PHYSICAL REVIEW D VOLUME 1 2 , NUMBER 8 1 5 OCTOBER 1975

Soliton "dictionary" for massive quantum electrodynamics *

Michio Kaku
Department of Physics, The City College of The City University of New York, New York, New York 10031
(Received 5 May 1975)
The Thirring model and the sine-Gordon theory in two dimensions have been shown to be equivalent. We
extend this result by demonstrating the equivalence between massive QED (with self-interacting ferrnions) and
a vector generalization of the sine-Gordon theory. We demonstrate this equivalence by perturbation theory
and by constructing the appropriate transformation between the two sets offields. Because the sine-Gordon
equation is known to have classical "kink" or soliton solutions, we are led to suspect that hadrons correspond
to extended solutions to the equations of motion in the strong-coupling region.

I. INTRODUCTION

Recent work in the theory of strings1 and bags2 +h ,

~ ~ ~ , @ ~ ~ i l + ~ $ ~ ' l i l ~ , ,
leads u s to suspect that theories based on extend- (2.1)
F,,=J,A, - a , ~ , , goo=l=-g I]
ed objects, r a t h e r than point s y s t e m s , yield many
qualitative f e a t u r e s of hadron theory, and the work Since the theory i s exactly solvable, we can use
of Nielsen and Olesen3 suggests to us that these these exact solutions in o r d e r to calculate Green's
extended objects e m e r g e naturally out of classical functions corresponding to an interaction t e r m :
solutions of spontaneously broken local field theo-
r y in the strong-coupling region. These qualita-
tive r e m a r k s have been partially realized in r e - We wish to investigate the relationship between
cent work on the quantum dynamics of strong- this theory and the f r e e field theory of a m a s s l e s s
coupling t h e o r i e ~ which
,~ lends further support to s c a l a r particle and a massive vector particle:
the conjecture that extended s y s t e m s e m e r g e a s
bound s t a t e s of field theories in the region of
strong coupling.
In two dimensions, the classical "kink" solu-
We wish to p e r t u r b this f r e e field theory by adding
tions (solitons5) of the sine-Gordon equation a r e
a modified vector generalization of the sine-Gor-
v e r y suggestive of strong-coupling solutions of a
don interaction:
quantum field theory. The realization of this no-
tion comes f r o m the work of C ~ l e m a n who , ~ used
perturbation theory to prove the equivalence of
the quantized sine-Gordon equation and the m a s -
sive Thirring model. Mandelstam7 h a s explicitly
Our goal i s to prove that the Green's functions
constructed the operator equivalence relations
generated by the perturbation t e r m (2.2), when
f r o m which a "dictionary" can be constructed f o r
expanded around the exact solutions of (2.1), a r e
translating back and forth from either language.
equivalent to the Green's functions generated by
In this work, we extend the r e s u l t s of Coleman
(2.4) when expanded around the solution of (2.3).
and Mandelstam to include m a s s i v e QED. By us-
[We notice that t h e r e a r e infrared divergences a s -
ing perturbation theory and by constructing expli-
sociated with the m a s s l e s s fermion. This i s r e m -
cit solutions, we show that massive QED i s equiv-
edied by multiplying (2.2) by a suitable support
alent to a vector generalization of the sine-Gor-
function, which we will l a t e r s e t to be 1. Also,
don equation. We suspect, therefore, that this
since a m a s s l e s s s c a l a r f r e e field does not exist in
vector sine-Gordon equation p o s s e s s e s classical
two dimensions, we will have to implicitly add in a
"kink" solutions (solitons).
s m a l l m a s s t e r m to the s c a l a r particle in (2.3).] As-
We a r e currently investigating the correspond- suming, of course, that these theories actually exist,
ing SU(n) generalization of this model, from which we may prove their equivalence perturbatively by
information concerning bound s t a t e s of confined comparing Green's functions for both theories.
quarks may be derived.
It i s a simple manner to f i r s t derive the equiv-
alence r e s u l t s for the c u r r e n t and vector matrix
11. GREEN'S FUNCTIONS
elements and commutators. Following Sommer-
We f i r s t s t a r t with m a s s i v e QED (with fermion field,8 we find the Green's functions for m a s s i v e
self-coupling), which i s exactly solvable8: QED with self-interacting fermions:
 SOLITON "DICTIONARY" FOR MASSIVE.. .

