Abstract
The Hamiltonian reduction of Yang-Mills theory for an arbitrary angle to an unconstrained nonlocal theory of a self-interacting positive definite symmetric matrix field is performed. It is shown that, after exact projection to a reduced phase space, the density of the Pontryagin index remains a pure divergence, proving the independence of the unconstrained theory obtained. An expansion of the nonlocal kinetic part of the Hamiltonian in powers of the inverse coupling constant and truncation to lowest order, however, lead to violation of the independence of the theory. In order to maintain this property on the level of the local approximate theory, a modified expansion in the inverse coupling constant is suggested, which for a vanishing angle coincides with the original expansion. The corresponding approximate Lagrangian up to second order in derivatives is obtained, and the explicit form of the unconstrained analogue of the Chern-Simons current linear in derivatives is given. Finally, for the case of degenerate field configurations with a nonlinear σ-type model is obtained, with the Pontryagin topological term reducing to the Hopf invariant of the mapping from the three-sphere to the unit two-sphere in the Whitehead form.
- Received 22 February 2002
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.67.105013
©2003 American Physical Society