Search for: All records

A<sc>bstract</sc> We study anO(N) invariant surface defect in the Wilson-Fisher conformal field theory (CFT) ind= 4 –ϵdimensions. This defect is defined by mass deformation on a two-dimensional surface that generates localized disorder and is conjectured to factorize into a pair of ordinary boundary conditions ind= 3. We determine defect CFT data associated with the lightestO(N) singlet and vector operators up to the third order in theϵ-expansion, find agreements with results from numerical methods and provide support for the factorization proposal ind= 3. Along the way, we observe surprising non-renormalization properties for surface anomalous dimensions and operator-product-expansion coefficients in theϵ-expansion. We also analyze the full conformal anomalies for the surface defect. 

Abstract A recent development in our understanding of the theory of quantum fields is the fact that familiar gauge theories in spacetime dimensions greater than two can have non-invertible symmetries generated by topological defects. The hallmark of these non-invertible symmetries is that the fusion rule deviates from the usual group-like structure, and in particular the fusion coefficients take values in topological field theories (TFTs) rather than in mere numbers. In this paper we begin an exploration of the associativity structure of non-invertible symmetries in higher dimensions. The first layer of associativity is captured by F-symbols, which we find to assume values in TFTs that have one dimension lower than that of the defect. We undertake an explicit analysis of the F-symbols for the non-invertible chiral symmetry that is preserved by the massless QED and explore their physical implications. In particular, we show the F-symbol TFTs can be detected by probing the correlators of topological defects with ’t Hooft lines. Furthermore, we derive the Ward–Takahashi identity that arises from the chiral symmetry on a large class of four-dimensional manifolds with non-trivial topologies directly from the topological data of the symmetry defects, without referring to a Lagrangian formulation of the theory. 

A<sc>bstract</sc> Motivated by understanding the scattering of gravitons and their superpartners from extended (p,q)-strings in type IIB string theory via AdS/CFT, we study an integrated two-point function of stress tensor multiplet operators in the presence of a half-BPS line defect in$$ \mathcal{N} $$ $N$= 4 SU(N) super-Yang-Mills theory. We determine this integrated correlator at the five lowest non-trivial orders in$$ 1/\sqrt{N} $$ $1/\sqrt{N}$at fixed Yang-Mills coupling andθangle. Our calculations are performed explicitly when the line defect is a Wilson line, in which case we find a finite number of perturbative contributions at each order in$$ 1/\sqrt{N} $$ $1/\sqrt{N}$, as well as instanton contributions. Using SL(2,ℤ) transformations, our results can also be applied to Wilson-’t Hooft line defects dual to extended (p,q)-strings in the bulk. We analyze features of these integrated correlators in the weak coupling expansion by comparing with open-closed amplitudes of type IIB string theory on AdS₅× S⁵, as well as in its flat space limit. We predict new higher-derivative interaction vertices on the D1-brane and, more generally, on (p,q)-strings. 

A<sc>bstract</sc> For any unitary conformal field theory in two dimensions with the central chargec, we prove that, if there is a nontrivial primary operator whose conformal dimension ∆ vanishes in some limit on the conformal manifold, the Zamolodchikov distancetto the limit is infinite, the approach to this limit is exponential ∆ = exp(−αt+O(1)), and the decay rate obeys the universal boundsc^−1/2≤α≤ 1. In the limit, we also find that an infinite tower of primary operators emerges without a gap above the vacuum and that the conformal field theory becomes locally a tensor product of a sigma-model in the large radius limit and a compact theory. As a corollary, we establish a part of the Distance Conjecture about gravitational theories in three-dimensional anti-de Sitter space. In particular, our bounds onαindicate that the emergence of exponentially light states is inevitable as the moduli field corresponding totrolls beyond the Planck scale along the steepest path and that this phenomenon can begin already at the curvature scale of the bulk geometry. We also comment on implications of our bounds for gravity in asymptotically flat spacetime by taking the flat space limit and compare with the Sharpened Distance Conjecture. 

A<sc>bstract</sc> We study the operator algebra of extended conformal defects in more than two spacetime dimensions. Such algebra structure encodes the combined effect of multiple impurities on physical observables at long distances as well as the interactions among the impurities. These features are formalized by a fusion product which we define for a pair of defects, after isolating divergences that capture the effective potential between the defects, which generalizes the usual Casimir energy. We discuss general properties of the corresponding fusion algebra and contrast with the more familiar cases that involve topological defects. We also describe the relation to a different defect setup in the shape of a wedge. We provide explicit examples to illustrate these properties using line defects and interfaces in the Wilson-Fisher CFT and the Gross-Neveu(-Yukawa) CFT and determine the defect fusion data thereof. 

A<sc>bstract</sc> We analyze correlation functions of SU(k) × SU(2)_Fflavor currents in a family of three-dimensional$$ \mathcal{N} $$ $N$= 4 superconformal field theories, combining analytic bootstrap methods with input from supersymmetric localization. Via holographic duality, we extract gluon and graviton scattering amplitudes of M-theory on AdS₄×S⁷/ℤ_kwhich contains a ℂ²/ℤ_korbifold singularity. From these results, we derive aspects of the effective description of M-theory on the orbifold singularity beyond its leading low energy limit. We also determine a threshold correction to the holographic correlator from the combined contribution of two-loop gluon and tree-level bulk graviton exchange. 

