Solutions to Yang-Mills Equations on Four-Dimensional de Sitter Space

Abstract

We consider pure SU(2) Yang-Mills theory on four-dimensional de Sitter space dS4 and construct a smooth and spatially homogeneous magnetic solution to the Yang-Mills equations. Slicing dS4 as R×S3, via an SU(2)-equivariant ansatz, we reduce the Yang-Mills equations to ordinary matrix differential equations and further to Newtonian dynamics in a double-well potential. Its local maximum yields a Yang-Mills solution whose color-magnetic field at time τ∈R is given by ˜Ba=−12Ia/(R2cosh2τ), where Ia for a=1, 2, 3 are the SU(2) generators and R is the de Sitter radius. At any moment, this spatially homogeneous configuration has finite energy, but its action is also finite and of the value −12j(j+1)(2j+1)π3 in a spin-j representation. Similarly, the double-well bounce produces a family of homogeneous finite-action electric-magnetic solutions with the same energy. There is a continuum of other solutions whose energy and action extend down to zero. © 2017 American Physical Society.