QLunch: Exact correlation functions of the principal chiral model

Speaker: Peter Orland, NBI/Baruch College, CUNY.

Title: Exact correlation functions of the principal chiral model

Abstract: The principal chiral model (PCM) is a quantum field theory, which can be formulated with an SU(N)-valued field.In one space and one time (1+1) dimensions, it shares an important feature, namely asymptotic freedom, with quantum chromodynamics (QCD) in 3+1 dimensions, the theory of the strong interaction. Unlike QCD, the PCM is an integrable quantum field theory, whose S matrix is well known.

I will review an "axiomatic" approach to correlation functions of local operators of the PCM, in the limit of large N. These exact correlation functions display a mass gap at large separations and asymptotically-free behavior at short distances. Some open questions are discussed.