- #1
Kara386
- 208
- 2
I'm trying to show that the theta term in the QCD Lagrangian, ##\alpha G^a_{\mu\nu} \widetilde{G^a_{\mu\nu}}##, can be written as a total derivative, where
##\begin{equation} G^a_{\mu\nu} = \partial_{\mu} G^a_{\nu} - \partial_{\nu}G^a_{\mu}-gf_{bca}G^b_{\mu}G^c_{\nu} \end{equation} ##
##\widetilde{G^a_{\mu\nu}} = \frac{1}{2} \epsilon^{\mu\nu\lambda\rho}G^a_{\lambda\rho} ##
And ##\epsilon## is the Levi-Civita symbol.
The thing is, plenty of papers and books say that this is a total derivative, and give absolutely no indication of how to show that. Well, it's been suggested I should use the wedge product, but I've never encountered it and I thought brute force should work fine. So I expand ##G^a_{\lambda\rho}## using the first equation, multiply the two and expand the brackets:
##\frac{1}{2} \epsilon^{\mu\nu\lambda\rho} (\partial_{\lambda}G^a_{\rho}\partial_{\mu}G^a_{\nu}-\partial_{\lambda}G^a_{\rho}\partial_{\nu}G^a_{\mu}-\partial_{\lambda}G^a_{\rho}gf_{bca}G^b_{\mu}G^c_{\nu}-\partial_{rho}G^a_{\lambda}\partial_{\mu}G^a_{\nu}+\partial_{\rho}G^a_{\lambda}\partial_{\nu}G^a_{\mu}+\partial_{\rho}G^a_{\lambda}gf_{bca}G^b_{\mu}G^c_{\nu}-gf_{bca}G^b_{\lambda}G^c_{\rho}\partial_{\mu}G^a_{\nu}+gf_{bca}G^b_{\lambda}G^c_{\rho}\partial_{\nu}G^a_{\mu}+g^2f^2_{bca}G^b_{\lambda}G^c_{\rho}G^b_{\mu}G^c_{\nu})##
So that looks a mess, but because the Levi-Civita symbol is antisymmetric that equals
##\frac{1}{2}\epsilon^{\mu\nu\lambda\rho}(4\partial_{\lambda}G^a_{\rho}\partial_{\mu}G^a_{\nu}+2\partial_{\rho}G^a_{\lambda}gf_{bca}G^b_{\mu}G^c_{\nu}+2gf_{bca}G^b_{\lambda}G^c_{\rho}\partial_{\nu}G^a_{\mu}+g^2f^2_{bca}G^b_{\lambda}G^c_{\rho}G^b_{\mu}G^c_{\nu})##
What it's meant to be, somehow, is
##\partial_{\mu}\left(\alpha \epsilon^{\mu\nu\lambda\rho}G^a_{\nu}(G^a_{\lambda\rho} +\frac{1}{3}g f_{bca}G^b_{\lambda}G^c_{\rho}) \right)##
But I really, really can't see how you'd get there! I'm also a little confused about why the indices ##\mu## and ##\nu## are different in the definition of the dual, but the ##a## is kept the same - don't I need to relabel b,c,a?
I'd massively appreciate any pointers, I've been stuck on this for quite a while!
##\begin{equation} G^a_{\mu\nu} = \partial_{\mu} G^a_{\nu} - \partial_{\nu}G^a_{\mu}-gf_{bca}G^b_{\mu}G^c_{\nu} \end{equation} ##
##\widetilde{G^a_{\mu\nu}} = \frac{1}{2} \epsilon^{\mu\nu\lambda\rho}G^a_{\lambda\rho} ##
And ##\epsilon## is the Levi-Civita symbol.
The thing is, plenty of papers and books say that this is a total derivative, and give absolutely no indication of how to show that. Well, it's been suggested I should use the wedge product, but I've never encountered it and I thought brute force should work fine. So I expand ##G^a_{\lambda\rho}## using the first equation, multiply the two and expand the brackets:
##\frac{1}{2} \epsilon^{\mu\nu\lambda\rho} (\partial_{\lambda}G^a_{\rho}\partial_{\mu}G^a_{\nu}-\partial_{\lambda}G^a_{\rho}\partial_{\nu}G^a_{\mu}-\partial_{\lambda}G^a_{\rho}gf_{bca}G^b_{\mu}G^c_{\nu}-\partial_{rho}G^a_{\lambda}\partial_{\mu}G^a_{\nu}+\partial_{\rho}G^a_{\lambda}\partial_{\nu}G^a_{\mu}+\partial_{\rho}G^a_{\lambda}gf_{bca}G^b_{\mu}G^c_{\nu}-gf_{bca}G^b_{\lambda}G^c_{\rho}\partial_{\mu}G^a_{\nu}+gf_{bca}G^b_{\lambda}G^c_{\rho}\partial_{\nu}G^a_{\mu}+g^2f^2_{bca}G^b_{\lambda}G^c_{\rho}G^b_{\mu}G^c_{\nu})##
So that looks a mess, but because the Levi-Civita symbol is antisymmetric that equals
##\frac{1}{2}\epsilon^{\mu\nu\lambda\rho}(4\partial_{\lambda}G^a_{\rho}\partial_{\mu}G^a_{\nu}+2\partial_{\rho}G^a_{\lambda}gf_{bca}G^b_{\mu}G^c_{\nu}+2gf_{bca}G^b_{\lambda}G^c_{\rho}\partial_{\nu}G^a_{\mu}+g^2f^2_{bca}G^b_{\lambda}G^c_{\rho}G^b_{\mu}G^c_{\nu})##
What it's meant to be, somehow, is
##\partial_{\mu}\left(\alpha \epsilon^{\mu\nu\lambda\rho}G^a_{\nu}(G^a_{\lambda\rho} +\frac{1}{3}g f_{bca}G^b_{\lambda}G^c_{\rho}) \right)##
But I really, really can't see how you'd get there! I'm also a little confused about why the indices ##\mu## and ##\nu## are different in the definition of the dual, but the ##a## is kept the same - don't I need to relabel b,c,a?
I'd massively appreciate any pointers, I've been stuck on this for quite a while!