Fermion vacuum energies in brane world models

TL;DR

This paper calculates the one-loop effective action for massless fermions in five-dimensional anti-de Sitter space, exploring boundary conditions, fermion representations, and symmetry breaking mechanisms relevant to brane world models.

Contribution

It provides detailed calculations of fermion vacuum energies and examines symmetry breaking via topological effects in brane world scenarios.

Findings

Effective action expressions for massless fermions derived

Boundary conditions significantly influence vacuum energies

Topological symmetry breaking mechanisms discussed

Abstract

The fermion representations and boundary conditions in five dimensional anti de Sitter space are described in detail. In each case the one loop effective action is calculated for massless fermions. The possibility of topological or Wilson loop symmetry breaking is discussed.