where

[I?(.Y). j ! ( y ) Ixo=,,o = ii2n)-l(2 - A ) ( 1 - a)-'(l - a -A)-'

x aX6(x1- ? ; I )

if (2.11)
r-2,
[a,(x), al(y)Ixo=,o = iax6(.x1-

The form of these m a t r i x elements for massive [I?(x), @(?)I .o= ,I= -iaX6(x1- y') .
QED with self-interacting fermions leads one to
suspect that, with a suitable combination of f r e e Now that we have established the representation
fields [one m a s s l e s s s c a l a r particle and one m a s - of the exact operators d and A , in t e r m s of f r e e -
sive vector particle of m a s s p l = p ( l + a +A)'/' field o p e r a t o r s Q and a,, our next step i s to dem-
~ (+a)-'/'].
l we might be able to reproduce these onstrate the equivalence of the interaction t e r m s
relations. We a r e then led to t r y the free-field (2.2) and (2.4). We f i r s t need the commutator be-
representation (2.8) and (2.9). tween vector fields and the spinor:
On the left-hand s i d e s of (2.8) and (2.9), we have [A, ;i(zi)l,o,
(-4, ,o
the exact o p e r a t o r s of massive QED with self-in-
teracting fermions, and on the right we have op-
e r a t o r s of a f r e e s c a l a r and vector theory. By in-
serting (2.8) and (2.9) into (2.5)-(2.7) we can show [J,,(x),d(~)].o,,o = -[g,,,(l - a - h ) - ' + ~ , ~ y , (+l a ) - ' ]
that these Green's functions can be reproduced if
we s e t x 6 ( 1 1-y1)$(4'). (2.13)
If we take
0, =$Z$(~*Y~)$,