A<sc>bstract</sc> We investigate finite-temperature observables in three-dimensional largeNcritical vector models taking into account the effects suppressed by$$ \frac{1}{N} $$ $\frac{1}{N}$. Such subleading contributions are captured by the fluctuations of the Hubbard-Stratonovich auxiliary field which need to be handled with care due to a subtle divergence structure which we clarify. The examples we consider include the scalarO(N) model, the Gross-Neveu model, the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model and the massless Chern-Simons Quantum Electrodynamics. We present explicit results for the free energy density to the subleading order in$$ \frac{1}{N} $$ $\frac{1}{N}$, which captures the thermal one-point function of the stress-energy tensor to this order. We also include the dependence on a chemical potential. We determine the Wilson coefficient in the thermal effective action that is sensitive to global symmetry for the first time directly in interacting CFTs, which produces a symmetry-resolved asymptotic density of states. We further provide a formula from diagrammatics for the one-point functions of general single-trace higher-spin currents. We observe that in most cases considered, these subleading effects lift the apparent degeneracies between observables in different models at infiniteN, while in special cases the discrepancies only start to appear at the next-to-subleading order. 

A<sc>bstract</sc> Gauging is a powerful operation on symmetries in quantum field theory (QFT), as it connects distinct theories and also reveals hidden structures in a given theory. We initiate a systematic investigation of gauging discrete generalized symmetries in two-dimensional QFT. Such symmetries are described by topological defect lines (TDLs) which obey fusion rules that are non-invertible in general. Despite this seemingly exotic feature, all well-known properties in gauging invertible symmetries carry over to this general setting, which greatly enhances both the scope and the power of gauging. This is established by formulating generalized gauging in terms of topological interfaces between QFTs, which explains the physical picture for the mathematical concept of algebra objects and associated module categories over fusion categories that encapsulate the algebraic properties of generalized symmetries and their gaugings. This perspective also provides simple physical derivations of well-known mathematical theorems in category theory from basic axiomatic properties of QFT in the presence of such interfaces. We discuss a bootstrap-type analysis to classify such topological interfaces and thus the possible generalized gaugings and demonstrate the procedure in concrete examples of fusion categories. Moreover we present a number of examples to illustrate generalized gauging and its properties in concrete conformal field theories (CFTs). In particular, we identify the generalized orbifold groupoid that captures the structure of fusion between topological interfaces (equivalently sequential gaugings) as well as a plethora of new self-dualities in CFTs under generalized gaugings. 

A<sc>bstract</sc> It has long been conjectured that the largeNdeconfinement phase transition of$$ \mathcal{N} $$ $N$= 4 SU(N) super-Yang-Mills corresponds via AdS/CFT to the Hawking-Page transition in which black holes dominate the thermal ensemble, and quantitative evidence of this has come through the recent matching of the superconformal index of$$ \frac{1}{16} $$ $\frac{1}{16}$-BPS states to the supersymmetric black hole entropy. We introduce the half-BPS Gukov-Witten surface defect as a probe of the superconformal index, which also serves as an order parameter for the deconfinement transition. This can be studied directly in field theory as a modification of the usual unitary matrix model or in the dual description as a D3-brane probe in the background of a (complex) supersymmetric black hole. Using a saddle point approximation, we determine our defect index in the largeNlimit as a simple function of the chemical potentials and show independently that it is reproduced by the renormalized action of the brane in the black hole background. Along the way, we also comment on the Cardy limit and the thermodynamics of the D3-brane in the generalized ensemble. The defect index sharply distinguishes between the confining and the deconfining phases of the gauge theory and thus is a supersymmetric non-perturbative order parameter for these largeNphase transitions which deserves further investigation. Finally, our work provides an example where the properties of a black hole coupled to an external system can be analyzed precisely. 

A<sc>bstract</sc> The planar integrability of$$ \mathcal{N} $$ $N$= 4 super-Yang-Mills (SYM) is the cornerstone for numerous exact observables. We show that the large charge sector of the SU(2)$$ \mathcal{N} $$ $N$= 4 SYM provides another interesting solvable corner which exhibits striking similarities despite being far from the planar limit. We study non-BPS operators obtained by small deformations of half-BPS operators withR-chargeJin the limitJ→ ∞ with$$ {\lambda}_J\equiv {g}_{\textrm{YM}}^2J/2 $$ ${\lambda }_J\equiv g_{\mathrm{YM}}^{2}J/2$fixed. The dynamics in thislarge charge ’t Hooft limitis constrained by a centrally-extended$$ \mathfrak{psu} $$ $\mathrm{psu}$(2|2)²symmetry that played a crucial role for the planar integrability. To the leading order in 1/J, the spectrum is fully fixed by this symmetry, manifesting the magnon dispersion relation familiar from the planar limit, while it is constrained up to a few constants at the next order. We also determine the structure constant of two large charge operators and the Konishi operator, revealing a rich structure interpolating between the perturbative series at weak coupling and the worldline instantons at strong coupling. In addition we compute heavy-heavy-light-light (HHLL) four-point functions of half-BPS operators in terms of resummed conformal integrals and recast them into an integral form reminiscent of the hexagon formalism in the planar limit. For general SU(N) gauge groups, we study integrated HHLL correlators by supersymmetric localization and identify a dual matrix model of sizeJ/2 that reproduces our large charge result atN= 2. Finally we discuss a relation to the physics on the Coulomb branch and explain how the dilaton Ward identity emerges from a limit of the conformal block expansion. We comment on generalizations including the large spin ’t Hooft limit, the combined largeN-largeJlimits, and applications to general$$ \mathcal{N} $$ $N$= 2 superconformal field theories.