skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Title: Dilaton shifts, probability measures, and decomposition
Abstract In this paper we discuss dilaton shifts (Euler counterterms) arising in decomposition of two-dimensional quantum field theories with higher-form symmetries. Relative shifts between universes are fixed by locality and take a universal form, reflecting underlying (noninvertible, quantum) symmetries. The first part of this paper constructs a general formula for such dilaton shifts, and discusses related computations. In the second part of this paper, we comment on the relation between decomposition and ensembles.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2310588
PAR ID:
10614794
Author(s) / Creator(s):
Publisher / Repository:
IOP Publishing
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical
Volume:
57
Issue:
44
ISSN:
1751-8113
Page Range / eLocation ID:
445401
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. Abstract In this paper we outline the application of decomposition to condensation defects and their fusion rules. Briefly, a condensation defect is obtained by gauging a higher‐form symmetry along a submanifold, and so there is a natural interplay with notions of decomposition, the statement thatd‐dimensional quantum field theories with global ‐form symmetries are equivalent to disjoint unions of other quantum field theories. We will also construct new (sometimes non‐invertible) defects, and compute their fusion products, again utilizing decomposition. An important role will be played in all these analyses by theta angles for gauged higher‐form symmetries, which can be used to select individual universes in a decomposition. 
    more » « less
  2. A<sc>bstract</sc> In this paper, we test and extend a proposal of Gu, Pei, and Zhang for an application of decomposition to three-dimensional theories with one-form symmetries and to quantum K theory. The theories themselves do not decompose, but, OPEs of parallel one-dimensional objects (such as Wilson lines) and dimensional reductions to two dimensions do decompose, sometimes in two independent ways. We apply this to extend conjectures for quantum K theory rings of gerbes (realized by three-dimensional gauge theories with one-form symmetries) via both orbifold partition functions and gauged linear sigma models. 
    more » « less
  3. A bstract This paper describes a generalization of decomposition in orbifolds. In general terms, decomposition states that two-dimensional orbifolds and gauge theories whose gauge groups have trivially-acting subgroups decompose into disjoint unions of theories. However, decomposition can be, at least naively, broken in orbifolds if the orbifold has discrete torsion in the trivially-acting subgroup. (Formally, this breaks finite global one-form symmetries.) Nevertheless, even in such cases, one still sees rudiments of decomposition. In this paper, we generalize decomposition in orbifolds to include such examples of discrete torsion, which we check in numerous examples. Our analysis includes as special cases (and in one sense generalizes) quantum symmetries of abelian orbifolds. 
    more » « less
  4. A<sc>bstract</sc> In this paper, we discuss how gauging one-form symmetries in Chern-Simons theories is implemented in an A-twisted topological open string theory. For example, the contribution from a fixed H/Z bundle on a three-manifold M, arising in a BZ gauging of H Chern-Simons, for Z a finite subgroup of the center of H, is described by an open string worldsheet theory whose bulk is a sigma model with target a Z-gerbe (a bundle of one-form symmetries) over TM, of characteristic class determined by the H/Z bundle. We give a worldsheet picture of the decomposition of one-form-symmetry-gauged Chern-Simons in three dimensions, and we describe how a target-space constraint on bundles arising in the gauged Chern-Simons theory has a natural worldsheet realization. Our proposal provides examples of the expected correspondence between worldsheet global higher-form symmetries, and target-space gauged higher-form symmetries. 
    more » « less
  5. A bstract In this paper, we introduce a new set of modular-invariant phase factors for orbifolds with trivially-acting subgroups, analogous to discrete torsion and generalizing quantum symmetries. After describing their basic properties, we generalize decomposition to include orbifolds with these new phase factors, making a precise proposal for how such orbifolds are equivalent to disjoint unions of other orbifolds without trivially-acting subgroups or one-form symmetries, which we check in numerous examples. 
    more » « less