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# Funct. Anal. Appl. 12, 121-128 (1978) Quantum Systems Related to Root Systems, and Radial Parts of Laplace Operators

## 1 Introduction

Laplace operators on semisimple Lie groups and symmetric spaces were studied by Gel’fand . The explicit form of the radial parts of Laplace operators (RPLO) was calculated only for symmetric spaces with a complex group of motions  and for Cartan domains of the first type .

In this paper we shall present the explicit form of generating algebras of RPLO for symmetric spaces that have a bounded system of roots of type $`A_n`$, and for all symmetric spaces of rank 2, with the exception of $`G_2/(SU(2)SU(2))`$. These results can be obtained by studying a quantum system constructed on the basis of root systems by a method proposed by the authors. The corresponding classical systems were studied previously .

The connection between dynamical systems and symmetric spaces is useful in studying both of them.

In particular, it can be proved that for certain values of the constants occuring in the Hamiltonian, the quantum systems and the classical systems are completely integrable for all the systems of roots.

Let us note that by constructing completely integrable quantum systems, we obtain an explicit description of a commutative algebra of differential operators of several variables.

The authors express their gratitude to F.I. Karpelevich for a very useful discussion of this paper.

## 2 Quantum Systems Related to Root Systems

Let $`R`$ be a root system in the space $``$ (dim $`=n`$), and let $`R_+`$ be a subsystem of roots that are positive under a certain order (the definitions and terms used here can be found in ).

Let $`q`$ and let $`q_\alpha =(q,\alpha )`$ be the scalar product of $`q`$ and of the root $`\alpha `$. As usual, we shall introduce the operators of the coordinate $`q_j`$ and of the momentum $`p_j=i/q_j`$, and let $`g_\alpha ^2`$ be positive constants on roots of equal length. As in , we shall consider systems with a Hamiltonian of the form

$$H=\frac{p^2}{2}+U(q),$$
(1)
where

$$U(q)=\underset{\alpha R_+}{}g_\alpha ^2V(q_\alpha ),$$
(2)
and the function $`V(\xi )`$ can have one of the following forms:

$`V(\xi )`$ $`=`$
I. $`\xi ^2,`$
II. $`a^2\text{sh}^2a\xi ,`$
III. $`a^2\text{sin}^2a\xi ,`$ (3)
IV. $`a^2\gamma (a\xi ),`$
V. $`\xi ^2+\omega ^2\xi ^2.`$
For a root system of type $`A_{n1}`$ we have $`q_\alpha =q_kq_l`$ ($`kl`$). In this case,

$$U(q)=g^2\underset{k<l}{}V(q_kq_l).$$
(4)
Such quantum systems describe $`n`$ particles on a straight line; they were studied in \[7-13\]. A quantum system of type $`G_2`$ has been considered in , .

Let us note that although the Hamiltonian (1) is defined in the space $``$, it is in fact impossible for a particle to move in the entire space $``$.

Let $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ be a Weyl chamber defined on the basis of a subsystem of positive roots,

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }=\{q|q_\alpha =(q,\alpha )>0,\alpha R_+\},$$
(5)
and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_a`$ be the Weyl alcove

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }_a=\{q|0<aq_\alpha <\pi ,\alpha R_+\}.$$
(6)
Then the potential $`U(q)`$ in (2) becomes infinite on the walls of the Weyl chamber $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ (5) for systems of type I, II and V, and on the walls of the alcove $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_a`$ (6) for systems of type III. It is possible to indicate an alcove form also for the functions $`a^2\gamma (a\xi )`$ (IV (3), see ). Thus we have found that for the systems I, II and V the particle moves in the Weyl chamber $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, whereas for the systems III and IV it moves in the Weyl alcove $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_a`$.

Now let us present two definitions.

Definition 1. A differential operator that commutes with the Hamiltonian $`H`$ is called an integral of motion (IM).

It is evident that the IM form an algebra.

Definition 2. A quantum system with a Hamiltonian $`H`$ is said to be completely integrable if the algebra IM contains a commuataive subalgebra that has at least $`n`$ functionally independent operators ($`n`$ = dim $``$).

## 3 The Mapping $`j`$

In this section we shall study a mapping $`j`$ in the algebra of differential operators that carries the Laplace–Beltrami operator into the Hamiltonian operator of a quantum system.

Let us note that this mapping has been used in  and  for the calculation of the RPLO.

At first we shall consider symmetric spaces of negative curvature $`X^{}`$. If $`G`$ is a semisimple Lie group with a finite center, and $`K`$ is its maximal compact subgroup, then $`X^{}=G/K`$. The Laplace operators are $`G`$-invariant differential operators on $`X^{}`$ .

Let $`𝒢`$ and $`𝒦`$ be Lie algebras of the groups $`G`$ and $`K`$, and let $``$ be an orthogonal complement of $`𝒦`$ in $`𝒢`$ in the sense of Cartan’s scalar product. By $``$ we shall denote the Cartan subalgebra in $``$. (The subalgebra $``$ is the vector space introduced in Sec. 2).

Let $`R=\{\alpha \}`$ be a bounded system of roots of the space $`X^{}`$ . The roots $`\alpha R`$ are linear forms on $``$. If $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is a fixed Weyl chamber of the root system $`R`$, and $`x_0k=x_0`$ for $`kK`$, then for any point $`xX^{}`$ there exists an unique element $`q(x)\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ such that

$$x=x_0\mathrm{exp}\{q(x)\}k,kK$$
(7)
(the Cartan decomposition).

Functions that are invariant under rotations ($`f(xk)=f(x)`$) depend only on $`q(x)`$. On these functions the Laplace operators induce their radial part. Let us denote the RPLO algebra by $`D`$. The RPLO is $`W`$-invariant ($`W`$ being Weyl’s group).

Let $`m_\alpha `$ be the multiplicity of the root $`\alpha `$, let $`R_+`$ be a subsystem of roots in $`R`$ that is positive with respect to $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, and let $`x(q_\alpha )=a\text{sh}^1aq_\alpha `$ ($`V(q_\alpha )=x^2(q_\alpha )`$) 111 For simplicity, in intermediate calculations the parameter $`a`$ will be set equal to unity..

On $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ let us define a function $`\xi (q)`$:

$$\xi (q)=\underset{\alpha R_+}{}x(q_\alpha )^{m_\alpha /2}.$$
(8)
Let us consider a mapping $`j`$ of the algebra $`T`$ of all differential operators on $``$:

$$j:t\xi (q)t\xi ^1(q),tT.$$
(9)
Let us define the operator $`BD`$ as

$$B=\xi ^2(q)\underset{l=1}{\overset{n}{}}\widehat{p}_l\xi ^2(q)\widehat{p}_l.$$
(10)
This oparator is the radial part of the Laplace–Beltrami operator on the space $`X^{}`$.

Lemma 1.222 In the particular case $`m_\alpha =1`$ and root systems of type $`A_n`$, we can find in  a remark that corresponds to this lemma. If $`H`$ is the Hamiltonian (1) with a function $`V(q)`$ of type II (3), then

$$H=j\left[\frac{1}{2}\left(B+\rho ^2\right)\right],\rho =\frac{1}{2}\underset{\alpha R_+}{}m_\alpha \alpha ,$$
(11)
the constants $`g_\alpha `$ in (2) being related to the root multiplicities $`m_\alpha `$ as follows:

$$g_\alpha ^2=\frac{1}{8}m_\alpha (m_\alpha +2m_{2\alpha }2)|\alpha |^2.$$
(12)
Proof. According to (10) and (11), we have to show that

$$H=\frac{1}{2}\xi (q)\left(B+\rho ^2\right)\xi ^1(q).$$
(13)
Let us calculate the operator in the right-hand side. According to (10), we obtain

$$\frac{1}{2}\xi (q)\left(B+\rho ^2\right)\xi ^1(q)=\frac{1}{2}\xi ^1(q)\underset{l=1}{\overset{n}{}}p_l\xi ^2(q)p_l\xi ^1(q)\frac{\rho ^2}{2}=\frac{1}{2}p^2+U(q),$$
(14)
where

$$U(q)=\frac{1}{2}\left(\underset{j=1}{\overset{n}{}}\xi ^1(q)\xi _{jj}(q)\rho ^2\right)$$
(15)
and $`\xi _{jj}`$ is the second derivative with respect to $`q_j`$. It can be asserted that this expression coincides with the potential (2). By substituting into (15) the explicit form of the function $`\xi (q)`$ (8), we obtain

$$U(q)=\underset{\alpha R_+}{}\frac{m_\alpha }{4}\left(\frac{m_\alpha }{2}1\right)|\alpha |^2x^2(q_\alpha )+F(q),$$
(16)
where

$$F(q)=\frac{1}{8}\underset{\alpha ,\beta R_+,\alpha \beta }{}m_\alpha m_\beta (\alpha ,\beta )[\text{cth}q_\alpha \text{cth}q_\beta 1].$$
(17)
Let $`R`$ be a reduced system of roots. This signifies that $`m_\alpha m_{2\alpha }=0`$. Let us show that in this case,

$$F(q)0.$$
(18)
If (18) holds, then the assertion of the lemma follows from (16) and (13), (14).

From (7) it follows that (18) is equivalent to the vanishing of the function $`\mathrm{\Phi }(q)=F(q)\xi ^{(0)}(q)`$, where $`\xi ^{(0)}(q)=_{\alpha R_+}\text{sh}q_\alpha `$. The function $`\mathrm{\Phi }(q)`$ has the following form:

$$\mathrm{\Phi }(q)=c\underset{\alpha ,\beta R_+,\alpha \beta }{}m_\alpha m_\beta (\alpha ,\beta )\left(e^{q_\alpha q_\beta }+e^{q_\beta q_\alpha }\right)\underset{\gamma R_+,\gamma \alpha ,\gamma \beta }{}\left(e^{q_\gamma }e^{q_\gamma }\right).$$
(19)
Let $`W`$ be Weyl’s group of the root system $`R`$. Let us note that the function $`F(q)`$ is $`W`$-invariant by virtue of its construction (see (16)), whereas the function $`\xi ^{(0)}(q)`$ is antiinvariant. Hence, $`\mathrm{\Phi }(q)`$ is also antiinvariant.

