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Membrane Vacuum as a Type II Superconductor1


S.Ansoldi2
Dipartimento di Fisica Teorica dell'Università,
Strada Costiera 11, 34014-Trieste, Italy

A.Aurilia3
Department of Physics, California State Polytechnic University
Pomona, CA 91768, USA

E.Spallucci4
Dipartimento di Fisica Teorica dell'Università,
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Trieste,
Strada Costiera 11, 34014-Trieste, Italy


Abstract:

We study a functional field theory of membranes coupled to a rank-three tensor gauge potential. We show that gauge field radiative corrections lead to membrane condensation which turns the gauge field into a massive spin-0 field. This is the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism for membranes. An analogy is also drawn with a type-II superconductor. The ground state of the system consists of a two-phase medium in which the superconducting background condensate is ``pierced'' by four dimensional domains, or ``bags'', of non superconducting vacuum. Bags are bounded by membranes whose physical thickness is of the order of the inverse mass acquired by the gauge field.



 

Stefano Ansoldi
Department of Theoretical Physics
University of Trieste
TRIESTE - ITALY