229A HOMEWORK 3

PHIL SAAD

1. Goldstones
1.1. We consider the SU (2)L SU (2)R chiral Lagrangian. The fields


a a
U (x) = exp 2i
f
transform as bifundentals under SU (2)L SU (2)R , U GL U GR . We want to work out this
transformation in terms of the fields. The key to this will be the Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff
formula


1
1
1
A B
e e = exp A + B + [A, B] + [A, [A, B]] [B, [A, B]] + . . .
2
12
12
 a a
 a a
This gives us, for GL = exp iL and GR = exp iR ,


 a a
a a
GL U = exp i exp 2i
f
 
 
f
1 b c abc
1 b c d
2 b c d
cde bea a
2i
a
a
= exp
L f f

+ L L f +
f
2
2
12 L L
f
BLEGH!!! Gross, but its about to get even worse... Instead of doing this all right away Ill use the
Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff formula to say
log(eA eB eC ) = A + B + C +

1

1
[A, B] + [A, C] + [B, C] + [A, B], C
2
4





 
 
 



1 
1
A, [A, B] + B, [B, A] + B, [B, C] + C, [C, B]
B, [A, B] , C + . . .
+
12
24
I dropped terms with more than two powers of B, or terms with more than two powers of either
A or C (including stuff like A2 C, since those represent angles and we want to stay at second order
in those. Working this all out, we get

2i a a f a
f b c abc 1 b
1 b c d ace bde
A B C
a
b
log(e e e ) =
+ (L R
) + L
R f (L + R
) c f abc + L
R f f
f
2
4
2
4
1
+
12

b c
L
L

b c
R
R



2 b c d
1 2 b c d d cdi aej bij
d
abe cde
+ (L R ) f f +
L R f f f + . . .
f
24 f
d

We see from this how the a transform.

Date: March 13 2015.
1

229A HOMEWORK 3

2. Mesons
2.1. We consider the SU (2)L SU (2)R chiral Lagrangian with the mass spurions
 V3
f2 
V3
L = Tr U U +
Tr[M U ] +
Tr[U M ]
4
2
2
We can write U as
+



 0





i
1
1
1 0

2
0 2
+
0 2
+

( ) + 2
+
sin
( ) + 2
U = cos

0
2
2
0
1
2

f
f
f
The mass term is, using the fact that the mass matrix is Hermitian and that the trace is cyclic




V3
1

3
0 2
+
(mu + md )
Tr[(U + U )M ] = V cos
( ) + 2
2
f2
Looking at the fourth order terms, we get
V3

2
1
( 0 )2 + 2 + (mu + md )
4
24f

All the Feynman rules for these are obvious. Now we look at the derivative terms


2
U = 2 0 0 + + + +
f
+ 





 0




1
i
1
1 0

2
0 2
+
0 2
+

sin
( ) + 2

cos
( ) + 2
0 1
2
0
f2
f
f2




+
0


i
1
2

0 2
+

+ sin
( ) + 2
2 0
f
f2
Fortunately, the matrix on the second line is unitary, so we have



2 1 0
4
U ( U ) = 4 0 0 + + + +
0 1
f





1
1
0 0 + 2 +
0
2
0 2
+
+ 2 sin
( ) + 2
0
0 0 + 2 +
f
f2












4
1
1
0 2
+
0 2
+
0
0
+

+ 2 1 0
cos
+ +
+ 4 sin
( ) + 2
( ) + 2
0 1
f
f2
f2
Taking the trace, multiplying by

f2
4 ,

and looking for the fourth order terms, we get

2
2 0
0 + + + +
2
f
Again, the Feynman rules are obvious and I will not list them
3. Photons
3.1. The charge matrix for the u, d, and s quarks in QCD is

2/3
0
0
0 1/3
0
0
0
1/3
We we have the Goldstone matrix
1
0 + 1 0
+

2
6

2i

12 0 +
U = exp

f
K
K0

1 0
6

K+


K0
q

23 0

229A HOMEWORK 3

The charge matrix should commpute with 0

0

 2/3
0
0

0
0 
0 , 0 0 0
[Q, 0 ] = 0 1/3
0
0
1/3
0
0
0
We find that this is zero. We repeat this with the other guys to indeed find that the charge matrix
commutes with the neutral mesons, and doesnt commute with the charged ones- the commutator
is proportional to the goldstone matrix with the constant of proportionality being the sign of the
charge.

