2005/07/31 by Alexey Boyarsky, Oleg Ruchayskiy, Mikhail Shaposhnikov
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Anomaly (physics) #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Computer science #Consistency (knowledge bases) #Effective field theory #Gauge (firearms) #Gauge anomaly #Gauge theory #Introduction to gauge theory #Mathematics #Mixed anomaly #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Physics #Point (geometry) #Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions #Quantum electrodynamics #Quantum mechanics #Standard Model (mathematical formulation) #Theoretical physics #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.72.085011
published as Phys.Rev. D72 (2005) 085011 · 23 pages plus appendices, 3 figures. v2: final journal version. References added; corrections to Appendix C
openalex publication_date 2005/10/18 · arxiv created 2005/11/11 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
In theories with chiral couplings, one of the important consistency requirements is that of the cancellation of a gauge anomaly. In particular, this is one of the conditions imposed on the hypercharges in the standard model. However, anomaly cancellation condition of the standard model looks unnatural from the perspective of a theory with extra dimensions. Indeed, if our world were embedded into an odd-dimensional space, then the full theory would be automatically anomaly-free. In this paper we discuss the physical consequences of anomaly noncancellation for effective 4-dimensional field theory. We demonstrate that in such a theory parallel electric and magnetic fields get modified. In particular, this happens for any particle possessing both electric charge and magnetic moment. This effect, if observed, can serve as a low energy signature of extra dimensions. On the other hand, if such an effect is absent or is very small, then from the point of view of any theory with extra dimensions it is just another fine-tuning and should acquire theoretical explanation.