Date Available

12-14-2011

Year of Publication

2006

Document Type

Dissertation

College

Arts and Sciences

Department

Physics and Astronomy

First Advisor

Alfred Shapere

Abstract

We study the conjectured equivalence between the O(3) Gross-Neveu model and the supersymmetric sine-Gordon model under a naive application of the bosonization rules. We start with a review of the equivalence between sine-Gordon model and the massive Thirring model. We study the models by perturbation theory and then determine the equivalence. We find that the dependence of the identifications on the couplings can change according to the definition of the vector current. With the operator identifications of the special case corresponding to a free fermionic theory, known as the bosonization rules, we describe the equivalence between the massless Thirring model and the model of a compactified free boson field. For the massless Thirring model, or equivalently the O(2) Gross-Neveu model, we study the conservation laws for the vector current and the axial current by employing a generalized point-splitting method which allows a one-parameter family of definitions of the vector current. With this parameter, we can make contact with different approaches that can be found in the literature; these approaches differ mainly because of the specific definition of the current that was used. We also find the Sugawara form of the stress-energy tensor and its commutation relations. Further, we rewrite the identifications between sine-Gordon and Thirring models in our generalized framework. For the O(3) Gross-Neveu model, we extend our point-splitting method to determine the exact expression for the supercurrent. Using this current, we compute the superalgebra which determines three quantum components of the stress-energy tensor. With an Ansatz for the undetermined component, we find the trace anomaly and the first beta-function coefficient. The central charge which can be computed without using our point-splitting method is independent of the coupling constant, in fact, it is always zero. For the supersymmetric sine-Gordon model, we review its supersymmetry in the context of models derived from a scalar multiplet in two dimensions. We then obtain the central charge and discover an extra term that was missing in the original derivation. We also analyze how normal ordering modifies the central charge. Finally, we discuss the conjectured equivalence of the O(3) Gross-Neveu model and the supersymmetric sine-Gordon model under the naive application of the bosonization rules. Comparing our results of the central charges and the supercurrents for these models, we find that they disagree; consequently the models should be generically inequivalent. We also conclude that the naive application of the bosonization rules at the Lagrangian level does not always lead to an equivalent theory.

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