BOSONIZATION AS DUALITY

We show how to systematically derive the rules for bosonization in two dimensions as a particular case of a duality transformation. The dual ity process amounts to gauging the global symmetry of the original (fe rmionic) theory, and constraining the corresponding field strength F(m unu) to vanish. Integration over the Lagrange multiplier, LAMBDA, for this constraint then reproduces the original theory, and integration o ver the gauge fields generates the dual theory with LAMBDA as the new (bosonized) variable. We work through the bosonization of the Dirac fe rmion, the massive and massless Thirring models, and a fermion on a cy lindrical spacetime as illustrative examples.