Even the photon propagator must break de Sitter symmetry
Dražen Glavan, Tomislav Prokopec
Abstract
The propagator for the massless vector field in de Sitter space cannot maintain de Sitter invariance in the general covariant gauge, except in the exactly transverse limit. This is due to a previously overlooked Ward-Takahashi identity that the propagator must satisfy. We construct the propagator that satisfies all the necessary conditions, and that preserves cosmological symmetries and dilation, but breaks spatial special conformal transformations. Our propagator vanishes in the infrared, contrary to previously reported de Sitter invariant results, which is relevant for loop computations.
Topics & Concepts
PropagatorPhysicsMathematical physicsDe Sitter spaceDe Sitter universeMassless particlede Sitter invariant special relativityAnti-de Sitter spaceConformal symmetryHomogeneous spaceGauge symmetryGauge theoryQuantum electrodynamicsQuantum mechanicsConformal mapGeometryUniverseMathematicsBlack Holes and Theoretical PhysicsCosmology and Gravitation TheoriesParticle physics theoretical and experimental studies