Published March 11, 2024 | Version v1
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Poincaré symmetries and representations in pseudo-Hermitian quantum field theory

  • 1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom

Description

This paper explores quantum field theories with pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonians, where PT-symmetric Hamiltonians serve as a special case. In specific regimes, these pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonians have real eigenspectra, orthogonal eigenstates, and unitary time evolution. So far, most pseudo-Hermitian quantum field theories have been constructed using analytic continuation or by adding non-Hermitian terms to otherwise Hermitian Hamiltonians. However, in this paper, we take a different approach. We construct pseudo-Hermitian scalar and fermionic quantum field theories from first principles by extending the Poincaré algebra to include non-Hermitian generators. This allows us to develop consistent pseudo-Hermitian quantum field theories, with Lagrangian densities that transform appropriately under the proper Poincaré group. By doing so, we establish a more solid theoretical foundation for the emerging field of non-Hermitian quantum field theory.

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10.1103_PhysRevD.109.065012.pdf

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Additional details

Identifiers

DOI
10.1103/PhysRevD.109.065012;
arXiv
arXiv:2307.16805;
Crossref Funder ID
10.13039/501100000770; 10.13039/501100000271; 10.13039/100014013; 10.13039/501100000837;

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Physical Review D
Journal Volume
109
Journal Issue
6
Journal Page Range
22 pgs.
ISSN
1089-4918

Optional Information

Contract/Grant/Project number
ST/X00077X/1; MR/V021974/1; MR/V021974/2
Notes
Contact Email: esra.sablevice@manchester.ac.uk; Contact Email: peter.millington@manchester.ac.uk; Record automatically processed
Funding organization
University of Manchester; Science and Technology Facilities Council; UK Research and Innovation; University of Nottingham