Let us consider the group algebra $`A(P)`$ over the ring $`R`$ of the additive weight group $`P`$ of the root system $`R`$ (see , Chap.VI, Sec.3). Its elements are linear combinations of formal exponents $`e^p`$ ($`pP`$), and $`e^pe^p^{}=e^{p+p^{}}`$.

In particular, the element

$$\phi =\underset{\alpha ,\beta R_+,\alpha \beta }{}m_\alpha m_\beta (\alpha ,\beta )\left(e^{\alpha \beta }+e^{\beta \alpha }\right)\underset{\gamma R_+,\gamma \alpha ,\gamma \beta }{}\left(e^\gamma e^\gamma \right)$$
(20)
belongs to $`A(P)`$. Since $`\mathrm{\Phi }(q)=\phi (q)`$ (see (19)), it follows that $`\phi `$ is antiinvariant. From (20) it follows that the maximal term of the element $`\phi `$ (see , Chap.VI, Sec.3.2) is $`e^{\rho \alpha }`$, where $`\alpha R_+`$. An antiinvariant element with such a maximal term vanishes identically. Therefore, the function $`\mathrm{\Phi }(q)`$, and hence also $`F(q)=\mathrm{\Phi }(q)\xi ^{(0)}(q)`$ is equal to zero.

Now let $`R`$ be an unreduced system of roots. There exists only one such system $`BC_n`$. This root system has subsystems of type $`B_n`$ and $`C_n`$. Let us denote by $`\overline{R}`$ a root subsystem of $`R`$ of the form $`\overline{R}=\{\alpha R_+|2\alpha R\}`$. Then the function $`F(q)`$ (see (17)) can be expressed in the form

$$F(q)=F_{B_n}(q)+F_{C_n}(q)+\frac{1}{4}\underset{\alpha ,\beta \overline{R}}{}(m_\alpha \alpha ,m_{2\beta }\beta )(\text{cth}q_\alpha \text{cth}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}q_\beta 1),$$
(21)
where $`F_{B_n}`$ ($`F_{C_n})`$ is a function $`F(q)`$ that corresponds to the root system $`B_n`$ ($`C_n`$). Since $`B_n`$ and $`C_n`$ are reduced root systems, it follows that $`F_{B_n}=F_{C_n}=0`$. Let us also note that if $`\alpha ,\beta \overline{R}`$, then $`(\alpha ,\beta )=\delta _{\alpha \beta }`$. Therefore we can rewrite (21) in the form

$$F(q)=\frac{1}{2}\underset{\alpha \overline{R}}{}m_\alpha m_{2\alpha }(\text{cth}q_\alpha \text{cth}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}q_\alpha 1).$$

By substituting this expression into (16) and performing very simple trigonometric transformations, we obtain the required equation

$$U(q)=\frac{1}{2}\underset{\alpha R_+}{}\frac{m_\alpha }{2}\left(\frac{m_\alpha }{2}+m_{2\alpha }1\right)|\alpha |^2V(q_\alpha ).$$
(22)
From this lemma and from the form of $`j`$ we obtain the following

Proposition 1.

$`1.`$ $`\text{Ker}j=0,`$ (23)
$`2.`$ $`j\text{preserves}\text{leading}\text{terms},`$ (24)
$`3.`$ $`j\text{preserves}W\text{invariance},`$ (25)
$`4.`$ $`j(D)S(\text{an}\text{algebra}\text{of}\text{IM}).`$ (26)
It is evident that (26) makes sense only for group values of $`g_\alpha `$ (12). The root multiplicities $`m_\alpha `$ that determine $`g_\alpha `$ can be found in  for all symmetric spaces.

Remark. The analysis of this section is completely applicable also to systems of type I and III (3). For this purpose let us introduce the parameter $`a`$ into the function $`\xi (q)`$ (8)

$$\xi _a(q)=\underset{\alpha R_+}{}\left(a^1\text{sh}aq_\alpha \right)^{\mu _\alpha },\mu _\alpha =\frac{1}{2}m_\alpha .$$

Let $`a`$ tends to zero. We obtain a mapping of the RPLO on symmetric spaces of zero curvature $`X^0`$ in an IM algebra of systems of type I. But if $`a`$ is imaginary, then we obtain systems of type III and spaces of positive curvature $`X^+`$ that are dual in the sense of Cartan to $`X^{}`$. Let us note that the curvature of a symmetric space is proportional to $`a^2`$.

Theorem 1. Quantum systems of type I, II, III, and V are completely integrable for group values of $`g_\alpha `$.

Proof. Since the algebra $`\stackrel{~}{S}`$=Im $`j(D)`$ is isomorphic to the algebra $`D`$ (23) and $`\stackrel{~}{S}S`$ (26), the assertion of the theorem for the systems I, II and III will follow from the existence of $`n`$ generators of the commutative algebra $`D`$ on the symmetric spaces $`X^0`$, $`X^{}`$, and $`X^+`$ . For systems of type V the assertion follows from the complete integrability of systems of type I when we change the variables $`p_jp_j\pm i\omega q_j`$ (see ).

Corollary 1. For group values of $`g_\alpha `$, the classical systems of type I, II, III, and V are completely integrable.

Proof. Let us introduce the Planck constant into the momentum operators $`p_j=i\mathrm{}/q_j`$, and let it tends to zero. Then the commutators of the operators will go over into the Poisson brackets of classical variables. Let us note that in the classical case, complete integrability has been proved earler (in ) for classical root systems only.

## 4 Algebra of Integrals of Motion

In this section we shall describe a subalgebra $`\stackrel{~}{S}`$ of the IM algebra $`S`$ which for systems of type I - III and group values of $`g_\alpha `$ (12) is an image of the RPLO algebra $`D`$ under the mapping $`j`$.

Let us define the subalgebra $`\stackrel{~}{S}`$ in a more general situation. Let us consider systems of type I - IV for any values of $`g_\alpha `$. The subalgebra $`\stackrel{~}{S}`$ is specified by the following conditions:

$$I(sp,sq)=I(p,q)(W\text{invariance}),$$
(27)
For systems of type I, the algebra $`\stackrel{~}{S}^I`$ is graded,

$$\stackrel{~}{S}^I=_{k=0}^{\mathrm{}}\stackrel{~}{S}_k^I,\stackrel{~}{S}_k^I=\{I_k^I(p,q)\},I_k^I(\lambda ^1p,\lambda q)=\lambda ^kI_k^I(p,q),$$
(28)
where $`I_k^I(p,q)`$ is a polynomial of degree not higher than $`k`$ in $`p`$.

For systems of type II - IV,

$$I(p,q)=I^I(p,q)(1+O(|q|))\text{for}q0,$$
(29)
where $`I^I(p,q)`$ is an IM of systems of type I. This relation makes it possible to introduce the gradation in $`\stackrel{~}{S}`$ for systems II - IV.

Let $`I_k(p,q)\stackrel{~}{S}_k`$ and suppose that it has the form

$$I_k(p,q)=\underset{m=0}{\overset{s}{}}c^{i_1,\mathrm{},i_m}(q)p_{i_1}\mathrm{}p_{i_m}(sk).$$
(30)
Lemma 2. If the leading coefficients $`c^{i_1,\mathrm{},i_s}(q)`$ in (30) are not constant, then $`I_k(p,q)=0`$.

Proof. Since $`I_k\stackrel{~}{S}_k`$, it follows that $`[H,I_k]=0`$. Let the coefficients of the leading powers $`p_{i_1}\mathrm{}p_{i_{s+1}}`$ of this commutator are equal to zero. By virtue of the explicit form of $`H`$ (see (1) and (2)), we obtain

$$\underset{\sigma }{}\frac{}{q_l}c^{j_1,\mathrm{},j_s}(q)=0,$$
(31)
where the sum is taken over all the permutations of indices $`\sigma (l,j_1,\mathrm{},j_s)=(i_1,\mathrm{},i_{s+1})`$. It is proved (, Lemma 2.5, p.407) that the system (31) has only polynomial solutions. For systems of type I, from the gradation conditions (28) it follows that $`c^{i_1,\mathrm{},i_s}(\lambda q)=\lambda ^{sk}c^{i_1,\mathrm{},i_s}(q)`$. Since $`k>s`$, the only polynomial to satisfy this condition is the polynomial being equal to zero identically. Thus, $`c^{i_1,\mathrm{},i_s}(q)0`$. The same result can be obtained by considering the asymptotic behavior, for $`|q|0`$ of systems of type II - IV in (29).

Corollary 2. The integrals $`I_k(p,q)\stackrel{~}{S}_k`$ are uniquely determined by their leading terms.

Proof. Suppose that $`I_k^{}`$ and $`I_k^{\prime \prime }`$ belong to $`\stackrel{~}{S}_k`$, and that their leading terms coincide. Then $`\mathrm{\Delta }I_k=I_k^{}I_k^{\prime \prime }`$ will belong to $`S_k`$ and it does not contain constant leading terms. Hence, $`\mathrm{\Delta }I_k=0`$.

Corollary 3. The algebra $`\stackrel{~}{S}`$ is commuataive.

Proof. Let $`I_k\stackrel{~}{S}_k`$ and $`I_m\stackrel{~}{S}_m`$. It is evident that $`[I_k,I_m]`$ belongs to $`\stackrel{~}{S}_{k+m}`$ and that it does not contain constant leading terms. Therefore, the commutator will be equal to zero.

Now let us confine ourselves to systems of type I - III and to group values of the constants $`g_\alpha `$ (12).

Theorem 2. The mapping $`j`$ is an isomorphism of an RPLO algebra on symmetric spaces of zero, negative, and positive curvature into the algebra $`\stackrel{~}{S}`$ of systems of type I, II and III, respectively.

