PHYSICAL REVIEW D V O L U M E 1 3 , N U M B E R 10 15 MAY 1976

SU(4) and a new class of exact, time-dependent, classical solutions to gauge theories*
Michio Kaku
Department ofPhysics, City College o f the City University ofh'ew York, New York, New York 10031
(Received 28 October 1975)
We construct an exact, time-dependent, classical solution to the Yang-Mills equation with SU(4) symmetry,
generalizing the static solutions of Wu and Yang. This solution describing a pointlike particle which can
execute arbitrary space-time motions is constructed out of Lienard-Wiechert potentials. The solution opens the
door to an entirely new class of classical ansatz to gauge theories, including 't Hooft monopoles. Time-
dependent classical solutions of this type may prove useful in constructing quantized bound-state hadronic
systems.

I. INTRODUCTION ronic object^,^ such as two monopoles spinning

around each other, connected by a dual string.
Classical solutions to nonlinear field equations
give us insight into the bound-state behavior of 11. YANG-MILLS EQUATION AND ELECTRODYNAMICS
field theories, a realm beyond the reach of stan-
In the Wu-Yang formalism, we use equations of
dard perturbation techniques. Of particular inter- the form
est a r e classical solutions of the Yang-Mills equa-
tion' of the WU-yang2 type. Unfortunately, because
the classical solutions of the Wu-Yang type lack
any t i m e dependence, the quantum corrections to
classical solutions of this type yield little qualita- F o r SU(3),7we have the solution
tive information on the nature of hadronic resonan-
ces. On the other hand, time-dependent classical
solutions, such a s the monopole strings of Nambu3 [h!j a r e generators of S U ( ~ ) ] .We notice that these
o r breathing bag ~ o l u t i o n s give
, ~ qualitatively more solutions a r e constructed out of the basic tensors
realistic hadron spectrums in the semiclassical {A&,xi, c i j k ) . If we wish to generalize this p r o -
appro~irnation.~ g r a m to include time dependence, we a r e naturally
In this paper, we generalize the Wu-Yang ansatz led to SU(4). Unfortunately, the four-vector x, i s
by exhibiting exact time-dependent solutions of an not suitable f o r such a construction, since i t leads
SU(4) Yang-Mills theory. Furthermore, our solu-
tion opens the door to a large, new class of c l a s -
to bad asymptotic conditions a s t m. -
However, let u s begin by assuming a solution of
sical solutions which describe pointlike particles the form
performing arbitvavy space-time motions. We
construct exact time-dependent solutions to the
nonlinear Yang-Mills equation by using well-known
solutions of the Maxwell equations f o r a charged
particle executing arbitrary space-time motions.
This ansatz, which inserts known single-particle In order to contract properly, we make a Wick
classical solutions to electrodynamics into nonlin- rotation of each four-vector such that A, = iA,.
e a r gauge equations, may b e generalized to d e - Thus
scribe gauge systems other than the Yang-Mills A2=A,Aff =Ao2-A1' -A2' -As2= -ALLAIL,
type, e.g., monopoles. In this picture, four -vec -
t o r s arising out of solutions to electrodynamics where p , v = 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 a n d a , p = O , 1 , 2 , 3 . Weinsert
(2.3) into
a r e contracted onto the matrices of SU(4). (We
comment on the physical implications of joining
compact and noncompact groups in this fashion.)
The ultimate goal of such a program i s to have two
such accelerating particles spin around each other, After contracting over all SU(4) indices, we a r r i v e
possibly connected by a Nambu string. Exact, at
time -dependent classical solutions to gauge theo-
r i e s described in this paper may eventually be
used to construct field theories of extended had-
2882
At this point, we s e a r c h for new four-vectors
that we can contract onto the generators of SU(4).
The key to this paper is to recognize that Wu-
Yang-type solutions a r e essentially of a Coulomb
-
aiB,, where B, is the potential func -
type: x i / r
tion for a charged particle (B, l/r). We exploit
this similarity by constructing solutions to the
- =
nonlinear Eqs. (2.4) and (2.5) in t e r m s of classical
solutions of the electvodyna?nics of single charged
particles.
Let u s begin by describing a single charged p a r -
ticle7 executing an arbitrary space-time motion
described by z, (t)':
a , a a ~ , ( ~ ) = p , ( t ) ~ 3- (ZZ( t ) ) , p, = (1,pi), pi =ii.
a,~,(x)= [-(pn.p6
-1
-pa& +RE,&)]
As a check, we notice that a,aaBY = 0 = a,a8B, if R z 0.
Finally, in order to p r e s e r v e the c o r r e c t asymptotic properties of the solution, we choose the ansatz
Substituting (2.10) into (2.4) and (2.5), we a r r i v e a t
Performing the actual reduction of (2.11) i s a ted-
ious task, requiring the evaluation of over a hun-
dred t e r m s . However, remarkably enough all
these t e r m s vanish identically if we s e t k = + 1. In
summary, we now have constructed an exact,
time-dependent solution to the Yang-Mills equation
f o r SU(4).
111. DISCUSSION
There a r e several points to be made:
(a) We chose the group SU(4) because we wanted
to include explicit time -dependence in the Wu -Yang
solution by contracting onto the four-vectors of
electrodynamics. This does not exclude eventual-
ly using higher groups.
M I C H I O KAKU
The solution of this equation is well known:
B,(x) = I dt'
(t')
b(f' - t +R(t'))
(3
R = 12-Z(t)/,
n, = (1, (xi - zi)/R), (2.8)
