Light-Front Realization of Chiral Symmetry Breaking

We discuss a description of chiral symmetry breaking in the light-front (LF) formalism. Based on careful analyses of several models, we give clear answers to the following three fundamental questions: (i) What is the difference between the LF chiral transformation and the ordinary chiral transformation? (ii) How does a gap equation for the chiral condensate emerge? (iii) What is the consequence of the coexistence of a nonzero chiral condensate and the trivial Fock vacuum? The answer to Question (i) is given through a classical analysis of each model. Question (ii) is answered based on our recognition of the importance of characteristic constraints, such as the zero-mode and fermionic constraints. Question (iii) is intimately related to another important problem, reconciliation of the nonzero chiral condensate and the invariance of the vacuum under the LF chiral transformation. This and Question (iii) are understood in terms of the modified chiral transformation laws of the dependent variables. The characteristic ways in which the chiral symmetry breaking is realized are that the chiral charge is no longer conserved and that the transformation of the scalar and pseudoscalar fields is modified. We also discuss other outcomes, such as the light-cone wave function of the pseudoscalar meson in the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model.