Hamiltonian gauge theory with corners: constraint reduction and flux superselection

Abstract

We study gauge theories on spacetime manifolds with a codimension-$1$ submanifold with boundary. We characterise the reduced phase space of the theory whenever it is described by a local momentum map for the action of the gauge group $\mathcal{G}$, by means of Fr\'echet reduction by stages. The momentum map decomposes into a bulk term called constraint map, defining a coisotropic constraint set, and a boundary term called flux map. In the first stage, constraint reduction, the constraint set is the zero of a momentum map for a normal subgroup $\mathcal{G}_\circ\subset\mathcal{G}$, called constraint gauge group. In the second stage, flux superselection, the flux map is the momentum map for the residual action of the flux gauge group $\underline{\mathcal{G}}\doteq\mathcal{G}/\mathcal{G}_\circ$, which also controls equivariance. The reduced phase space of the theory, when smooth, is then only a partial Poisson manifold $\underline{\underline{\mathcal{C}}}\simeq \underline{\mathcal{C}}/\underline{\mathcal{G}}$. Its symplectic leaves are called \emph{flux superselection sectors}, for they provide a classical analogue of, and a road map to, the phenomenon of quantum superselection. To corners, we further assign a symplectic Lie algebroid over a Poisson manifold, $\mathsf{A}_{\partial} \to \mathcal{P}_{\partial}$, and show how on-shell configurations $\mathcal{C}_{\partial}\subset\mathcal{P}_{\partial}$ are also Poisson. Both $\mathcal{C}_{\partial}$ and $\underline{\underline{\mathcal{C}}}$ fibrate over a common space of superselections, labeling the Casimirs of both Poisson structures. We showcase the formalism by explicitly working out the first and second stage reductions for a broad class of Yang--Mills theories, where $\underline{\underline{\mathcal{C}}}$ is found to be a Weinstein space, and discuss further applications to topological theories.