Proof. By virtue of Proposition 1, the mapping $`j`$ is a monomorphism of the algebra $`D`$ into an algebra of $`W`$-invariant IM.

The Lie algebra $`𝒢`$ of the group of motions of a space of zero curvature has a decomposition $`𝒢=𝒦+`$, where $`𝒦`$ is a maximal compact subalgebra and $``$ is a subalgebra of parallel translations of the space $`X^0`$. The Lie operators belonging to $`𝒦`$ have degree 0 under similarity transformations, whereas the Lie operators belonging to $``$ have degree 1. Therefore, an universal enveloping algebra has a natural gradation.

This gradation can be transferred to the algebra of Laplace operators on the space $`X^0`$. This follows from the fact that in canonical coordinates the Laplace operators have constant coefficients, and also from the homogeneity of Lie operators. Therefore, any homogeneous component of the Laplace operator is also Laplace operator. This gradation can evidently be transferred to the RPLO algebra $`D`$. From the explicit form of $`j`$ (see (9)) it follows that $`j`$ preserves this gradation.

Now let us consider symmetric spaces of nonzero curvature.

Let the point $`x`$ tends to $`x_0`$ (see (7)). This corresponds to $`q0`$. The space which is tangent at the point $`x_0`$ to $`X`$ is a symmetric space of zero curvature $`X^0`$. Hence, for $`xx_0`$ the Lie operators on $`X`$ will go over into Lie operators on $`X^0`$. It hence follows that the RPLO on $`X`$ has an asymptotic behavior (29). Let us note that the mapping $`j`$ preserves this asymptotic behavior. Thus, $`j`$ is a monomorphism of $`D`$ into $`\stackrel{~}{S}`$.

Let $`I_k\stackrel{~}{S}_k`$. Let us consider the operator $`j^1I_k`$. By virtue of Proposition 1 we have $`[j^1I_k,B]=0`$, and its leading terms are $`W`$-invariant. Moreover, there exists a unique $`\mathrm{\Delta }_kD`$ with the same leading terms . By virtue of the uniqueness, from Corollary 2 it follows that $`\mathrm{\Delta }_k=j^1I_k`$.

## 5 Explicit Form of Radial Parts of Laplace Operators

In  we have obtained explicit formulas for certain integrals in $`\stackrel{~}{S}`$. With the aid of the theorem presented in Sec. 4 it is easy to obtain formulas for the radial parts of Laplace operators: $`\mathrm{\Delta }_k=\xi ^1I_k\xi `$.

Below we denote

$`x(\xi )`$ $`=`$
I. $`\xi ^1(X^0),`$
II. $`\text{sh}^1\xi (X^{}),`$
III. $`\mathrm{sin}^1\xi (X^+).`$
Let us note that the IM depends only on the function $`x^2(\eta )=V(\eta )`$ and its derivatives, whereas the constants $`g`$, $`g_1`$, and $`g_2`$ are related to the root multiplicities $`m`$, $`m_1`$, and $`m_2`$ by the formula (12).

a) Spaces with root systems of type $`A_{n1}`$. Here generators are $`\mathrm{\Delta }_2=B`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_3,\mathrm{},\mathrm{\Delta }_n`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_k=\xi ^1J_k\xi `$,

$$J_n=\mathrm{exp}\left\{\frac{g^2}{2}\underset{kl}{}x^2(q_kq_l)\frac{}{p_k}\frac{}{p_l}\right\}p_1p_2\mathrm{}p_n.$$
(32)
Let $`Q=_{j=1}^nq_j`$. Then the other $`J_k`$ can be defined recursively 333 In different form, the formulas for $`J_k`$ for systems of type $`A_{n1}`$ have appeared for the first time in . The proof that $`J_k\stackrel{~}{S}_k`$ can be found in .

$$J_{k1}=\frac{i}{kn1}[Q,J_k].$$
(33)
In lower dimensions, it is possible to present an explicit form of the operators $`I_k`$ with other leading terms. Let us denote by the brackets $`A_{kl}^r`$ the trace of the matrix $`A^r`$, and let $`p=\text{diag}(p_1,\mathrm{},p_n)`$. Then

$`I_3`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{n}{}}}p_k^3+3g^2{\displaystyle \underset{kl}{}}x^2(q_kq_l)p_l,`$
$`I_4`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{n}{}}}p_k^4+2g^2{\displaystyle \underset{kl}{}}x^2(q_kq_l)(2p_l^2+p_kp_l)+g^2x^4(q_kq_l)`$
$`+`$ $`g^2{\displaystyle \underset{kl}{}}\left\{2\left[x^2(q_kq_l)\right]^{}ip_l\left[x^2(q_kq_l)\right]^{\prime \prime }\right\},`$
$`I_5`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{n}{}}}p_k^5+5g^2{\displaystyle \underset{kl}{}}x^2(q_kq_l)(p_l^3+p_k^2p_l)+5g^4x^4(q_kq_l)p_l`$
$`+`$ $`5g^2{\displaystyle \underset{kl}{}}\left\{\left[x^2(q_kq_l)\right]^{}ip_l^2\left[x^2(q_kq_l)\right]^{\prime \prime }p_l\right\}.`$
There exist two infinite series and one exceptional symmetric space with a root system of type $`A_{n1}`$444 Here and below we shall not consider symmetric spaces with a complex group of motion for which $`U(q)=0`$ .. Here we list the spaces of noncompact type (the notation has been adopted from ):

|  | $`X^{}`$ | $`g^2`$ | Rank |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| $`AI`$ | $`SL(n,R)/SO(n)`$ | $`\frac{1}{4}`$ | $`n1`$ |
| $`AII`$ | $`SU^{}(2n)/Sp(n)`$ | 2 | $`n1`$ |
| $`EIV`$ | $`E_6/F_4`$ | 12 | 2 |

b) Spaces with root systems of type $`B_n`$, $`C_n`$, $`BC_n`$, and $`D_n`$. Here the generators are $`\mathrm{\Delta }_2=B`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_4,\mathrm{},\mathrm{\Delta }_{2n}`$ (or $`\mathrm{\Delta }_n^{}`$ for $`D_n`$). Only the operator $`\mathrm{\Delta }_4=\xi ^1I_4\xi `$ is known.

$`I_4`$ $`=`$ $`2{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{n}{}}}p_k^4+8g^2{\displaystyle \underset{kl}{}}\left[x^2(q_kq_l)+x^2(q_k+q_l)\right]p_l^2+8g_1^2{\displaystyle \underset{kl}{}}x^2(q_l)p_l^2`$
$`+`$ $`8g_2^2{\displaystyle \underset{l=1}{\overset{n}{}}}x^2(2q_l)p_l^2+4g^2{\displaystyle \underset{kl}{}}\left[x^2(q_kq_l)x^2(q_k+q_l)\right]p_kp_l`$
$`+`$ $`4g^2{\displaystyle \underset{kl}{}}\left[x^2(q_kq_l)+x^2(q_k+q_l)\right]^{}ip_l+g^4\left[x(q_kq_l)\right]^4`$
$``$ $`8g_1^2{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{n}{}}}\left[x^2(q_k)\right]^{}ip_k16g_2^2{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{n}{}}}\left[x^2(2q_k)\right]^{}ip_k`$
$``$ $`2g^2{\displaystyle \underset{kl}{}}\left[x^2(q_kq_l)+x^2(q_k+q_l)\right]^{\prime \prime }4g_1^2{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{n}{}}}\left[x^2(q_k)\right]^{\prime \prime }`$
$``$ $`16g_2^2{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{n}{}}}\left[x^2(2q_k)\right]^{\prime \prime }.`$
Thus, for symmetric spaces of rank 2, with the exception of spaces with a group of motions $`G_2`$, we have a complete system of generators. Here we list the nonisomorphic spaces of noncompact type , :

|  |  | $`X^{}`$ | $`g^2`$ | $`g_1^2`$ | $`g_2^2`$ |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | $`BDI`$ | $`SO_0(n,2)/(SO(n)SO(2)),n>2`$ | $`\frac{1}{4}`$ | $`\frac{1}{8}(n2)(n4)`$ | 0 |
| 2 | $`CII`$ | $`Sp(2,2)/(Sp(2)Sp(2))`$ | $`\frac{3}{4}`$ | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | $`AIII`$ | $`SU(n,2)/(SU(n)U(2)),n>2`$ | 0 | $`\frac{1}{2}(n2)^2`$ | $`\frac{1}{2}`$ |
| 4 | $`CII`$ | $`Sp(n,2)/(Sp(n)Sp(2)),n>2`$ | 2 | $`2(n1)(n2)`$ | $`\frac{3}{2}`$ |
| 5 | $`DIII`$ | $`SO^{}(10)/U(5)`$ | 2 | 2 | $`\frac{1}{2}`$ |
| 6 | $`EIII`$ | $`E_6/(SO(10)SO(2))`$ | 6 | 8 | $`\frac{1}{2}`$ |


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# Untitled Document

IHES-P/02/14 ITEP-TH-13/02 hep-th/0203109

LECTURES ON OPEN STRINGS, AND NONCOMMUTATIVE GAUGE THEORIES

Nikita A. Nekrasov1 On leave of absence from Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, 117259 Moscow, Russia

Institute des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques, Le Bois-Marie, Bures-sur-Yvette, F-91440 France

e-mail: nikita@ihes.fr

To Alain Connes on his 55th birthday

The background independent formulation of the gauge theories on D-branes in flat space-time is considered, some examples of the solutions of their equations of motion are presented, the solutions of Dirac equation in these backgrounds are analyzed, and the generalizations to the curved spaces, like orbifolds, conifolds, and K3 surfaces, are discussed.

