Gravity as a gapless phase and biform symmetries
Abstract We study effective field theories (EFTs) enjoying (maximal) biform symmetries. These are defined by the presence of a conserved (electric) current that has the symmetries of a Young tableau with two columns of equal length. When these theories also have a topological (magnetic) biform curre...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SpringerOpen
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Journal of High Energy Physics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2023)151 |
| _version_ | 1797779058110496768 |
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| author | Kurt Hinterbichler Diego M. Hofman Austin Joyce Grégoire Mathys |
| author_facet | Kurt Hinterbichler Diego M. Hofman Austin Joyce Grégoire Mathys |
| author_sort | Kurt Hinterbichler |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract We study effective field theories (EFTs) enjoying (maximal) biform symmetries. These are defined by the presence of a conserved (electric) current that has the symmetries of a Young tableau with two columns of equal length. When these theories also have a topological (magnetic) biform current, its conservation law is anomalous. We go on to show that this mixed anomaly uniquely fixes the two-point function between the electric and magnetic currents. We then perform a Källén-Lehmann spectral decomposition of the current-current correlator, proving that there is a massless mode in the spectrum, whose masslessness is protected by the anomaly. Furthermore, the anomaly gives rise to a universal form of the EFT whose most relevant term — which resembles the linear Einstein action — dominates the infrared physics. As applications of this general formalism, we study the theories of a Galileon superfluid and linearized gravity. Thus, one can view the masslessness of the graviton as being protected by the anomalous biform symmetries. The associated EFT provides an organizing principle for gravity at low energies in terms of physical symmetries, and allows interactions consistent with linearized diffeomorphism invariance. These theories are not ultraviolet-complete — the relevant symmetries can be viewed as emergent — nor do they include the nonlinearities necessary to make them fully diffeomorphism invariant, so there is no contradiction with the expectation that quantum gravity cannot have any global symmetries. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T23:26:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-759dfa6ad6bc4d40bc35f18f343b9154 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1029-8479 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T23:26:14Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of High Energy Physics |
| spelling | doaj.art-759dfa6ad6bc4d40bc35f18f343b91542023-07-16T11:07:51ZengSpringerOpenJournal of High Energy Physics1029-84792023-02-012023218910.1007/JHEP02(2023)151Gravity as a gapless phase and biform symmetriesKurt Hinterbichler0Diego M. Hofman1Austin Joyce2Grégoire Mathys3CERCA, Department of Physics, Case Western Reserve UniversityInstitute for Theoretical Physics, University of AmsterdamKavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of ChicagoInstitute for Theoretical Physics, University of AmsterdamAbstract We study effective field theories (EFTs) enjoying (maximal) biform symmetries. These are defined by the presence of a conserved (electric) current that has the symmetries of a Young tableau with two columns of equal length. When these theories also have a topological (magnetic) biform current, its conservation law is anomalous. We go on to show that this mixed anomaly uniquely fixes the two-point function between the electric and magnetic currents. We then perform a Källén-Lehmann spectral decomposition of the current-current correlator, proving that there is a massless mode in the spectrum, whose masslessness is protected by the anomaly. Furthermore, the anomaly gives rise to a universal form of the EFT whose most relevant term — which resembles the linear Einstein action — dominates the infrared physics. As applications of this general formalism, we study the theories of a Galileon superfluid and linearized gravity. Thus, one can view the masslessness of the graviton as being protected by the anomalous biform symmetries. The associated EFT provides an organizing principle for gravity at low energies in terms of physical symmetries, and allows interactions consistent with linearized diffeomorphism invariance. These theories are not ultraviolet-complete — the relevant symmetries can be viewed as emergent — nor do they include the nonlinearities necessary to make them fully diffeomorphism invariant, so there is no contradiction with the expectation that quantum gravity cannot have any global symmetries.https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2023)151Anomalies in Field and String TheoriesEffective Field TheoriesGlobal SymmetriesSpontaneous Symmetry Breaking |
| spellingShingle | Kurt Hinterbichler Diego M. Hofman Austin Joyce Grégoire Mathys Gravity as a gapless phase and biform symmetries Journal of High Energy Physics Anomalies in Field and String Theories Effective Field Theories Global Symmetries Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking |
| title | Gravity as a gapless phase and biform symmetries |
| title_full | Gravity as a gapless phase and biform symmetries |
| title_fullStr | Gravity as a gapless phase and biform symmetries |
| title_full_unstemmed | Gravity as a gapless phase and biform symmetries |
| title_short | Gravity as a gapless phase and biform symmetries |
| title_sort | gravity as a gapless phase and biform symmetries |
| topic | Anomalies in Field and String Theories Effective Field Theories Global Symmetries Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2023)151 |
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