| dc.description |
We describe the structure of the vacuum states of quiver gauge theories obtained via dimensional reduction over homogeneous spaces, in the explicit example of SU(3)-equivariant dimensional reduction of Yang-Mills-Dirac theory on manifolds of the form M × P<sup>2</sup>. We pay particular attention to the role of topology of background gauge fields on the internal coset spaces, in this case U(1) magnetic monopoles and SU(2) instantons on P<sup>2</sup>. The reduction of Yang-Mills theory induces a quiver gauge theory involving coupled Yang-Mills-Higgs systems on M with a Higgs potential leading to dynamical symmetry breaking. The criterion for a ground state of the Higgs potential can be written as the vanishing of a non-abelian Yang-Mills flux on the quiver diagram, regarded as a lattice with group elements attached to the links. The reduction of SU(3)-symmetric fermions yields Dirac fermions on M transforming under the low-energy gauge group with Yukawa couplings. The fermionic zero modes on P<sup>2</sup> yield exactly massless chiral fermions on M, though there is a unique choice of spin<sup>c</sup> structure on P<sup>2</sup> for which some of the zero modes can acquire masses through Yukawa interactions. We work out the spontaneous symmetry breaking patterns and determine the complete physical particle spectrum in a number of explicit examples, some of which possess quantum number assignments qualitatively analogous to the manner in which vector bosons, quarks and leptons acquire masses in the standard model. |
