Physics 673, Problem Set 4

due: Friday, March 24 at 3:30pm

Please place your completed problem sets in the Physics 673 box in the physics depart-
ment mailroom (Rutherford 103b) before the due date. Please do not leave them in my
mailbox. You are encouraged to discuss these problems with your colleagues, but you must
write up your own solutions; the solutions you hand in should reflect your own work and
understanding. Late problem sets will be penalized 10% per day late, unless an extension
has been obtained from me or the TA before the due date.

1. A Lie algebra G is definted as a set of matrices T a which obey the commutation

relations
[T a , T b ] = if abc T c
for some structure constants f abc . Here a = 1 . . . D, where D is refered to as the
dimension of the group G. We will be interested in the case where the structure
constants are anti-symmetric in abc (in fact, one can always choose a basis where this
is the case).
A representation R of G is a vector space of dimension DR , along with a set of DR DR
matrices TRa acting on this vector space, such that the TRa obey the commutation
relations of the Lie algebra G. DR is known as the dimension of the representation.
Two representations R and R0 are equivalent if the matrices TRa and TRa 0 are related
by a unitary change of basis.
In this problem you will get some practice with groups and representations. I will use
bold-face to label representations.

(a) A simple example of a Lie algebra is SU (2), which has D = 3 and structure
constants given by the epsilon symbol abc . Write out explicitly the representation
matrices TRa for the spin 0, spin 1/2 and spin 1 representations of SU (2). We often
refer to these representations as 1, 2 and 3, respectively.
(b) Show that the Jacobi identity implies that, for any Lie algebra G, the following
D-dimensional representation matrices

a bc
(Tadj ) = if abc

satisfy the Lie algebra. These matrices define the adjoint representation. Show
that the 3 of SU (2) which you wrote down above is the same as the adjoint
representation (you may need to do a unitary transformation, depending on the
basis you used in part (a)).

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 (c) The standard basis for the generators of SU (3) in the fundamental represen-
tation is given by the Gell-Mann matrices, which are the analogues of the Pauli
matrices for SU (2):

0 1 0 0 i 0 1 0 0
1 1 1
t1 = 1 0 0 , t2 = i 0 0 , t3 = 0 1 0 , (1)
2 2 2
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 1 0 0 i 0 0 0
1 1 1
t4 = 0 0 0 , t5 = 0 0 0 , t6 = 0 0 1 , (2)
2 2 2
1 0 0 i 0 0 0 1 0

0 0 0 1 0 0
1 1
t7 = 0 0 i , t8 =
0 1 0 . (3)
2 2 3
0 i 0 0 0 2

This representation is usually referred to as the 3 of SU (3). These matrices form

a basis for Hermitian, traceless 3 3 matrices.
i. Evaluate a few of the commutators of the Gell-Mann matrices to compute
the structure constants, and show that they are antisymmetric. (This is a
kind of tedious exercise, so dont compute them all).
ii. Note that t1 , t2 , t3 form a natural sub-algebra which acts on rows one and
two of a three component column vector. Find two other natural SU (2)
sub-algebras, which act on rows one and three and rows two and three, re-
spectively. Of course, these three SU (2) sub-algebras do not commute with
one another.
iii. Consider the SU (2) SU (3) generated by t1 , t2 , t3 . How does the 3 of SU (3)
transform under this SU (2) subgroup?

2. In this problem you will check explicitly some of the claims we have made about Yang-
Mills theory.

(a) Consider the action for the gauge field in Yang-Mills theory, with gauge group G:
1 a a a
Lgauge = F F , F = Aa Aa + f abc Ab Ac
4g 2
Show that this action is invariant under the gauge transformation

Aa Aa a f abc Ab c

where a (x) is the infinitesimal gauge parameter. As usual, repeated indices in

these expressions are summed over.

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(b) Consider a spinor field which lives in a representation R of the gauge group
G. This means that is a collection of DR spinor fields i , with i = 1 . . . DR ,
arranged in a column vector, and transforms under gauge transformations as

ia (TRa )

Similarly, is a DR component row vector, with entries i . How does transform

under gauge transformations?
We define the covariant derivative of to be

D = + iAa TRa

where the TRa are generator matrices in the representation R. Show that the
action
D
Lmatter = (i / m)

is invariant under gauge transformations.

Show that the currents
T a
ja = R

are conserved. Use the Noether procedure to show that the ja are precisely the
currents associated with the symmetries ia TRa . Show that the ja
transform as an adjoint under gauge transformations.
a
Show that [D , D ] = iF TRa .
(c) We can also think of the gauge field Aa itself as living in the adjoint representation
of G. For example, show that we can write the gauge transformation of Aa as

A A D

where the gauge parameter lives in the adjoint representation of the gauge group.
a
How does F transform under a gauge transformation?
(d) Consider Yang-Mills theory coupled to a spinor which lives in representation
R of the gauge group G. Compute the equation of motion for . Compute the
equation of motion for Aa . Show that the equation of motion for A can be
written as
D F = j