q-form global symmetries generalize ordinary symmetries to higher-dimensional charged objects, leading to new rules for amplitudes, gauging, breaking, and anomaly inflow in quantum field theories.
Wilson-'t Hooft operators in four-dimensional gauge theories and S-duality
8 Pith papers cite this work. Polarity classification is still indexing.
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Pith papers citing it
abstract
We study operators in four-dimensional gauge theories which are localized on a straight line, create electric and magnetic flux, and in the UV limit break the conformal invariance in the minimal possible way. We call them Wilson-'t Hooft operators, since in the purely electric case they reduce to the well-known Wilson loops, while in general they may carry 't Hooft magnetic flux. We show that to any such operator one can associate a maximally symmetric boundary condition for gauge fields on AdS^2\times S^2. We show that Wilson-'t Hooft operators are classifed by a pair of weights (electric and magnetic) for the gauge group and its magnetic dual, modulo the action of the Weyl group. If the magnetic weight does not belong to the coroot lattice of the gauge group, the corresponding operator is topologically nontrivial (carries nonvanishing 't Hooft magnetic flux). We explain how the spectrum of Wilson-'t Hooft operators transforms under the shift of the theta-angle by 2\pi. We show that, depending on the gauge group, either SL(2,Z) or one of its congruence subgroups acts in a natural way on the set of Wilson-'t Hooft operators. This can be regarded as evidence for the S-duality of N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory. We also compute the one-point function of the stress-energy tensor in the presence of a Wilson-'t Hooft operator at weak coupling.
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Defect charges under generalized symmetries correspond one-to-one with gapped boundary conditions of the Symmetry TFT Z(C) on Y = Σ_{d-p+1} × S^{p-1} via dimensional reduction.
Establishes a one-to-one correspondence between states and p-dimensional defects in higher-form Maxwell theories via an extended Kac-Moody algebra generated by conserved charges from mixed anomalies, mapping dressed Wilson-'t Hooft defects to squeezed energy eigenstates.
Derives holographic one-point functions, stress tensor and Ward identities for defects in AdS5 and AdS6 from AdS2×S2, AdS2×S3 and AdS3×S2 backgrounds in Romans supergravity.
Monodromy defects in Maxwell theory are analyzed via mapping to hyperbolic space, recovering the defect primary spectrum and showing that Wilson/'t Hooft lines terminate on defects, become decomposable, and follow Chern-Simons topological behavior.
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Generalized Global Symmetries
q-form global symmetries generalize ordinary symmetries to higher-dimensional charged objects, leading to new rules for amplitudes, gauging, breaking, and anomaly inflow in quantum field theories.
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Defect Charges, Gapped Boundary Conditions, and the Symmetry TFT
Defect charges under generalized symmetries correspond one-to-one with gapped boundary conditions of the Symmetry TFT Z(C) on Y = Σ_{d-p+1} × S^{p-1} via dimensional reduction.
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The state/defect correspondence
Establishes a one-to-one correspondence between states and p-dimensional defects in higher-form Maxwell theories via an extended Kac-Moody algebra generated by conserved charges from mixed anomalies, mapping dressed Wilson-'t Hooft defects to squeezed energy eigenstates.
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Holographic reconstruction for defect CFTs from $\mathrm{AdS}_p \times S^q$ spacetimes
Derives holographic one-point functions, stress tensor and Ward identities for defects in AdS5 and AdS6 from AdS2×S2, AdS2×S3 and AdS3×S2 backgrounds in Romans supergravity.
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Monodromy Defects for Electric-Magnetic Duality, Hyperbolic Space, and Lines
Monodromy defects in Maxwell theory are analyzed via mapping to hyperbolic space, recovering the defect primary spectrum and showing that Wilson/'t Hooft lines terminate on defects, become decomposable, and follow Chern-Simons topological behavior.
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What's Done Cannot Be Undone: TASI Lectures on Non-Invertible Symmetries
A survey of non-invertible symmetries with constructions in the Ising model and applications to neutral pion decay and other systems.
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ICTP Lectures on (Non-)Invertible Generalized Symmetries
Lecture notes explain non-invertible generalized symmetries in QFTs as topological defects arising from stacking with TQFTs and gauging diagonal symmetries, plus their action on charges and the SymTFT framework.
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Spectral Networks: Bridging higher-rank Teichm\"uller theory and BPS states
A comprehensive introduction to spectral networks that develops higher-rank Teichmüller theory in parallel with class S gauge theory and BPS spectra.