Boundary Effects in Integrable Field Theory on a Half Line

Abstract

Abstarct: Boundary effects caused by the boundary interactions in various integrable field theories on a half line are discussed at the classical as well as the quantum level. Only the so-called ``integrable" boundary interactions are discussed. They are obtained by the requirement that certain combinations of the lower members of the infinite set of conserved quantities should be preserved. Contrary to the naive expectations, some ``integrable" boundary interactions can drastically change the character of the theory. In some cases, for example, the sinh-Gordon theory, the theory becomes ill-defined because of the instability introduced by ``integrable" boundary interactions for a certain range of the parameter.