nLab Coleman-Mandula theorem

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The ColemanMandula Theorem

Context

Algebraic Quantum Field Theory

algebraic quantum field theory (perturbative, on curved spacetimes, homotopical)

Introduction

Concepts

field theory:

Lagrangian field theory

quantization

quantum mechanical system, quantum probability

free field quantization

gauge theories

interacting field quantization

renormalization

Theorems

States and observables

Operator algebra

Local QFT

Perturbative QFT

The Coleman–Mandula Theorem

Idea

The Coleman–Mandula theorem is a no-go theorem motivated by the possibilities of Lie group symmetries in quantum field theory in Minkowski space-time.

Statement

Any Lie group containing the Poincaré group PP (in 4d) as a subgroup and containing a maximal internal symmetry group GG must be a direct product of those. In addition, GG must be a semisimple Lie group with additional U(1)U(1) (circle group) factors.

The generalization of this statement to super Lie algebras is known as the Haag–Łopuszański–Sohnius theorem.

Remarks

Gel’fand and Likhtman showed that with a slight extension of the concept of Lie group, one can get that PP and GG combine in a nontrivial way. This happens for example in the supersymmetric case.

References

Review includes

Last revised on May 11, 2022 at 07:35:41. See the history of this page for a list of all contributions to it.