Edge Currents in Non-commutative Chern-Simons Theory from a New Matrix Model

TL;DR

This paper introduces a finite-dimensional matrix model for non-commutative Chern-Simons theory on a strip, revealing edge currents and algebraic structures akin to Kac-Moody algebras, with a focus on boundary effects.

Contribution

It formulates a new matrix approximation for non-commutative CS theory on manifolds with boundaries, capturing edge phenomena and algebraic structures.

Findings

Edge observables form a Lie algebra similar to non-abelian Kac-Moody algebra.

Identifies (ta+1)^2 abelian charges from gauge field matrix elements.

Contains three unique non-abelian charges localized near the Nth level.

Abstract

This paper discusses the formulation of the non-commutative Chern-Simons (CS) theory where the spatial slice, an infinite strip, is a manifold with boundaries. As standard star products are not correct for such manifolds, the standard non-commutative CS theory is not also appropriate here. Instead we formulate a new finite-dimensional matrix CS model as an approximation to the CS theory on the strip. A work which has points of contact with ours is due to Lizzi, Vitale and Zampini where the authors obtain a description for the fuzzy disc. The gauge fields in our approach are operators supported on a subspace of finite dimension N+\eta of the Hilbert space of eigenstates of a simple harmonic oscillator with N, \eta \in Z^+ and N \neq 0. This oscillator is associated with the underlying Moyal plane. The resultant matrix CS theory has a fuzzy edge. It becomes the required sharp edge when N and \eta goes to infinity in a suitable sense. The non-commutative CS theory on the strip is defined by this limiting procedure. After performing the canonical constraint analysis of the matrix theory, we find that there are edge observables in the theory generating a Lie algebra with properties similar to that of a non-abelian Kac-Moody algebra. Our study shows that there are (\eta+1)^2 abelian charges (observables) given by the matrix elements (\cal A_i)_{N-1 N-1} and (\cal A_i)_{nm} (where n or m \geq N) of the gauge fields, that obey certain standard canonical commutation relations. In addition, the theory contains three unique non-abelian charges, localized near the N^th level. We show that all non-abelian edge observables except these three can be constructed from the abelian charges above. Using the results of this analysis we discuss the large N and \eta limit.