When the moduli space is an orbifold: spontaneous breaking of continuous non-invertible symmetries

Abstract We investigate theories of Nambu-Goldstone bosons where the spontaneously broken continuous symmetry is non-invertible. In such theories, the vacua generically parameterize an orbifold. We study in detail the simplest example of a single free scalar with shift symmetry, modded by reflection...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jeremias Aguilera Damia, Riccardo Argurio, Soumyadeep Chaudhuri
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2024-03-01
Series:Journal of High Energy Physics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP03(2024)042
Description
Summary:Abstract We investigate theories of Nambu-Goldstone bosons where the spontaneously broken continuous symmetry is non-invertible. In such theories, the vacua generically parameterize an orbifold. We study in detail the simplest example of a single free scalar with shift symmetry, modded by reflection symmetry. At singular points of the vacuum manifold, we show that the spectrum of NG excitations is reduced, in particular there are no single-particle states. At the smooth points, on the other hand, single NG modes are present. We show that this is a consequence of the fact that at those points one can construct invertible operators implementing the continuous symmetry on the Hilbert space.
ISSN:1029-8479