Marion, van, Giovanni (2020) Sphalerons and the Vacuum Structure of Gauge Theories. Master's Thesis / Essay, Physics.
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Abstract
Semi-classical techniques exist that study quantum field theories by looking at their special classical field configurations. Examples include solitons, instantons and sphalerons. For each of these we will discuss to different degrees what defines them, how to find them, why they exist, what they say about the classical and quantum theoretic vacuum structures of their associated theories and what phenomena they help us probe. In these discussions, topological considerations turn out to be crucial. Our focus will be on the sphaleron, a potential energy saddle point, in the electroweak sector of the standard model. It might make baryon and lepton number violating processes possible in collider experiments and its thermal cousin might be an ingredient in explaining the origin of the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the observable universe. We examine this process and explore a recent proposal that claims it could be resonant.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master's Thesis / Essay) |
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| Supervisor name: | Boer, D. |
| Degree programme: | Physics |
| Thesis type: | Master's Thesis / Essay |
| Language: | English |
| Date Deposited: | 14 Jul 2020 10:33 |
| Last Modified: | 14 Jul 2020 10:33 |
| URI: | https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/22678 |
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