then we find
Furthermore, we a l s o easily verify that the solu-
tion given by (2.10), (2.8), and (2.9) satisfies Som-
merfield's equal-time commutation relations:
2332
Z i s a multiplicative renormalization constant
needed to define the limiting p r o c e s s of when two
spinor fields a r e defined at the s a m e point. Now
we construct, out of f r e e fields, the quantity A , :
A, = ,V expj*i@ $ + y f ) ] . and A ( 0 , p ' ) need to be regularized].
W e easily find
/- + d( aX, () x ) , A , ( v ) ] , o . yo
- C E ~ ~ ~ ~ O
=*(c3 + & ) A ,
=O.
Comparing ( 2 . 1 7 ) and ( 2 . 1 8 ) with ( 2 . 1 2 ) and ( 2 . 1 3 ) ,
we a r r i v e a t
On the other hand, it i s a simple matter to construct the f r e e - f i e l d Green's functions for A ,
Again, on comparing these two expressions, we
rederive the correspondences given in ( 2 . 1 9 ) and
(2.20).
Since all Green's functions f o r one theory can
b e written in t e r m s of the Green's functions for
the other, we have shown that if these theories in-
deed exist then they must be the s a m e .
F r o m the relations between coupling constants
of the two theories, we again establish that the
weak coupling of one theory i s the strong coup-
ling of the other, and hence the bound s t a t e s of
one may be looked a t a s the "free" s t a t e s of the
other.
MICHIO KAKU
[the cutoff p a r a m e t e r 1V i s needed because D ( 0 )
We have now shown that the QED commutators
of ( 2 . 1 4 ) and ( 2 . 1 5 ) a r e satisfied if we make the
correspondence
( ~ ~ ) E ~ ~ -Fy (l X) '
The l a s t thing we would like to demonstrate i s the
(2.18)
equivalence of the Green's functions generated by
products of P, and by A , . Following Coleman and
Sommerfield, we know that
111. SOLITON DICTIONARY
Though the c l a s s i c a l solutions of our vector
sine-Gordon equation a r e not known, there i s a
strong possibility that they will b e "kink" solitons.
At the quantum level, it is possible to make a dic-
tionary between operator functions in one language
in t e r m s of o p e r a t o r s in the other.
Following the work of Mandelstam, we have been
able to construct t h i s dictionary in the c a s e of
m a s s l e s s fermions and f r e e s c a l a r p a r t i c l e s . Un-
fortunately, we have not been able to complete
this dictionary for the c a s e of the fully interacting
s c a l a r particles and the massive fermions, be-
cause the commutators involved in the calculation
a r e not well defined.
Our task i s to find solutions of the following
 SOLITON "DICTIONARY"
equations f o r 4 and A,:
-1gi) - md. +gA$ + a j i = 0 , (3.1)
a , ~ +~ p" 2 ~ -g~'
" = 0, (3.2)
These solutions must be in t e r m s of the fields
and a , , which obey
The canonical quantization relations a r e given by
In the case where @ and n , a r e f r e e fields, there
i s no ambiguity in forming the exponential function.
Our f i r s t task will b e to calculate the combina-
tion $+ arid show that we rederive the identities of
the previous section. Then we will construct the
current j , - @ y , ; with a careful limiting process.
With the f o r m of the c u r r e n t , we will verify that
the c o r r e c t coinmutation relations between a l l
vector quantities with spinor fields a r e r e e s t a b -
lished. Finally, we will show that the proper
equations of motion (for m a s s l e s s fermions and
f r e e s c a l a r particles) a r e satisfied by (3.9) and
(3.10). We begin by defining the quantities
-
where the path v I i s taken it-, a space -like d i -
rection. We will use the useful identities
where the commutator between A and B i s a r
then we will adopt the definition of the current as
number, and the + and - r e f e r to creation and
annihilation operators. F i r s t , we n o t ~ c cthat the
presence of the f fields in (3.9) and (3.10) does
not change the basic anticommutatlon relations.
Second, we notice that combinations like @ con-I1 If we average over two points separated bv a
FOR MASSIVE.. . 2333
Notice that the complexity of (3.6) prevents us
from evaluating all commutators needed in the
calculation of currents. Because of this difficultv,
we will not t r y to solve the model in t e r m s of the
fully interacting c a s e , but instead will construct
the dictionary between m a s s l e s s fermions and
free scalars.
We begin by postulating the f o r m of the spinor
in t e r m s o f f r e e s c a l a r and vector fields ( k , and
k 2 a r e mass-dependent f a c t o r s which simply n o r -
malize the anticommutation relations):
tain t e r m s like d, which contribute in O ( s - I * ) ,
while the t e r m s $J and f contribute in O ( 1 ) . T h e r e -
f o r e , the only t e r m s in the exponent which survive
the reconstitution p r o c e s s a r e the 0 and f fields.
We find
a* -a e x p [ i i @+
~ d)] (3.13)
s o that
y-: = cos(P@+ ? f ) , (3.141
-
$-r.,*& sin@@+ - i , f ) .
Now, our task i s to construct the current. We
must be particularly cautious because, a s Johnson
has noted, the naive definition of the c u r r e n t yields
nonrelativistic o r nonconserved r e s u l t s . The
proper relativistic version of the c u r r e n t must be
the average over different, perpendicular s p a c e -
<
time directions. If and 2 a r e two orthogonal
vectors,
\ ) ~ l r n { ~ ( x ) - y J+ba( 0
l J ( =: \
- Y P ,(x+a<)$((x)- i £ - x ) J . (3.16)
2334 M I C H I O KAKU

spacelike separation then the commutators yield

no problem, but if we average over timelike sep-
arations we cannot use equal-time commutation
relations and m u s t use the approximation

