New anomalies, TQFTs, and confinement in bosonic chiral gauge theories
Abstract We study a class of 4-dimensional SU(N) chiral gauge theories with fermions in the 2-index symmetric and antisymmetric representations and classify their infrared phases. The choice N = 4ℤ corresponds to gauging the fermion number and makes the theory purely bosonic. We examine the most gen...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SpringerOpen
2022-02-01
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| Series: | Journal of High Energy Physics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2022)062 |
| _version_ | 1818331975660863488 |
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| author | Mohamed M. Anber Sungwoo Hong Minho Son |
| author_facet | Mohamed M. Anber Sungwoo Hong Minho Son |
| author_sort | Mohamed M. Anber |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract We study a class of 4-dimensional SU(N) chiral gauge theories with fermions in the 2-index symmetric and antisymmetric representations and classify their infrared phases. The choice N = 4ℤ corresponds to gauging the fermion number and makes the theory purely bosonic. We examine the most general background fields of the centers of the gauge, non-abelian flavor, and U(1)-axial groups that can be consistently activated, thereby determine the faithful global continuous and discrete symmetries of the theory. This allows us to identify new mixed 0-form/1-form ‘t Hooft anomalies on both spin and nonspin manifolds. If the theory confines, the absence of composite fermions implies that continuous symmetries must be broken down to anomaly-free subgroups. Anomalies associated with discrete symmetries can be saturated either by breaking the symmetry or by a symmetry-preserving topological quantum field theory (TQFT). The latter, however, is obstructed on spin manifold. The interplay between these features greatly restricts the possible infrared physics. We present two examples that demonstrate our approach. We argue that if the theory confines, the zoo of anomalies and TQFT obstruction greatly restrict the viable infrared condensates. We also discuss the possibility that some theories flow to a conformal fixed point. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T13:28:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3a422dc9bcc74794b502f7b61ff7ffd2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1029-8479 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T13:28:23Z |
| publishDate | 2022-02-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of High Energy Physics |
| spelling | doaj.art-3a422dc9bcc74794b502f7b61ff7ffd22022-12-21T23:44:13ZengSpringerOpenJournal of High Energy Physics1029-84792022-02-012022214810.1007/JHEP02(2022)062New anomalies, TQFTs, and confinement in bosonic chiral gauge theoriesMohamed M. Anber0Sungwoo Hong1Minho Son2Centre for Particle Theory, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Durham UniversityDepartment of Physics, The University of ChicagoDepartment of Physics, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and TechnologyAbstract We study a class of 4-dimensional SU(N) chiral gauge theories with fermions in the 2-index symmetric and antisymmetric representations and classify their infrared phases. The choice N = 4ℤ corresponds to gauging the fermion number and makes the theory purely bosonic. We examine the most general background fields of the centers of the gauge, non-abelian flavor, and U(1)-axial groups that can be consistently activated, thereby determine the faithful global continuous and discrete symmetries of the theory. This allows us to identify new mixed 0-form/1-form ‘t Hooft anomalies on both spin and nonspin manifolds. If the theory confines, the absence of composite fermions implies that continuous symmetries must be broken down to anomaly-free subgroups. Anomalies associated with discrete symmetries can be saturated either by breaking the symmetry or by a symmetry-preserving topological quantum field theory (TQFT). The latter, however, is obstructed on spin manifold. The interplay between these features greatly restricts the possible infrared physics. We present two examples that demonstrate our approach. We argue that if the theory confines, the zoo of anomalies and TQFT obstruction greatly restrict the viable infrared condensates. We also discuss the possibility that some theories flow to a conformal fixed point.https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2022)062Anomalies in Field and String TheoriesConfinementDiscrete SymmetriesGlobal Symmetries |
| spellingShingle | Mohamed M. Anber Sungwoo Hong Minho Son New anomalies, TQFTs, and confinement in bosonic chiral gauge theories Journal of High Energy Physics Anomalies in Field and String Theories Confinement Discrete Symmetries Global Symmetries |
| title | New anomalies, TQFTs, and confinement in bosonic chiral gauge theories |
| title_full | New anomalies, TQFTs, and confinement in bosonic chiral gauge theories |
| title_fullStr | New anomalies, TQFTs, and confinement in bosonic chiral gauge theories |
| title_full_unstemmed | New anomalies, TQFTs, and confinement in bosonic chiral gauge theories |
| title_short | New anomalies, TQFTs, and confinement in bosonic chiral gauge theories |
| title_sort | new anomalies tqfts and confinement in bosonic chiral gauge theories |
| topic | Anomalies in Field and String Theories Confinement Discrete Symmetries Global Symmetries |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2022)062 |
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