Vacuum and Symmetry Breaking: New Approach

Abstract

We propose a new mechanism for symmetry breaking in which, apart from particle degrees of freedom, topological degrees of freedom also emerge. In this method, a decomposition for the fields of the Yang-Mills-Higgs theory is introduced and Lagrangian is written based on new variables. This new Lagrangian does not change the dynamics of the theory, at least at the classical level. We study the spontaneous symmetry breaking for this new Lagrangian and show that how it works in Abelian and non-Abelian gauge theories. In the case of Abelian gauge theory our method adds nothing new to the so-called Higgs mechanism. However, in the non-Abelian case topological degrees of freedom, as classical fields, arise. Finally, we reacquire our results considering a new definition for the vacuum.