Notes on 8 Majorana Fermions

Eight Majorana fermions in $d=1+1$ dimensions enjoy a triality that permutes the representation of the $SO(8)$ global symmetry in which the fermions transform. This triality plays an important role in the quantization of the superstring, and in the analysis of interacting topological insulators a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: David Tong, Carl Turner
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SciPost 2020-03-01
Series:SciPost Physics Lecture Notes
Online Access:https://scipost.org/SciPostPhysLectNotes.14
Description
Summary:Eight Majorana fermions in $d=1+1$ dimensions enjoy a triality that permutes the representation of the $SO(8)$ global symmetry in which the fermions transform. This triality plays an important role in the quantization of the superstring, and in the analysis of interacting topological insulators and the associated phenomenon of symmetric mass generation. The purpose of these notes is to provide an introduction to the triality and its applications, with careful attention paid to various ${\bf Z}_2$ global and gauge symmetries and their coupling to background spin structures.
ISSN:2590-1990