1. Introduction

We suggest to look for a generalized version of the gauge fields/strings correspondence  which may prove easier to establish (as sometimes general problems are easier then the particular ones) . In the past few years a (new) connection has been (re-)discovered between noncommutative geometry  and string theory . The previous understanding  of intrinsic noncommutativity of open string theory was supplemented by a vast number of examples stemming from the studies of D-branes, which allowed to make the noncommutativity manifest already at the field theory (or zero slope) limit. This connection may prove useful both ways. On the one hand, the noncommutative geometry is a deeply studied subject, thanks to the work of A. Connes and his followers. On the other hand, using the intuition/results from D-brane physics one can come up with new solutions/ideas for theories on noncommutative spaces.

These lecture notes should not be considered as an introduction into the noncommutative field theories and their relation to string theories. We refer the interested reader to . Instead, we shall expand on several points not covered in .

We shall start with a unified construction of the worldvolume theories of D-branes of unspecified dimensionality. We shall discuss mostly the flat Minkowski space closed string background. In the concluding section we present a few new results on curved backgrounds: namely the orbifolds of flat space, and their deformations, the conifolds. The more abstract approach to classification of D-brane states on rational conformal field theories will not be covered here (see cf. )

In the mean time we shall discuss several classical solutions of the noncommutative gauge theory. They correspond to flat D-branes, D-branes at angles, D-branes with different magnetic fields turned on, D-branes of various dimensions. Generically these solutions are unstable (open string spectrum contains a tachyon). In the noncommutative gauge theory the instability is reflected by the negative modes in the expansion around the solution. In principle one should be able to study the decay of the solution towards the stable ones. However the application of this analysis to string theory is limited, as in the majority of the cases the $`\alpha ^{}`$-corrections to the flow may not be negligible.

We shall also consider in some detail the case of four dimensional instanton/monopole solutions. In each case we shall construct the solutions of the Dirac equation in the background of the instanton/monopole. In the case of instantons the analysis of the solutions of the Dirac equation permits to establish the completeness of the noncommutative version of ADHM construction . This is a noncommutative version of the reciprocity of .

In the course of these lectures we shall try to make clear that the noncommutative algebras, which should be thought of the algebras of functions on the noncommutative manifold, are not fixed, but rather arise upon a choice of classical solution in the background independent formulation of the gauge theory. We shall show that this background independent formulation is on the one hand related to the background independent open string field theory . On the other hand it is related to Matrix theory.

Finally, a note for Alain. In these notes we look at but the simplest noncommutative geometries arising in open string theory on flat space-time backgrounds. Nevertheless, even this simplest case turns out to be rather rich. In the $`\alpha ^{}0`$ limit the associative algebra which governs the story is the so-called Yang-Mills algebra. Almost nothing is known about its representation theory.

Acknowledgements. I would like to thank A. Connes, D. Gross, A. Polyakov, A. Schwarz, S. Shatashvili for fruitful discussions. Research was supported in part by RFFI under the grant 01-01-00549, by Clay Mathematical Institute. I would like to thank my fellow co-organizers of the 2001 Les Houches summer school for the opportunity to present these results, and the students for the useful back-reaction.

2. Background Independence

It was observed by many authors, see cf.  that the Matrix theory action (or its euclidean version ) provides a background independent formulation of the large class of gauge theories. We shall now state this more precisely, and at the same time we shall fix our notations. Consider an abstract Hilbert space $``$ and a collection of $`d`$ Hermitian operators $`Y^i`$, $`i=1,\mathrm{},d`$, acting there. We shall sometimes use the notation $`𝐘`$ for the vector in $`V=𝐑^d`$ with values in the space $`𝐇()`$ of Hermitian operators in $``$. Let $`g_{ij}`$ be a Euclidean metric on $`V`$, Define a formal action:

$$S=\frac{1}{4\mathrm{g}_{\mathrm{YM}}^2}\sqrt{g}g_{ik}g_{jl}\mathrm{Tr}_{}[Y^i,Y^j][Y^k,Y^l]$$
$`(2.1)`$
We said (2.1) is formal because it may happen that for a physically sensible choice of $`𝐘`$ the value of $`S`$ is infinite. We shall consider $`𝐘`$ such that with appropriate choice of a constant $`\mu `$, the action becomes finite upon subtraction of $`\mu \mathrm{Tr}_{}\mathrm{𝟏}`$ (more precisely, we subtract $`\mu \mathrm{𝟏}`$ from $`[Y,Y]^2`$ before calculating the trace).

The action (2.1) has an obvious gauge symmetry (which is consistent with the infrared regularization above):

$$Y^ig^{}Y^ig,g^{}g=gg^{}=\mathrm{𝟏}$$
$`(2.2)`$
The equations of motion following from (2.1) are:

$$g_{kl}[Y^k,[Y^l,Y^j]]=0,j=1,\mathrm{}d$$
$`(2.3)`$
The operators $`Y^i`$ generate some associative algebra $`𝒜`$. Let us define the so-called Yang-Mills algebra $`𝒜_{YM,d}`$ to be the associative algebra generated by $`Y^i`$, subject to the relations (2.3).

We shall now pause to establish the meaning of the operators $`Y^i`$ in the open string theory context.

To this end let us consider open superstring propagating in the flat $`𝐑^{9,1}`$. Consider the worldsheet of the disk topology. Let $`z`$, $`|z|1`$ be the holomorphic coordinate on this disk $`D`$. Let $`z=e^{r+i\sigma }`$. The fields $`X^\mu `$ will have the following boundary conditions:

$$\begin{array}{cc}& _rX^\mu =0,\mu =0,1\mathrm{},p,r=1\hfill \\ & _\sigma X^\mu =0,\mu =p+1,\mathrm{},25,r=1\hfill \end{array}$$
$`(2.4)`$
These boundary conditions describe the single flat $`Dp`$-brane. If we want to have several parallel $`Dp`$-branes then we should allow for the Chan-Paton factors, say $`i=1,\mathrm{},N`$, so that the (constant) value of $`X^\mu (r=1,\sigma )=\phi ^\mu `$, $`\mu =p+1,\mathrm{}25`$ may depend on $`i`$: $`\phi _i^\mu `$.

The canonical way of setting up a string calculation in these circumstances is to consider the dimension $`1`$ vertex operators on the boundary, evaluate their correlation function, and integrate it over the moduli space of points on the boundary of the disk. One can also add the closed string vertex operators into the interior of the disk. These operators should have the dimension $`(1,1)`$. The open string vertex operators in general change the boundary conditions, i.e. the boundary conditions corresponding to the Chan-Paton index $`i`$ to the left of the vertex operator may be followed by the $`j`$’th boundary condition to the right of the operator. This is, of course, reflected by the contribution to the dimension of the operator of the mass squared of the stretched string: $`m_{ij}^2=\phi ^i\phi ^j^2`$.

We would like to have a setup in which there is no need to specify in advance neither the values of $`\phi ^i`$, nor $`p`$ or $`N`$. All this data will be encoded in the properties of the operators $`Y^\mu `$, $`\mu =0,\mathrm{},9`$, acting in some auxiliary Hilbert space $``$.

Consider the correlation function of a closed string vertex operator $`𝒪`$ inserted at the center $`z=0`$ of the disk $`D`$, and the boundary operator, generalizing the usual supersymmetric Wilson loop:

$$𝒵\left[𝒪|Y\right]=𝒪\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{1}{4\pi \alpha ^{}}_Dg_{ij}\left(x^i\overline{}x^j+\psi ^i\overline{}\psi ^j+\stackrel{~}{\psi }^i\stackrel{~}{\psi }^j\right)\right)\mathrm{Tr}_{}\left(P\mathrm{exp}_Dik_i\left(Y^ix^i\mathrm{𝟏}\right)+\vartheta _i\mathrm{\Psi }^i+\vartheta _i\vartheta _j[Y^i,Y^j]\right)$$
$`(2.5)`$
Here $`k_i,\vartheta _i`$ are the momenta conjugate to $`x^i,\mathrm{\Psi }^i=\psi ^i+\stackrel{~}{\psi }^i`$: $`k_i=g_{ij}_nx^j,\vartheta _i=\psi ^i\stackrel{~}{\psi }^i`$. For example, for the graviton: $`𝒪_h=h_{ij}(p):\psi ^i\stackrel{~}{\psi }^je^{ipx}:`$ (times the ghosts and superghosts):

$$𝒵\left[𝒪_h|Y\right]=g_{kl}𝑑pe^{ipx}h_{ij}(p)_0^1𝑑s\mathrm{Tr}_{}e^{ispY}[Y^i,Y^k]e^{i(1s)pY}[Y^j,Y^l]+o(\alpha ^{})$$

It can be shown that the condition that the boundary interaction (2.5) is consistent with the conformal invariance of the worldsheet sigma model reads as:

$$g_{ij}[Y^i,[Y^j,Y^k]]=0(\alpha ^{})$$
$`(2.6)`$
We can think of (2.6) as defining a one-parametric family of the associative algebras, generated by $`Y^i`$. We shall call them the algebras of functions on the D-brane worldvolume.

It should be straightforward to establish a direct relation between the background independent formulation of the noncommutative gauge theories via $`Y^i`$’s, and the background independent open string field theory.

In the sequel we shall study the case $`\alpha ^{}0`$, i.e. Yang-Mills algebras.

An obvious class of Yang-Mills algebras is provided by the Heisenberg-Weyl algebras, where the generators $`Y^i`$ obey the stronger condition:

$$[Y^i,Y^j]\mathrm{𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛}(𝒜_{YM,d})$$
$`(2.7)`$
Clearly, for $`d=2`$ all Yang-Mills algebras are at the same time Heisenberg-Weyl. For generic Heisenberg-Weyl solution let us denote

$$Z^{ij}=[Y^i,Y^j],$$
$`(2.8)`$
we have $`[Z^{ij},Y^k]=0`$ for any $`i,j,k`$. Let us diagonalize $`Z^{ij}`$:

$$=\underset{A}{}H_A,Z^{ij}|_{H_A}=i\theta _A^{ij}1_{H_A}$$
$`(2.9)`$
Then each subspace $`H_A`$ is an irreducible representation of the Heisenberg algebra $`[x_A^i,x_A^j]=i\theta _A^{ij}`$.

