TY - JOUR
T1 - Topological invariants, instantons, and the chiral anomaly on spaces with torsion
AU - Chandía, Osvaldo
AU - Zanelli, Jorge
PY - 1997
Y1 - 1997
N2 - In a spacetime with nonvanishing torsion there can occur topologically stable configurations associated with the frame bundle which are independent of the curvature. The relevant topological invariants are integrals of local scalar densities first discussed by Nieh and Yan (NY). In four dimensions, the NY form [Formula presented] is the only closed four-form invariant under local Lorentz rotations associated with the torsion of the manifold. The integral of [Formula presented] over a compact [Formula presented]-dimensional (Euclidean) manifold is shown to be a topological invariant related to the Pontryagin classes of SO[Formula presented] and SO[Formula presented]. An explicit example of a topologically nontrivial configuration carrying a nonvanishing instanton number proportional to [Formula presented] is constructed. The chiral anomaly in a four-dimensional spacetime with torsion is also shown to contain a contribution proportional to [Formula presented], in addition to the usual Pontryagin density related to the spacetime curvature. The violation of chiral symmetry can thus depend on the instanton number of the tangent frame bundle of the manifold. Similar invariants can be constructed in [Formula presented] dimensions and the existence of the corresponding nontrivial excitations is also discussed.
AB - In a spacetime with nonvanishing torsion there can occur topologically stable configurations associated with the frame bundle which are independent of the curvature. The relevant topological invariants are integrals of local scalar densities first discussed by Nieh and Yan (NY). In four dimensions, the NY form [Formula presented] is the only closed four-form invariant under local Lorentz rotations associated with the torsion of the manifold. The integral of [Formula presented] over a compact [Formula presented]-dimensional (Euclidean) manifold is shown to be a topological invariant related to the Pontryagin classes of SO[Formula presented] and SO[Formula presented]. An explicit example of a topologically nontrivial configuration carrying a nonvanishing instanton number proportional to [Formula presented] is constructed. The chiral anomaly in a four-dimensional spacetime with torsion is also shown to contain a contribution proportional to [Formula presented], in addition to the usual Pontryagin density related to the spacetime curvature. The violation of chiral symmetry can thus depend on the instanton number of the tangent frame bundle of the manifold. Similar invariants can be constructed in [Formula presented] dimensions and the existence of the corresponding nontrivial excitations is also discussed.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0346776644&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevD.55.7580
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevD.55.7580
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0346776644
SN - 1550-7998
VL - 55
SP - 7580
EP - 7585
JO - Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology
JF - Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology
IS - 12
ER -