Journal of High Energy Physics· 2015Q2
Generalized global symmetries
- 1,708citations
- Q2SCImago
- 2015year
Short summary
This paper introduces q-form global symmetries, a generalization where charged operators and excitations have q spatial dimensions, unifying concepts like Wilson lines and strings.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Introduces q-form global symmetries for operators/excitations with q spatial dimensions.
- These symmetries lead to Ward identities and selection rules on amplitudes.
- They can be spontaneously broken and exhibit 't Hooft anomalies.
- Anomalies can result in anomaly inflow and Symmetry Protected Topological phases.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
A q-form global symmetry is a global symmetry for which the charged operators are of space-time dimension q; e.g. Wilson lines, surface defects, etc., and the charged excitations have q spatial dimensions; e.g. strings, membranes, etc. Many of the properties of ordinary global symmetries (q = 0) apply here. They lead to Ward identities and hence to selection rules on amplitudes. Such global symmetries can be coupled to classical background fields and they can be gauged by summing over these classical fields. These generalized global symmetries can be spontaneously broken (either completely or to a sub-group). They can also have ’t Hooft anomalies, which prevent us from gauging them, but lead to ’t Hooft anomaly matching conditions. Such anomalies can also lead to anomaly inflow on various defects and exotic Symmetry Protected Topological phases. Our analysis of these symmetries gives a new unified perspective of many known phenomena and uncovers new results.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2015 · DOI ↗
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Field: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Nuclear and High Energy PhysicsPhysics and Astronomy