We now wish to describe the spectrum of fluctuations around the solution (2.8)(2.9). To this end we can decompose the fluctuation $`y^i=\delta Y^i`$ as follows:

$$y^i=\underset{A,B}{}y_{AB}^i,y_{AB}^i:H_BH_A$$
$`(2.10)`$
We shall also impose the following gauge condition:

$$g_{ij}[Y^i,y^j]=0\underset{A,B}{}g_{ij}\left(x_A^iy_{AB}^jy_{AB}^ix_B^j\right)=0$$
$`(2.11)`$
The linearized fluctuations are governed by the quadratic approximation to the action:

$$𝒦y^j=g_{ik}[x^i,[x^k,y^j]]+2g_{ik}[y^i,Z^{kj}]$$
$`(2.12)`$
which leads to the following eigenvalue problem for the spectrum of masses:

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \omega ^2y_{AB}^j=& \left(\mathrm{\Delta }_Ay^j+y^j\mathrm{\Delta }_B2g_{ik}x_A^iy_{AB}^jx_B^k+2iy_{AB}^i\left(T_{i,B}^jT_{i,A}^j\right)\right)\hfill \\ & \mathrm{\Delta }_A=g_{ij}x_A^ix_A^j,T_{i,A}^j=\theta _A^{kj}g_{ik}\hfill \end{array}$$
$`(2.13)`$
We now proceed with some examples.

2.1. Dolan-Nappi solutions

This solution describes two branes which could sit on top of each other, and have different magnetic fields turned on.

Set $`d=2`$, $`\theta _{A,B}^{ij}=\theta _{A,B}ϵ^{ij}`$, $`A,B=1,2,i,j=1,2`$, $`g_{ij}=\delta _{ij}`$. The operators $`𝐘`$ corresponding to this solution are given by:

$$Y^1+iY^2=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\sqrt{2\theta _1}a_1& 0\\ 0& \sqrt{2\theta _2}a_2\end{array}\right)$$
$`(2.14)`$
where $`a_1,a_2`$ are the annihilation operators acting in two (isomorphic) copies $`_1,_2`$ of the Hilbert space $``$.

To facilitate the analysis let us map the operators $`L_{AB}:H_AH_B`$ to the vectors in the tensor product: $`H_BH_A^{}HH`$:

$$L_{AB}\underset{n_1,n_2}{}n_2|L_{AB}|n_1|n_2,n_1$$

Also, introduce the notation $`\zeta =y_{AB}^1+iy_{AB}^2,\overline{\zeta }=y_{AB}^1iy_{AB}^2`$. First, assume that $`\theta _{A,B}>0`$ and introduce the creation-annihilation operators:

$$x_{A,B}^1+ix_{A,B}^2=\sqrt{2\theta _{A,B}}a_{1,2}$$

and the number operators $`n_\alpha =a_\alpha ^+a_\alpha `$. Then (upon the identification $`\zeta H_1H_2`$)

$$𝒦\begin{array}{c}\zeta \\ \overline{\zeta }\end{array}=2\theta _A(n_1+\frac{1}{2})+2\theta _B(n_2+\frac{1}{2})2\sqrt{\theta _A\theta _B}\left(a_1^+a_2^++a_1a_2\right)\pm 2(\theta _A\theta _B)\begin{array}{c}\zeta \\ \overline{\zeta }\end{array}$$
$`(2.15)`$
This operator is conveniently diagonalized by introduction of the $`SU(1,1)`$ generators:

$$L_+=a_1^+a_2^+,L_{}=a_1a_2,L_0=\frac{1}{2}\left(n_1+n_2+1\right)$$
$`(2.16)`$
and the operator

$$M=\frac{1}{2}\left(n_1n_2\right)$$

Now, the spectrum of

$$𝒦=2(\theta _A\theta _B)(M\pm 1)+2(\theta _A+\theta _B)L_02\sqrt{\theta _A\theta _B}(L_++L_{})$$
$`(2.17)`$
depends on whether $`\theta _A`$ equals $`\theta _B`$ or not. If $`\theta _A\theta _B0`$ then upon a Bogolyubov $`SU(1,1)`$ transformation we can bring $`𝒦`$ to the form:

$$2(\theta _A\theta _B)(M\pm 1)+2|\theta _A\theta _B|L_0$$
$`(2.18)`$
whose spectrum is (remember that the spectrum of $`L_0`$ is given by: $`L_0=\frac{1}{2}+|M|+k,k𝐙_+`$):

$$2(\theta _A\theta _B)(\pm 1+M)+|\theta _A\theta _B|(1+2|M|+2k)$$
$`(2.19)`$
which contains a tachyonic mode (for $`\zeta `$ or $`\overline{\zeta }`$ depending on the sign of $`\theta _A\theta _B`$).

For $`\theta _A=\theta _B=\theta `$ the operator $`𝒦`$ is manifestly positive definite:

$$𝒦=2\theta bb^{},b=a_1a_2^+,b=a_1^+a_2$$

and its spectrum is continuous:

$$𝒦=2\theta |\kappa |^2$$

with the eigenvectors:

$$e^{i(\kappa a_1^++\overline{\kappa }a_2^+)+a_1^+a_2^+}|0,0$$

which in the ordinary, operator, representation correspond to the plane waves:

$$e^{i(\kappa a^{}+\overline{\kappa }a)}$$

2.2. Intersecting branes

As another interesting example of the solution (2.7) we shall look at the case $`d=4`$:

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \theta _A^{12}=& \theta _1\delta _{A,1}\hfill \\ \hfill \theta _A^{34}=& \theta _2\delta _{A,2}\hfill \end{array}$$
$`(2.20)`$
This solution describes two branes, each having two dimensions transverse to another. The operators $`Y^i`$ corresponding to this solution have the following block-diagonal form:

$$Y^1+iY^2=\sqrt{2\theta _1}\left(\begin{array}{cc}a_1& 0\\ 0& 0\end{array}\right),Y^3+iY^4=\sqrt{2\theta _2}\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 0\\ 0& a_2\end{array}\right)$$
$`(2.21)`$
where we denote by $`a_1,a_2`$ the annihilation operators acting in two copies $`_1,_2`$ of the Hilbert space $``$.

In this case the spectrum of fluctuations contains in the $`AB`$ sector the discrete modes, corresponding to the strings localized at the intersection of the branes, and, if $`\theta _1\theta _2`$, starts off with the tachyonic mode:

$$\omega ^2=2\theta _1n_1+2\theta _2n_2\pm |\theta _1\theta _2|,n_{1,2}𝐙_+$$
$`(2.22)`$
2.3. T-duality

The configuration from the previous example is closely related to the ‘piercing string’ solution of , which in our present notation is described as follows: let as before $`_1,_2`$ denote two copies of the Hilbert space $``$. Now, let $`_3=_1_2`$. Then the operators $`𝐘`$ will be acting in $`_3_2`$:

$$Y^1+iY^2=\sqrt{2\theta _1}\left(\begin{array}{cc}a_11& 0\\ 0& 0\end{array}\right),Y^3+iY^4=\sqrt{2\theta _2}\left(\begin{array}{cc}1\frac{1}{2}(a_2+a_2^+)& 0\\ 0& a_2\end{array}\right)$$
$`(2.23)`$
The analysis of fluctuations around this solution is similar, it also exibiths a tachyonic mode for $`\theta _1\theta _2`$.

3. BPS algebras

Less trivial is the case of the so-called BPS algebras (not to be confused with the algebras of BPS states), whose generators obey the following relations: let $`S_\pm `$ be the spaces of chiral spinors of $`SO(d)`$, let $`\gamma _i`$ be the generators of the Clifford algebra,

$$\{\gamma _i,\gamma _j\}=g_{ij}\mathbf{1},$$
$`(3.1)`$
then the relations state that there exist two spinors $`ϵ_1,ϵ_2S_+`$ such that

$$[Y^i,Y^j][\gamma _i,\gamma _j]ϵ_1+\mathrm{𝟏}ϵ_2=0$$
$`(3.2)`$
If $`d=4`$ then these relations have the following simple form:

$$[Y^i,Y^j]\pm \frac{1}{2}\epsilon _{mnkl}\sqrt{g}g^{mi}g^{nj}[Y^k,Y^l]center(𝒜_{YM,4})$$
$`(3.3)`$
The operators $`Y^i`$ solving (3.3), considered up to a gauge transformation (2.2), define the noncommutative instanton.

3.1. Noncommutative U(1) instantons

The construction of noncommutative instantons  is a generalization of the famous ADHM procedure, which produces an anti-self-dual gauge field on $`𝐑^4`$ (or its one-point compactification, $`𝐒^4`$, given a solution to a finite-dimensional version of the anti-self-duality condition. The latter is imposed on the set of complex matrices, $`B_\alpha `$, $`\alpha =1,2`$, and (in the $`U(1)`$ case) $`I`$, where $`B_\alpha `$ are the operators in a vector space $`V=𝐂^k`$, where $`k`$ is the instanton charge, while $`I`$ is a vector in $`V`$. The conditions, imposed on $`(B_\alpha ,I)`$ are:

$$\begin{array}{cc}& [B_1,B_2]=0\hfill \\ & [B_1,B_1^{}]+[B_2,B_2^{}]+II^{}=2\mathrm{𝟏}_V\hfill \end{array}$$
$`(3.4)`$
The $`2`$ in the right-hand side of (3.4) is a convenient choice of normalization, which could be altered – what matters is whether there stands $`0`$ or something positive. Given a solution to (3.4), one can generate another one by applying a $`U(k)`$ transformation $`(B_\alpha ,I)(g^1B_\alpha g,g^1I)`$ with $`gU(k)`$. Such solutions will be considered as equivalent ones.

The purpose of this note is to elucidate the meaning of the space $`V`$ from the point of view of four dimensional noncommutative gauge theory. We shall see that $`V`$ is nothing but the space of normalizable solutions to Dirac equation for the spinor field in the fundamental representation, in the instanton background.

