### PhD Defense

Friday, May 6, 2016
10:30am – 12:00pm

Storrs Campus
Gant Science Complex, Physics, Room PB-121

Ibrahim Burak Ilhan, UConn Physics Department

“Confinement in 3+1 Dimension”

In this thesis we describe an effective theory of a scalar field, motivated by some features expected in the low energy theory of gluodynamics in 3+1 dimensions. The theory describes two propagating massless particles in a certain limit, which we identify with the Abelian QED limit, and has classical string solutions in the general case. The string solutions are somewhat unusual as they are multiply degenerate due to the spontaneous breaking of diffeomorphism invariance. Nevertheless, all solutions yield an identical electric field and have the same string tension. We conclude by further investigating the Abelian limit of the model presented and constructing a Lagrangian with a four-derivative kinetic term and demonstrate that, despite the seeming nonlinearity of the theory, it is equivalent to a theory of a free photon

Contact:

Dawn Rawlinson, 486-4916, dawn.rawlinson@uconn.edu

Physics Department (primary)