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A Critical Look at 50 Years Particle Theory from the Perspective of the Crossing Property

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Abstract

The crossing property is perhaps the most subtle aspect of the particle-field relation. Although it is not difficult to state its content in terms of certain analytic properties relating different matrixelements of the S-matrix or formfactors, its relation to the localization- and positive energy spectral principles requires a level of insight into the inner workings of QFT which goes beyond anything which can be found in typical textbooks on QFT. This paper presents a recent account based on new ideas derived from “modular localization” including a mathematic appendix on this subject. Its main achievement is the proof of the crossing property from a two-algebra generalization of the KMS condition.

The main content is an in-depth criticism of the dual model and its string theoretic extension. The conceptual flaws of these models are closely related to misunderstandings of crossing. The correct interpretation of string theory is that of a dynamic infinite component one particle space where “dynamic” means that, unlike a mere collection of independent free fields, the formalism contains also operators which communicate between the different irreducible Poincaré representations and set the mass/spin spectrum. Whereas in pre-string times there were unsuccessful attempts to achieve this in analogy to the O(4,2) hydrogen spectrum by the use of higher noncompact groups, the superstring in d=9+1, which uses instead (bosonic/fermionic) oscillators obtained from multicomponent chiral currents, is the only known solution of the dynamical infinite component pointlike field (or pointlike generated wave function) project.

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  1. CBPF, Rua Dr. Xavier Sigaud 150, 22290-180, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Bert Schroer

  2. Institut fuer Theoretische Physik der FU Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Bert Schroer

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  1. Bert Schroer
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Correspondence to Bert Schroer.

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Dedicated to Ivan Todorov on the occasion of his 75th birthday.

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Schroer, B. A Critical Look at 50 Years Particle Theory from the Perspective of the Crossing Property. Found Phys 40, 1800–1857 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-010-9492-5

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