We now recall the construction of the instanton gauge field. Consider the associative algebra $`𝐑_\theta ^4`$ of operators in the Hilbert space $`=L^2(𝐑^2)`$, which we identify with the space of states of a two-dimensional harmonic oscillator. Let $`a_\alpha `$, $`a_\alpha ^{}`$, $`\alpha =1,2`$ be the annihilation and creation operators, respectively, which obey the algebra:

$$[a_\alpha ,a_\beta ^{}]=\delta _{\alpha \beta }$$
$`(3.5)`$
Consider the $`𝐑_\theta ^4`$-module $`M=V`$, and let $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}`$ denote the operators in $`M`$:

$$\begin{array}{cc}& \mathrm{\Delta }=\underset{\alpha }{}(B_\alpha a_\alpha ^{})(B_\alpha ^{}a_\alpha )\hfill \\ & \stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}=\underset{\alpha }{}(B_\alpha ^{}a_\alpha )(B_\alpha a_\alpha ^{})\hfill \\ & \stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}\mathrm{\Delta }=II^{}\hfill \end{array}$$
$`(3.6)`$
Let $`𝒟^{}:M𝐂^2M𝐂^2`$ be a morphism of $`𝐑_\theta ^4`$ modules, given by:

$$𝒟^{}=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}B_1a_1^{}& B_2a_2^{}& I\\ B_2^{}+a_2& B_1^{}a_1& 0\end{array}\right)$$
$`(3.7)`$
It follows from (3.4) that $`𝒟^{}𝒟=\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}\mathrm{𝟏}_{𝐂^2}:M𝐂^2M𝐂^2`$. One shows  that $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}`$ is a positive definite Hermitian operator in $`M`$. Hence, the following operator is a well-defined projector in $`M𝐂^2`$:

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_1=𝒟\frac{1}{𝒟^{}𝒟}𝒟^{}$$
$`(3.8)`$
Let $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ denote the fundamental solution to the equation $`𝒟^{}\mathrm{\Psi }=0`$, i.e. a morphism of $`𝐑_\theta ^4`$ modules: $`\mathrm{\Psi }:M𝐂^2`$. One shows that $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ can be normalized so as to define a unitary isomorphism between $``$ and the kernel of $`𝒟^{}`$: $`\mathrm{\Psi }^{}\mathrm{\Psi }=\mathrm{𝟏}_{}`$:

$$\begin{array}{cc}& \mathrm{\Psi }=\left(\begin{array}{c}\psi _1\\ \psi _2\\ \xi \end{array}\right),\hfill \\ & \psi _\alpha =(B_\alpha ^{}a_\alpha )v\hfill \\ & \mathrm{\Delta }v=I\xi \hfill \\ & \xi =\mathrm{\Lambda }^{{\scriptscriptstyle \frac{1}{2}}}S^{}\hfill \\ & \mathrm{\Lambda }=1+I^{}\frac{1}{\mathrm{\Delta }}I=\frac{I^{}\frac{1}{\mathrm{\Delta }}I}{I^{}\frac{1}{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}}I}\hfill \\ & \mathrm{\Lambda }^1=1I^{}\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}^1I\hfill \\ & S^{}:,SS^{}=1,S^{}S=1P\hfill \end{array}$$
$`(3.9)`$
where $`P`$ is a orthogonal projection in $``$ onto a subspace, isomorphic to $`V`$, which is spanned by the elements $`\eta `$ which are in the image of the operator $`I^{}\mathrm{exp}\left(_\alpha B_\alpha ^{}a_\alpha ^{}\right)|0,0:V`$, where $`|0,0`$ is the vacuum state in $``$.

It is instructive to show that this image can be also characterized as the kernel of the operator $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^1`$. Indeed, let $`\lambda `$ be such that $`\lambda =I^{}\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}^1I\lambda `$. It follows:

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill I\lambda =II^{}\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}^1I\lambda & \mathrm{\Delta }\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}^1I\lambda =\left(\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}II^{}\right)\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}^1I\lambda =0\hfill \\ & \stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}^1I\lambda =\mathrm{exp}\left(\underset{\alpha }{}B_\alpha ^{}a_\alpha ^{}\right)|0,0\nu ,\nu V\hfill \\ & I\left(\lambda I^{}\mathrm{exp}\left(\underset{\alpha }{}B_\alpha ^{}a_\alpha ^{}\right)|0,0\nu \right)=0\hfill \end{array}$$
$`(3.10)`$
In writing the formulae (3.9) we only had to use the operator $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^1`$ which is an element of $`𝐑_\theta ^4`$. However, for computational purposes it is useful to work with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ as well. Technically one has to localize $`𝐑_\theta ^4`$ over $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, i.e. consider the formal polynomials of the form $`_na_n\mathrm{\Lambda }^n`$ where $`a_n`$ are the elements of $`𝐑_\theta ^4`$.

One defines the second projector:

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_2=\mathrm{\Psi }\mathrm{\Psi }^{}$$
$`(3.11)`$
It is clear from the positivity of $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}`$, that:

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_1+\mathrm{\Pi }_2=\mathrm{𝟏}_{M𝐂^2}$$
$`(3.12)`$
This relation implies that the following identities hold:

$$\begin{array}{cc}& (B_1^{}a_1)\frac{1}{\mathrm{\Delta }}(B_1a_1^{})+(B_2a_2^{})\frac{1}{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}}(B_2^{}a_2)=\mathrm{𝟏}_k\hfill \\ & (B_2^{}a_2)\frac{1}{\mathrm{\Delta }}(B_2a_2^{})+(B_1a_1^{})\frac{1}{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}}(B_1^{}a_1)=\mathrm{𝟏}_k\hfill \\ & \left(I^{}\frac{1}{\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}}\mathrm{\Lambda }^1I^{}\frac{1}{\mathrm{\Delta }}\right)(B_\alpha a_\alpha ^{})=0\hfill \end{array}$$
$`(3.13)`$
Now, define operators in $``$

$$A_\alpha =\mathrm{\Psi }^{}a_\alpha \mathrm{\Psi },A_\alpha ^{}=\mathrm{\Psi }^{}a_\alpha ^{}\mathrm{\Psi }$$
$`(3.14)`$
One shows  that

$$\begin{array}{cc}& [A_1,A_2]=0,[A_1^{},A_2^{}]=0\hfill \\ & [A_1,A_1^{}]+[A_2,A_2^{}]=2\hfill \end{array}$$
$`(3.15)`$
3.2. Higher dimensional instantons

We now proceed with discussing BPS solutions involving more then four $`Y`$’s. In general, for the $`U(N)`$ gauge theory on a $`p`$ complex dimensional Kähler manifold $`X`$ the natural analogues of the instanton equations are the so-called Hermitian Yang-Mills equations, which state that the curvature of the gauge field $`A`$ is of the type $`(1,1)`$ and that its nonabelian part is primitive, that is orthogonal to the Kähler form $`\omega `$:

$$\begin{array}{cc}& F^{(2,0)}=0\hfill \\ & F\omega ^{p1}=\lambda \mathbf{1}\omega ^p\hfill \end{array}$$
$`(3.16)`$
where $`\lambda `$ is a constant, which can be computed from the first Chern class of the gauge bundle.

We shall now consider the noncommutative analogues of the equations (3.16). Let as introduce a complex structure on $`𝐑^d`$ such that the noncommutativity tensor $`\theta `$ is of the type $`(1,1)`$. We shall for simplicity assume that it actually related to the Kähler form: $`\theta =\omega ^1`$. The equations (3.16) will now read:

$$\begin{array}{cc}& [Y^\alpha ,Y^\beta ]=0,\alpha ,\beta =1,\mathrm{},p\hfill \\ & \underset{\alpha }{}[Y^\alpha ,Y^{\alpha ,}]=p\mathrm{𝟏}\hfill \end{array}$$
$`(3.17)`$
(we have normalized things in such a way that $`Y^\alpha =a_\alpha `$, with $`[a_\alpha ,a_\beta ^{}]=\delta _{\alpha \beta }`$ is a solution to (3.17)) Then it is relatively easy to produce a $`U(p)`$ invariant solution to (3.17)with positive action:

$$\begin{array}{cc}& Y^\alpha =Sa_\alpha \left(1\frac{p!}{(N)_p}\right)^{\frac{1}{2}}S^{}\hfill \\ & N=\underset{\alpha }{}a_{\alpha ,}a_\alpha \hfill \\ & (N)_p=N(N+1)\mathrm{}(N+p1)\hfill \\ & SS^{}=\mathrm{𝟏},S^{}S=\mathrm{𝟏}|00|\hfill \end{array}$$
$`(3.18)`$
The action on this solution is finite:

$$S_p=\mathrm{Tr}_{}\left([Y^\alpha ,Y^{\beta ,}]\delta ^{\alpha \beta }\right)\left([Y^\beta ,Y^{\alpha ,}]\delta ^{\alpha \beta }\right)=p(p1)$$
$`(3.19)`$
The topological charges associated with this solution are:

$$\begin{array}{cc}& ch_r=\mathrm{Tr}_{}F^r\omega ^{pr}\hfill \\ & F_{ij}=\omega _{ik}\omega _{jl}\left([Y^k,Y^l]i\theta ^{kl}\right)\hfill \\ & ch_1=0\hfill \\ & ch_2=S_p=p(p1)\hfill \end{array}$$
$`(3.20)`$
4. Fermions in the $`𝐘`$ backgrounds

Given a generic $`𝐘`$ we define Dirac operator $`\text{ /}D:S_+𝒜S_{}𝒜`$ by the formula:

$$\text{ /}D\psi =\gamma _i[Y^i,\psi ]$$
$`(4.1)`$
Now consider a background $`𝐘=\underset{¯}{Y}\underset{¯}{Y}^{}`$, which splits as a direct sum of two independent $`Y`$-backgrounds. The Dirac operator, as defined by (4.1) splits as a sum of four independent operators. The most interesting for us is the “off-diagonal” one:

$$\text{ /}D\chi =\gamma _i\left(\underset{¯}{Y}^i\chi \chi \underset{¯}{Y}^{,i}\right)$$
$`(4.2)`$
Now suppose that $`\underset{¯}{Y}^{}`$ is a frozen vacuum solution, while $`\underset{¯}{Y}`$ is a dynamical gauge field. The off-diagonal component $`\chi `$ of the fermion $`\psi `$ which enters (4.2) is what is sometimes called the fermion in the fundamental representation (as opposed to the adjoint fermion in (4.1)).

