, i.e., $`Q_a(t)=0`$ and Georgi’s conjecture. Let us consider a massive vector boson coupled to a conserved source (by construction). While in the massless case, this is mandatory, in the massive case, one can choose the current to be conserved if one so wishes. In such a case, clearly the charges can be non-vanishing, even though the corresponding particle is massive. But the essential point here is that if the charges vanish, $`Q_a(t)=0`$, the vector meson cannot be massless: it must be massive ! This is the desired connection with Georgi’s conjecture.

Finally, there are unresolved issues with the vector limit advocated by Georgi, such as its compatibility with lattice results and the question as to why aren’t the pions also eaten up by the axial vector $`A_1`$’s ? These issues remain to be resolved, perhaps, in a future publication.

I am indebted to P. Narayana Swamy for numerous conversations on the perennial topic of chiral symmetry and for our previous efforts in trying to nail down Georgi’s conjecture.