If we w e r e investigating the fully interacting the-

o r y then the formula (3.13) would have to be modi-
fied, and instead the full Baker-Hausdorff theorem
would have to b e invoked. (Because of the com- Rearranging t e r m s , we find
plexity of the problem, we will only t r e a t the c a s e
of m a s s l e s s fermions.) Upon averaging in two -41 + d l 1 +im& =i([-R(c($ - 4') +d (a, - a,)(-1))
s e p a r a t e directions, we easily find -cr(a($ - a ' ) +h(n , - a o ) ) l ~ l F.
This l a s t expression i s easily regrouped to give
the original wave equation. Thus, we find that
a l l the r e s u l t s of the previous section a r e s a t i s -
I s easy to show that this i s equal to the expression
fied, and that we can construct the following dic-
f o r the c u r r e n t found in the previous section, (2.8)
and (2.10). tionary between the two s e t s of fields:
Using t h i s result, we can now a l s o calculate 4 ,
in t e r m s of q5 and a,. Putting this r e s u l t in the
wave equation (3.2), we find

Again, this expression can be shown to be identi-

cal to the expression found in the previous s e c -
tion, (2.9) and (2.10).
As a further check on our r e s u l t s , we can now
calculate the commutator between vector quan-
tities and the spinor field. It i s straightforward
to evaluate a l l commutators, and we find

