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Kac-Moody Symmetry in Hosotani Model

The symmetry of the massive tower of fields in higher-dimensional Yang-Mills theory compactified on a space-time of the form M_d x S^1 is clarified. The transformations form a loop algebra, a class of Kac-Moody algebras. Since the symmetry is spontaneously broken, vector fields "eat" Goldstone bosons and acquire masses. The field of zero-mass mode can also become massive provided that the field of the internal component develops a vacuum expectation value. The relation between the "restoration" of the symmetry in massive modes and the gauge transformation of the zero-mode vacuum field is discussed.