Journal of High Energy Physics (Jan 2021)

New magnetic symmetries in (d + 2)-dimensional QED

  • Temple He,
  • Prahar Mitra

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP01(2021)122
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 2021, no. 1
pp. 1 – 23

Abstract

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Abstract Previous analyses of asymptotic symmetries in QED have shown that the subleading soft photon theorem implies a Ward identity corresponding to a charge generating divergent large gauge transformations on the asymptotic states at null infinity. In this work, we demonstrate that the subleading soft photon theorem is equivalent to a more general Ward identity. The charge corresponding to this Ward identity can be decomposed into an electric piece and a magnetic piece. The electric piece generates the Ward identity that was previously studied, but the magnetic piece is novel, and implies the existence of an additional asymptotic “magnetic” symmetry in QED.

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