The stability of vacua in two-dimensional gauge theory

Victor Kac , Jan Troost (1)

1 LPTENS - Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de l'ENS [École Normale Supérieure]

We discuss the stability of vacua in two-dimensional gauge theory for any simple, simply connected gauge group. Making use of the representation of a vacuum in terms of a Wilson line at infinity, we determine which vacua are stable against pair production of heavy matter in the adjoint of the gauge group. By calculating correlators of Wilson loops, we reduce the problem to a problem in representation theory of Lie groups, that we solve in full generality.

Domaines: Physique des Hautes Energies - Théorie [hep-th]

Victor Kac, Jan Troost. The stability of vacua in two-dimensional gauge theory. Physics Letters B, 2001, 501, pp.313. ⟨hal-00022295⟩