4.1. Fermions in the instanton bacgkround

We are now interested in solution of the Dirac equation in the instanton background for the fermions in the fundamental representation:

$$\text{ /}D\chi =\left(\begin{array}{cc}_1& _2\\ _{\overline{1}}& _{\overline{2}}\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}\chi _1\\ \chi _2\end{array}\right)=0$$
$`(4.3)`$
where the covariant derivative of a field $`\chi `$ in the (right) fundamental representation is given by:

$$_\alpha \chi =A_\alpha ^{}\chi +\chi a_\alpha ^{},_{\overline{\alpha }}\chi =A_\alpha \chi \chi a_\alpha $$
$`(4.4)`$
We claim that the fundamental solution $`\chi `$ to (4.3) (which should be thought as of the morphism of the $`𝐑_\theta ^4`$ modules:

$$\chi :M𝐂^2$$

upon identification of the space of solutions with $`V`$, which is done essentially in the same way as in ) is given by:

$$\chi _\alpha =v^{}(B_\alpha a_\alpha ^{})\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}^1=S\mathrm{\Lambda }^{{\scriptscriptstyle \frac{1}{2}}}_\alpha \left(I^{}\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}^1\right)$$
$`(4.5)`$
It is easy to check (4.3) using the identities (3.13). Notice the following normalization of the solution (4.5):

$$\underset{\alpha }{}\chi _\alpha ^{}\chi _\alpha =\underset{\alpha }{}[a_\alpha ^{},[a_\alpha ,\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}^1]]\mathrm{Tr}_{}\underset{\alpha }{}\chi _\alpha ^{}\chi _\alpha =\mathrm{𝟏}_V$$
$`(4.6)`$
(in the last equality we used the fact that the trace of the double commutator will not change if we set $`B_\alpha =B_\alpha ^{}=0`$) By similar calculations one shows, that:

$$\mathrm{Tr}_{}\underset{\alpha }{}\chi _\alpha ^{}\chi _\alpha \left(\begin{array}{c}a_\beta \\ a_\beta ^{}\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{c}B_\beta ^{}\\ B_\beta \end{array}\right)$$
$`(4.7)`$
Now, given an instanton gauge field $`Y^i=(A_\alpha ,A_\alpha ^{})`$ we consider the associated Dirac operator $`\text{ /}D`$ and the space $`V`$ of its normalizable zero-modes. We shall require that $`Y^i`$ obey the following asymptotics:

$$Y^i=Sx^iS^{}+y^i$$
$`(4.8)`$
where $`SS^{}=\mathrm{𝟏}`$, and the eigenvalues $`\lambda _n^i`$ of $`y^i`$ decay faster then $`\frac{1}{n}`$ (after some reshuffling). Similarly, we are interested in the solutions $`\chi `$ to the Dirac equation, which have the form:

$$\chi _\alpha =Sa_\alpha ^{}\frac{1}{(aa^{})^2}+\mathrm{}$$
$`(4.9)`$
where $`\mathrm{}`$ denote subleading (in the same sense as for the gauge field, except that with $`\frac{1}{n^2}`$ instead of $`\frac{1}{n}`$ asymptotics) terms. One shows, analogously to  that the space of these solutions is of the dimension $`k`$, given by the instanton charge, and that the formulae (4.7) produce ADHM matrices $`B,B^{}`$, while the asymptotics

$$\chi _\alpha =ISa_\alpha ^{}\frac{1}{(aa^{})^2}$$
$`(4.10)`$
gives $`I`$. To define “asymptotics” of the operators properly, it is useful to employ the frozen vacuum solution $`\underset{¯}{Y}^{}`$ and the technique of the symbols, defined with respect to this solution2 Given a background $`\underset{¯}{Y}^{}`$ one can define the generalization of the Weyl symbol of the operator $`𝒪`$ by $`f_𝒪(q)=𝑑p\mathrm{Tr}_{}\left(𝒪\mathrm{exp}ip_i\left(q^iY^{i,}\right)\right)`$ and conversely, $`𝒪_f=𝑑p𝑑qf(q)\mathrm{exp}\left(ip_i\left(q^iY^{i,}\right)\right)`$. However, in general it is not easy to characterize the class of operators for which these formulae make sense, and also $`𝒪_{f_𝒪}𝒪`$, developed in . By the completely analogous calculations to  one proves that $`B,B^{},I`$ obey (3.4). This establishes the reciprocity.

4.2. Dirac field in the monopole background

We now present the solution $`\chi =\left(\begin{array}{c}\chi _+\\ \chi _{}\end{array}\right)`$ to the Dirac equation

$$2D_c\chi _+(D_3+\mathrm{\Phi }z)\chi _{}=0$$
$`(4.11)`$
$$2D_c^{}\chi _{}(D_3\mathrm{\Phi }+z)\chi _+=0$$
$`(4.12)`$
in the NC monopole background:

$$\chi _\pm =\pm \mathrm{\Psi }_{}^{}\frac{1}{\mathrm{\Delta }}$$
$`(4.13)`$
where

$$\begin{array}{cc}& \mathrm{\Delta }=bb^{}+c^{}c\hfill \\ & \begin{array}{c}b^{}\mathrm{\Psi }_++c\mathrm{\Psi }_{}=0\\ c^{}\mathrm{\Psi }_++b\mathrm{\Psi }_{}=0\end{array}\hfill \end{array}$$
$`(4.14)`$
and the notations are from . First of all, we need to invert $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$. This is easy, for (4.14) implies:

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 0=\left(bb^{}+cc^{}\right)\mathrm{\Psi }_+=(\mathrm{\Delta }+1)\mathrm{\Psi }_+& \mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Psi }_+=\mathrm{\Psi }_+\hfill \\ \hfill 0=\left(b^{}b+c^{}c\right)\mathrm{\Psi }_{}=(\mathrm{\Delta }1)\mathrm{\Psi }_{}& \mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Psi }_{}=\mathrm{\Psi }_{}\hfill \end{array}$$
$`(4.15)`$
However, it is early to assume that $`\chi _\pm =\mathrm{\Psi }_{}^{}`$ since $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ has a kernel:

$$\mathrm{\Delta }f=0f=vK$$

where $`v`$ is from , $`v=_{n=0}^{\mathrm{}}\nu _nb^n\phi |nn|`$, and $`K`$ is an arbitrary $`x_3`$-dependent operator in the Fock space $``$.

Thus, $`\chi _\pm =\mathrm{\Psi }_{}^{}K_\pm ^{}v^{}`$, and the operators $`K`$ must be chosen in such a way, that $`\chi _\pm \left(z=0\right)=0`$, which implies:

$$K_\pm ^{}=\mathrm{\Psi }_{}^{}(z=0)\xi $$
$`(4.16)`$
Recall that $`\mathrm{\Psi }_+=cv,\mathrm{\Psi }_{}=b^{}v`$. Hence3 Proof: use the identities: $`\xi v=\frac{b^n\phi }{\zeta _n},\frac{1}{2}_3\left(\xi v\right)=\left(_z+x_3\frac{\zeta _{n+1}}{\zeta _n}\right)(\xi v),\zeta _{n+1}=2x_3\zeta _n+n\zeta _{n1}`$. Then: $`\chi _+=\left(_zx_3\frac{1}{2}z\xi _n^2\right)v=\frac{1}{2}\xi ^1\left(_3z\right)(\xi v)=\frac{1}{2}\left(_3+\mathrm{\Phi }z\right)v,\chi _{}=vc^{}\xi ^1c^{}\xi v=\xi ^1_c\left(\xi v\right)=\left(_c+A_c\right)v`$ From this (4.11) follows, with the help of the Bogomolny equations obeyed by $`A_c,\mathrm{\Phi }`$ in . It remains to check (4.12). Indeed, if we denote $`\eta =\xi ^2,\lambda _n(z)=\frac{1}{\zeta _n}b^n\phi `$, then: $`\left(_3z\right)\lambda _n=2\eta _n\left(\lambda _{n1}\lambda _n\right),\eta _n\left(_3+z\right)\frac{1}{\eta _n}\left(_3z\right)\lambda _n=4\eta _n\left[\eta _{n1}\left(\lambda _{n2}\lambda _{n1}\right)+(z\eta _n)\left(\lambda _{n1}\lambda _n\right)\right]`$ and at the same time: $`\frac{1}{4}\eta _c^{}\left(\eta ^1\left(_c\lambda \right)\right)=\frac{\eta _n}{\eta _{n+1}}(n+1)\left(\lambda _{n+1}\lambda _n\right)n\left(\lambda _n\lambda _{n1}\right)`$, which implies (4.12),

$$K_+^{}=\xi ^1c^{}\xi ,K_{}^{}=\xi ^2$$
$`(4.17)`$
5. Non-trivial backgrounds

So far our discussion concerned the flat closed string background. We shall now generalize the discussion to cover some non-trivial string backgrounds.

5.1. Orbifolds

The obvious starting point is to consider orbifolds. So, let $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ be a discrete subgroup of $`Spin(d)\times 𝐑^d`$ \- the group of isometries of $`𝐑^d`$. For $`g\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ let $`\gamma (g)Spin(d)`$ be the corresponding rotation matrix, and $`l(g)𝐑^d`$ the corresponding shift vector. We have the following composition rule:

$$(l(g_1),\gamma (g_1))\times (l(g_2),\gamma (g_2))=(l(g_1)+\gamma (g_1)l(g_2),\gamma (g_1)\gamma (g_2))=(l(g_1g_2),\gamma (g_1g_2)).$$
$`(5.1)`$
We wish to consider D-branes living in the background obtained by taking the quotient of the Minkowskian space $`𝐑^d`$ by $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$.

