DOI 10.1007/s100529901047
High-energy QCD as a topological field theory
1 Theory Division, CERN, CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland
2 P.P.A.R.C. Advanced Fellow, University of Oxford,
Department of Physics (Theoretical Physics),
1 Keble Road OX1 3NP, UK
Received: 31 August 1998 / Published online: 11 March 1999
Abstract
We propose an identification of the conformal field theory
underlying
Lipatov's spin-chain model of high-energy scattering in perturbative
QCD. It is a twisted N=2 supersymmetric topological field theory, which
arises as the limiting case of the SL(2,R)/U(1) non-linear
model that also plays a role in describing the Quantum
Hall effect and black holes in string theory.
The doubly-infinite set of non-trivial integrals
of motion of the high-energy spin-chain model
displayed by Faddeev and Korchemsky are
identified as the Cartan subalgebra of a
bosonic sub-symmetry possessed by this topological theory. The
renormalization group and an analysis of instanton perturbations
yield some understanding why this particular topological spin-chain
model emerges in the high-energy limit, and provide a new estimate
of the asymptotic behaviour of multi-Reggeized-gluon exchange.
Copyright Springer-Verlag