K = Pana = 1 - &(xi - z i ) / ~;
"ret" stands for the retarded solution. Taking
successive derivatives of p,(x) i s a tedious p r o -
cess, requiring numerous integrations by parts:
(2.6)
ret 9
(b) The solution is as general as the classical
electrodynamics of a single charged particle acting
under the influence of external fields. We solved
the nonlinear Yang-Mills equation by using the
known time-dependent solutions of electrodynam-
ics. The physical picture i s a s follows: Due to
the influence of an external field, a classical
charged particle will execute arbitrary motions
described by z,(t). This particle, because i t i s
accelerating, produces a radiation field B, (x)
obeying (2.6). This radiation field, in turn, can
be used to form the ansatz (2.10), which exactly
solves the nonlinear Yang -Mills equation. Even-
tually, we wish to construct two such particles
spinning around each other, each acting under tbr
13
- S u ( 4 ) AND A NEW CLASS O F E X A C T ,
other's influence, s o that we can dispense with all
external fields. Such a self -sourced system can,
in turn, be used to construct hadron spectrums
in the semiclassical approximation.
(c) The energy of this solution i s necessarily in-
finite, since we a r e taking classical solutions to
electrodynamics, which also have infinite energy.
By adding Higgs s c a l a r s and introducing a m a s s
scale, we expect to find finite energy and m a s s e s
to solutions of this type.
(d) Because of the analytic continuation that we
made (the Wick rotation), the A: fields a r e com-
plex, s o the positivity of the Hamiltonian i s in
question. This difficulty i s academic at this level
because the energy i s infinite. Later, when we
introduce spontaneous symmetry breaking, all
energies become finite and the positivity of the
Hamiltonian becomes critical.
(e) If we do not use the Wick rotation, then we
a r e left with a solution to the Yang-Mills equation
with SU(3, 1). Such a group would have positive-
definite Hamiltonians, but at the expense of having
an infinite number of particles in the spectrum.
(Perhaps supersymmetric graded Lie algebras
will evade the no-go theorem.)
(f) Other solutions to the Yang-Mills equation a r e
possible, depending on the ansatz one chooses.
The basic s e t of tensors in the theory a r e {A&,
EaBY6, B ~affBB,.
, . .) o r the l a r g e r s e t
{ktg, Emgro, [na,Pa,bff,i3',, . . .]pet}.
We a r e currently investigating solutions of the
form
(g) In a l a t e r paper, we will present monopole
solutions (of the 't ~ o o f t q y p e with
) the following
form:
*Work supported in part by National Science Foundation
under Grant No. MPS 75-07376. Work supported also
by C. U. N. Y. Faculty Research Award Program under
Grant No. R F 11136.
'c. N. Yang and R . L. M i l l s , Phys. Rev. 96, 191 (1954).
2 ~ T. . Wu and C. N. Yang, in P r o p e r t i e s of Matter Under
Unusual Conditions, edited by K. Mark and S. Fernbach
(Interscience, New York, 1969).
3 ~ Nambu,
. Chicago report (unpublished).
4 ~ Chodos,
. R . L. Jaffe, K. Johnson, C. B. Thorn, and
V. F . Weisskopf, Phys. Rev. D 2,3471 (1974).
5 ~ Dashen,
. B. Hasslacher, and A. Neveu, Phys. Rev.
TIME-DEPENDENT, ... 2883
Inserting the Higgs s c a l a r into the 't Hooft tensor
yields monopole fields of the form
where B,(x) i s a solution of (2.6) f o r the restricted
p
class of motions = 0. The difficulty with SU(4)
m o n ~ p o l e s 'is
~ that ~ a n d e l s t a m ' ' has shown that
monopoles with single units of flux can be bound
together in groups of nN if we use the group SU(N).
Applying Mandelstam's argument to monopoles of
this type requires further investigation.
In summary, we have been able to construct ex-
act, time-dependent solutions to Yang-Mills equa-
tions with SU(4) symmetry by employing the solu-
tions of classical electrodynamics of single c h a r -
ged particles capable of executing a r b i t r a r y space-
time motions. This construction opens the door to
a wide c l a s s of new possible solutions to gauge
theories, monopoles included. The energy of this
solution i s necessarily infinite (as i s electrody-
namics), but can be rendered finite if one used
spontaneous symmetry breaking. Because we have
joined a compact group with a noncompact group,
there i s the problem of the positivity of the Ham-
iltonian (because of the Wick rotation). The u l -
timate goal of such a construction i s to have two
such particles spinning around each other, each
moving under the field of the other. Such a s y s -
tem, in the semiclassical approximation, may d e -
scribe a quark-antiquark system.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We wish to acknowledge fruitful conversations
with Professor N. Chang, Professor B. Sakita,
Professor I. Bars, Professor F. Giirsey, Profes-
s o r H. Pagels, and Dr. W. Marciano and Dr.
K. Friedman. We also wish to thank the hospital-
ity of the Physics Department of the California
Institute of Technology where this work was done.
D 2, 4114 (1974).
6 ~ Kaku
. and K. K. Kikkawa, Phys. Rev. D 3, 1110
(1974); 10,1823 (1974); 10,3943 (1974).
7A. C. T . Wu and T. T . Wu, J. Math. Phys. 15,53 (1974).
'J. D. Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics (Wiley, New
York, 1963), p. 465.
'G. 't Hooft, Nucl. Phys. E,276 (1974); J. Arafune,
P . G. 0. Freund, and C. J. Goebel, J . Math. Phys. 2,
433 (1975); W. J . Marciano and H. Pagels, Phys. Rev.
D g , 1093 (1975).
'111. Halpern (private communication).
"s. Mandelstam, Phys. Lett. a, 476 (1975).