Again, we find exact correspondence with r e s u l t s

of the previous section, (2.12) and (2.13).
At this point, we wish to show that the wave
equations f o r d and A , a r e satisfied when they
a r e expressed in t e r m s of $ and a,,, which s a t i s -
fy f r e e field equations. In particular, we wish to
show that the quantized version of the following
equation i s satisfied:
By taking the derivatives of the spinor field, we
find
Notice that this dictionary i s constructed between
~ n a s . s l e s sfermions and Jree s c a l a r and vector
fields. The complete dictionary, with massive
fernlions and interacting s c a l a r and vector fields.
h a s not yet been found because of the complexity
of the commutator (3.6). But does this mean that
t h e r e does not exist a correspondence between
m a s s i v e QED (with m a s s i v e fermions) and s o m e
interacting theory? Probably not. F o r example,
it i s known that a vector field can be represented
-
12 SOLITON "DICTIONARY"
by two spinless fields in the following way:
where the o field h a s two poles, one at the m a s s
of the vector field and the other a m a s s l e s s pole
(which i s canceled by the z e r o - m a s s pole coming
f r o m the h field). By analogy, we a r e tempted to
r e p r e s e n t the f field by a spinless field f =;J.'-'o
because of Eq. (2.23). If we now replace the f r e e
Lagrangian for the a , field by the corresponding
t e r m f o r a spinless field with the s a m e m a s s , then
the canonical quantization relations (3.5)-(3.8)
lose their dependence on the sine t e r m . Thus, by
replacing the vector field a , by a spinless field,
we greatly simplify the canonical commutation
relations, which in turn make it possible to con-
s t r u c t simple expressions for the current. The
net effect of this i s to replace the f appearing in
(3.9) and (3.10) with a spinless field with the ca-
nonical relations of a f r e e field.
IV. CONCLUSION
In much the s a m e way that the weak coupling of
the Thirring model corresponds to the strong
coupling of the sine-Gordon equation, and vice
v e r s a , we found that the weak and strong couplings
of the two models studied h e r e a l s o have the s a m e
relationship. In particular, the Green's functions
found when perturbing both models a r e exactly
equivalent. We were a l s o able to show that, in
the m a s s l e s s fermion and f r e e s c a l a r case, we
could give the explicit construction of one s e t of
fields in t e r m s of the other. In the case of the
fully interacting model (massive fermions) we
were not able to construct the dictionary, given
the complexity of the commutators arising from
the limiting p r o c e s s of defining two spinors a t the
s a m e space-time point.
If we s e t A = 0, then we reproduce the r e s u l t s of
Coleman, a s the vector fields decouple f r o m the
system. (If we s e t a = 0 , then we find that all four
fields still remain, s o that pure massive QED
still has a representation in t e r m s of v e c t o r s and
scalars.)
Notice that the combination cu + A o c c u r s in the
coupling constant relations, s o the net effect of
*Work supported i n p a r t by the National Science Foun-
dation under Grant No. GP-3809 7X.
'Y.Nambu, l e c t u r e s a t the Copenhagen Symposium, 1970
(unpublished).
'A. Chodos, R . L. Jaffe, K. Johnson, C . B . Thorn, and
V . F . Weisskopf, Phys. Rev. D 2,3471 (1974).
3 ~ B.. Nielsen and P. Olesen, Nucl. Phys. K,45
FOR MASSIVE
introducing a vector interaction i s to make
cu - a +A in the expression for J . In particular, if
5 / 2 = ~ ~ ~ / 2= ~ i p ~the - f ~ e efermion field c o r -
0 then
responds to the interacting sine-Gordon equation
with j 2= 4 i ~ . AS a! +A gets l a r g e r P 2 gets s m a l l e r
until, at cu + h = 1, ,3 =O (Sommerfield finds one
m o r e restriction on the coupling constants a r i s i n g
from considerations of the definition of the cutoff:
1 > ( a +A/, 1 + a 0). (Notice a l s o that the coupling-
constant convention chosen by Coleman and Man-
delstam differs from that chosen by Sommerfield.)
It s e e m s like that the vector sine-Gordon equa-
tion p o s s e s s e s solitonlike static solutions, which
correspond to the fermion s t a t e s in the other lan-
guage. This i s currently being investigated.
Also, though we have not been able to r e p r e s e n t
the m a s s i v e fermion theory in t e r m s of interacting
s c a l a r fields, there i s the possibility that the m a s -
sive fermion theory may be represented by two
spinless fields if we make the replacement f o r
-
.f p'-'a in (3.9) and (3.10). Because the canonical
commutation relations no longer a r e dependent on
the sine t e r m , t h e r e i s the possibility that all c u r -
r e n t s and products of spinor fields can be r i g o r -
ously defined and that a new equivalence to m a s -
sive QED (with massive fermions) may be found.
The power of establishing the equivalence be-
tween the weak coupling of one field theory and
the strong coupling of another i s , of course, that
we may gain further insight into the strong-cou-
pling bound s t a t e s of four-dimensional field the-
ories, and that conjectures of quark confinement
(such a s those advanced by Kogut and Susskindg)
may be realized in a m o r e complete theory. One
physically relevant procedure i s to extend the
Abelian model studied h e r e to the c a s e of SU(n),
where properties such a s quark confinement may
e m e r g e . This i s currently under investigation.
Yet another approach i s to examine the field
theory of strings" and s e e whether a correspon-
dence e x i s t s to a four-dimensional Higgs theory.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author i s happy to acknowledge fruitful con-
versations with D r . K. Friedman, P r o f e s s o r
R. Mohapatra, and P r o f e s s o r B . Sakita.
(1973).
9,
L . Gervais and B. Sakita, Phys. Rev. D 11, 2943
(1975); R. F . Dashen, B. H a s s l a c h e r , and A. Neveu,
ibid. 11, 3424 (1975) ; J . Goldstone and R . Jackiw, ibid
11, 1486 (1975).
5 ~Scott, 7 ~F ..Y. F . Chu, and D. W . hlclaughlin,
P r o c . I.E.E.E.g, 1443 (1973).
 MICHIO KAKU

6 ~ Coleman,
. 11,
Phys. Rev. D 2088 (1975). son, Nuovo Cimento 20, 773 (1961).
IS.Mandelstam, Phys. Rev. D 11,3026 (1975). 9 ~ Kogut
. and L . Susskind, Cornell r e p o r t (unpublished).
*c. M. Sommerfield, Ann. Phys. (N.Y.) 26, 1 (1963); 'O3l. Kaku and K. Kikkawa, Phys. Rev. D 10,1110 (1974).
W. T h i r r i n g and J . Wess, h d . 27, 331 (1964); K. John-