pith. sign in

arxiv: 1505.05346 · v1 · pith:B7UALXEJnew · submitted 2015-05-20 · ✦ hep-th

Asymptotic symmetries of QED and Weinberg's soft photon theorem

classification ✦ hep-th
keywords asymptoticsoftdefinedfieldsinfinityphasespacesymmetries
0
0 comments X
read the original abstract

Various equivalences between so-called soft theorems which constrain scattering amplitudes and Ward identities related to asymptotic symmetries have recently been established in gauge theories and gravity. So far these equivalences have been restricted to the case of massless matter fields, the reason being that the asymptotic symmetries are defined at null infinity. The restriction is however unnatural from the perspective of soft theorems which are insensitive to the masses of the external particles. In this work we remove the aforementioned restriction in the context of scalar QED. Inspired by the radiative phase space description of massless fields at null infinity, we introduce a manifold description of time-like infinity on which the asymptotic phase space for massive fields can be defined. The "angle dependent" large gauge transformations are shown to have a well defined action on this phase space, and the resulting Ward identities are found to be equivalent to Weinberg's soft photon theorem.

This paper has not been read by Pith yet.

discussion (0)

Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.

Forward citations

Cited by 9 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score.

  1. The asymptotic charges of Curtright dual graviton and Curtright extensions of BMS algebra

    hep-th 2026-02 unverdicted novelty 7.0

    The asymptotic charges of the Curtright dual graviton in D=5 split into scalar, vector, and TT sectors that close into an abelian extension of a BMS-like algebra when the vector parameter is restricted to o(4).

  2. Finite-time memory detectors and fully constraining Faddeev-Kulish dressings in QED and gravity

    hep-th 2026-05 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    Symmetry uniquely fixes finite-time Faddeev-Kulish dressings in QED and gravity so they reproduce classical memory, allowing recovery of first-order and higher-order gravitational memory in perturbative calculations.

  3. The Schrodinger Equation as a Gauge Theory

    hep-th 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    The Schrödinger equation is locally equivalent to a gauge theory with one-form fields in 2+1D and two-form fields in 3+1D, with BF and Chern-Simons terms organizing electromagnetic couplings, anyons, Berry phases, and...

  4. Asymptotic charges as detectors and the memory effect in massive QED and perturbative quantum gravity

    hep-th 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    Faddeev-Kulish dressings correctly encode the memory effect in in and out Fock spaces for massive QED and perturbative quantum gravity, with physical contributions to memory eigenvalues from the dressings.

  5. Toward claiming a detection of gravitational memory

    gr-qc 2026-01 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    A framework using scale separation in the Isaacson description defines observable gravitational memory rise for compact binary coalescences, providing a basis for hypothesis testing in LISA data.

  6. Testing Electromagnetic Memory via Acceleration-Induced Phase Imprints in Superconductors

    hep-ph 2025-11 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    Proposes a superconducting readout protocol that uses acceleration-induced electric fields in conductors to imprint and detect electromagnetic memory phase shifts.

  7. Ti and Spi, Carrollian extended boundaries at timelike and spatial infinity

    gr-qc 2024-12 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    Defines Ti and Spi extended boundaries from asymptotic metric data in Ashtekar-Romano asymptotically flat spacetimes, equipping them with Carrollian geometries that canonically match asymptotic symmetries and realize ...

  8. Comments on Symmetry Operators, Asymptotic Charges and Soft Theorems

    hep-th 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 5.0

    1-form symmetries in the QED soft sector generate asymptotic charges whose central extension implies soft photon theorems and fixes a two-soft-photon contact term.

  9. Minkowski Space holography and Radon transform

    hep-th 2025-09 unverdicted novelty 5.0

    Relates free scalar in Minkowski space to codimension-two sphere field via Radon transform to dS/EAdS slice and bulk reconstruction, with Mellin modes as generalized hypergeometric functions via Lee-Pomeransky method.