The prescription for modifying the action (2.1) to reflect the orbifolded nature of the ambient space-time is the following. We demand that the Hilbert space $``$ forms a representation of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. Let $`\mathrm{\Omega }:\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{End}()`$ be the corresponding homomorphism. If $`_i`$, $`i=0,\mathrm{},r`$, are irreducible unitary representations of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, $`_0=𝐂`$ being the trivial representation, then

$$=\underset{i}{}_i_i$$

is the decomposition of $``$. We demand that the operators $`𝐘`$ are equivariant with respect to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ in the sense that:

$$\mathrm{\Omega }^1(g)Y^i\mathrm{\Omega }(g)=\gamma _j^i(g)Y^j+l^i(g)$$
$`(5.2)`$
In practice it is convenient to introduce the quiver diagram. We shall skip some standard issues like the reduced gauge invariance, and as a consequence more freedom in the action, coming from the twisted sector fields couplings. The latters are enumerated by the tensors

$$\theta ^{ij}(g)=\gamma _i^{}^i(h)\gamma _j^{}^j(h)\theta ^{i^{}j^{}}(h^1gh)$$
$`(5.3)`$
which will alter the ground state solutions as follows:

$$[Y^i,Y^j]=i\frac{1}{\mathrm{\#}\mathrm{\Gamma }}\underset{g\mathrm{\Gamma }}{}\theta ^{ij}(g)\mathrm{\Omega }(g)$$
$`(5.4)`$
(for infinite $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ the normalization factor should be discussed separately)

5.2. Example: $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=𝐙_2`$

Let $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=𝐙_2`$ act on $`𝐑^d`$ as $`yy`$. We have:

$$=_+_{}$$
$`(5.5)`$
The solution to (5.2) reads:

$$Y^i=\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& Y_+^i\\ Y_+^i& 0\end{array}\right)$$
$`(5.6)`$
where $`Y_\pm ^i:_{}_\pm `$. To simplify our problem let us assume very special form of the twisted sector field:

$$\theta ^{ij}(1)=\zeta \theta ^{ij}(+1)$$

Then, by going to the complex notations we can rewrite (5.4) as follows:

$$[A_\alpha ,A_\beta ^{}]=\frac{1}{2}\delta _{\alpha \beta }(1+\zeta F),[A_\alpha ,A_\beta ]=0,\alpha ,\beta =1,\mathrm{},d/2$$
$`(5.7)`$
where $`F`$ is the parity operator: $`F|__\pm =\pm 1`$.

We shall now study the representation theory of the algebra (5.4). Clearly, it is sufficient to study the case $`d=2`$. Let us rewrite (5.6) in terms of $`A,A^{}`$:

$$A_\alpha =\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& b_\alpha \\ a_\alpha & 0\end{array}\right),$$
$`(5.8)`$
then (5.7) becomes the condition (we now drop the index $`\alpha `$):

$$aa^{}b^{}b=\frac{1}{2}(1\zeta ),bb^{}a^{}a=\frac{1}{2}(1+\zeta )$$
$`(5.9)`$
We can assume $`\zeta 0`$ (otherwise we exchange $`a`$ and $`b`$). Notice that if $`\zeta =0`$ we can take as a solution

$$b=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(1P)𝐚P,a=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}P𝐚(1P),P=\frac{1}{2}(1+F),F=(1)^{𝐚^{}𝐚}$$

and $`𝐚,𝐚^{}`$ are the standard creation-annihilation operators.

For $`0\zeta <1`$ we have the following (essentially unique) representation:

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill be_n^+=\sqrt{n}e_{n1}^{},& a^{}e_n^+=\sqrt{n+\frac{1}{2}(1\zeta )}e_n^{}\hfill \\ \hfill b^{}e_n^{}=\sqrt{n+1}e_{n+1}^+,& ae_n^{}=\sqrt{n+\frac{1}{2}(1\zeta )}e_n^+\hfill \end{array}$$
$`(5.10)`$
For $`\zeta 1`$

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill be_n^+=\sqrt{n+\frac{1}{2}(\zeta 1)}e_{n1}^{},& a^{}e_n^+=\sqrt{n}e_n^{},\hfill \\ \hfill b^{}e_n^{}=\sqrt{n+\frac{1}{2}(\zeta +1)}e_{n+1}^+& ae_n^{}=\sqrt{n}e_n^+,\hfill \end{array}$$
$`(5.11)`$
and the vector $`e_0^+`$ should be dropped from the representation.

5.3. Example: instantons on K3

The closed string background corresponding to the K3 surface can be realized as a marginal deformation of the orbifold $`𝐓^4/𝐙_2`$ where $`𝐙_2`$ acts by reflection on all four flat coordinates on the four-torus. In turn, the four-torus is a quotient of the Euclidean space $`𝐑^4`$ by a lattice $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0𝐙_4`$. Thus we may hope to realize the noncommutative gauge theory on K3 by deforming the orbifold of $`𝐑^4`$ with respect to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=\mathrm{\Gamma }_0\text{ }\text{ }\times 𝐙_2`$. Thus we arrive at the following algebra (here $`B`$ is an anti-symmetric form on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$ corresponding to the $`B`$-field):

$$\begin{array}{cc}& U_lU_l^{}=U_{l+l^{}}e^{i\pi B(l,l^{})},l,l^{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_0\hfill \\ & U_lY^iU_l=Y^i+l^i\hfill \\ & \mathrm{\Omega }^1Y^i\mathrm{\Omega }=Y^i\hfill \\ & \mathrm{\Omega }^2=1,\mathrm{\Omega }^1U_l\mathrm{\Omega }=U_l\hfill \end{array}$$
$`(5.12)`$
and the vacuum equations

$$[Y^i,Y^j]=\mu ^{ij}+\underset{l\mathrm{\Gamma }_0}{}\mu _l^{ij}U_l\mathrm{\Omega }$$
$`(5.13)`$
For consistency the parameters $`\mu _l^{ij}`$ must obey: $`_l\mu _l^{ij}U_l\mathrm{\Omega }=_l\mu _l^{ij}U_l^{}U_l\mathrm{\Omega }U_l^{}=_l\mu _l^{ij}U_{l2l^{}}\mathrm{\Omega }`$, i.e. $`\mu _l^{ij}=\mu _{l+2l^{}}^{ij}`$ for any $`l^{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$. Thus instead of the infinite number of deformation parameters we end up with the finite number. The twisted deformations $`\mu _l^{ij}`$ are in one-to-one correspondence with the elements of the coset $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0/2\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$, which also label the fixed points of the $`𝐙_2`$ action on the four-torus.

For the instanton solutions the resulting equations look a bit like the self-duality equations with codimension four impurity:

$$[Y^i,Y^j]+\frac{1}{2}\epsilon _{i^{}j^{}kk^{}}\sqrt{g}g^{ii^{}}g^{jj^{}}[Y^k,Y^k^{}]=\zeta ^{ij}+\underset{e\mathrm{\Gamma }_0/2\mathrm{\Gamma }_0}{}\zeta _e^{ij}\left[\underset{l\mathrm{\Gamma }_0}{}U_{e+2l}\right]\mathrm{\Omega }$$
$`(5.14)`$
where $`\zeta ^{ij}`$’s are the self-dual projections of $`\mu ^{ij}`$’s.

It would be nice to obtain any explicit solution of (5.14) with $`\zeta _e0`$. If $`\zeta _e=0`$ then the solutions to (5.14) are easy to construct. They correspond to $`𝐙_2`$ equivariant instantons on the noncommutative torus .

5.4. Conifold

To get from the orbifold to the conifold background we shall mimic the startegy in . The only difference compared to the  setup is that there one dealt with the $`U(N)`$ gauge theory, while here we operate with the $`U()`$ gauge fields. But the rest of the story is the same. One starts with the theory on the orbifold background, turns on the twisted sector fields, preserving the 8 supercharges ($`𝒩=2`$ susy in 4d) and then turns on the superpotential giving masses to the chiral multiplets in the $`𝒩=2`$ vector multiplets. For example, in the $`𝐙_{k+1}`$ orbifold of $`𝐂^2`$ case the vacuum equations will now change to:

$$\begin{array}{cc}& U^1B_1U=\omega B_1\hfill \\ & U^1B_2U=\omega ^1B_2\hfill \\ & U^1\mathrm{\Phi }U=\mathrm{\Phi }\hfill \\ \hfill [B_i,\mathrm{\Phi }]=0,i=1,2& [B_1,B_2]=\underset{l}{}U^l\left(\zeta _l+m_l\mathrm{\Phi }\right)\hfill \end{array}$$
$`(5.15)`$
where $`m_l,\zeta _l`$ are the parameters of the generalized $`A_k`$ conifold.

6. Conclusions and outlook

The gauge fields/strings duality is a fascinating long-standing problem. We have considered a slightly generalized version of this duality, which includes noncommutative gauge fields in various dimensions, and, as a limit, the ordinary gauge theories. We have defined Yang-Mills algebras and considered several interesting examples of their representations. These arise as $`\alpha ^{}0`$ limits of the algebras of functions on the D-branes in flat space-time. We have also presented an analysis of the D-branes in curved backgrounds, namely in those, obtained by orbifolding from the flat space-time.

The topics left outside of this short note include the generalizations to the non-trivial $`H`$-fields (in which case any universal enveloping algebra of a simple Lie algebra may arise as an example of Yang-Mills algebra, at least if the dimension of the latter permits), time-dependent backgrounds (with applications to cosmology), explicit examples of instantons on the curved spaces, and, most interestingly, the consequences of the decoupling of the null-vectors on the closed string side for the open string gauge invariant quantities . We plan to present some of these considerations elsewhere.

Note added. As the lecture notes were being prepared we received a manuscript  which contained independently obtained higher-dimensional instanton solutions (3.18), together with the generalizations involving multiple instantons sitting on top of each other.

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