0
+ K +
0
[Q, a T a ] = 0
K 0
0
3.2. Now we want to use spurions to find out how the pions couple to the photon. In QED we
have the term

2/3
0
0
0 QL + L R

A QL 0 1/3
0
0
1/3
Since the charge matrix is the same for left and right, we just let l = r = A Q. Thus our
covariant derivative for the goldstone field is
D U = U iA QU + iU QA = U iA [Q, U ]
We then get

2 +
2 K +
0 + 13 0

0
+ K +

2
i

0 + 13 0
2 K 0
0
0 + ...
D U =
+ A

f
f

2
0

0
K
0
0
2 K
2 K
3

We have
L = Tr[D U D U ] + . . .
I dont want to type out all this stuff it will take forever. Its pretty clear that this will generate
the kind of interactions we expect- scalar QED type interactions with the correct charges. For the
higher order interactions- working them out would be shitty and not even the absurd amount of
coffee I just drank will give me the motivation to do it. Mathematica would make this relatively
easy, but Im not fluent in Mathematica yet...
4. Axial Mesons
4.1. We now consider an unbroken U (1)A . Our Goldstone field is then






2i a a
i 9
2i a a
i 9
T + = exp
T exp

U = exp
f
f9
f
f9
where we used the fact that the U (1)A generators commute with the SU (3) ones. We have the full
kinetic term
f2
F2
L Tr[ U U ] +
det(U ) det(U )
4
4
The determinant part was trivial before because of the special in SU (3), but now we have the
U (1)A . We have






2i a a
i 9
i 9
det(U ) = det exp
T det exp
= exp

f
f9
f9

229A HOMEWORK 3

and so the second part of the Lagrangian is

1 F2
9 9
4 f92
Now we consider the first part. Expanding out U we have



2i
i
U = I + aT a + . . . 1 + 9 + . . .
f
f9

 



i 9
2i a a
i
2i
a a
9
T + . . . 1 + + . . . + I + T + . . .
+ . . .
U =
f
f9
f
f9
Clearly the only part that will contribute to the kinetic term for 9 is I fi9 9 , which will give us
the total kinetic term for 9
f2
1 F2
9
9

Tr[I]
+
9 9

4 f92
4f92
Requiring a canonical kinetic term gives us F 2 = 2f92 3f2
4.2. Now we want to include the mass stuff. We let the mass matrix be

m 0 0
0 m 0
0 0 ms
with m  ms . The mass term is again
V3
Tr[(U + U )M ]
2
The relevant term is
1
1 0
0
+
 2 + 6
3

12 0 +
2 Tr

f
K
K0

V3
2
f f9

1 0
6

K+
m 0 0 
3

K 0 0 m 0 V ( 9 )2 (2m + ms )
q

2f92
0 0 ms
23 0

1
1 0
0
+
 2 + 6

12 0 +
9 Tr

K0

1 0
6

K+
m 0 0 

K0 0 m 0
q

0 0 ms
23 0

This means that in addition to the usual mass terms for , K , and K 0 , we get the terms

0
2
2m/f
0
0

1 3 0 0
(2m + 4ms
)/3f2
2(m ms )/ 3f9 f 0
V 9 0
2
9
0
2(m ms )/ 3f9 f
(2m + ms )/f92
The pions have the smallest mass, m = 2mV 3 /f2 . We want to diagonalize the 0 9 mass matrix.
Diagonalizing this matrix gives a small eigenvalue and a large one- assuming f = f9 we get


p


1
2
m
8m + ms 7 49 104m/ms
6
One of these masses is bit larger than the pion mass.

229A HOMEWORK 3

5. Axions
5.1. To couple the axion to the quarks we make the replacement
M M eiaX/fa
where a is the axion and X is a 3 3 diagonal matrix with trace one. This means we must look at
the term
V3

Tr[(eiaX/fa U + U eiaX /fa )M ]

2
The quadratic terms are given by the usual mass terms plus
V3
V3
2 a2 Tr[(X 2 + (X )2 )M/2] 2
aTr[(X + X )M ]
2fa
2fa f
where is the goldstone matrix. Following the hint, I want the axion to decouple from the 0 and
0 . This gives us the matrix X as

md ms
0
0
1
0
mu ms
0
X=
mu md + mu ms + md ms
0
0
mu md
This makes the diagonal terms of (X + X ) such that taking the trace of this times the mass
matrix gives zero- the mass mixing term drops out. We are left with
m2a =
Neato.

V3
mu md ms
V3
2
Tr[X
M
]
=
2
2
fa
fa mu md + mu ms + md ms