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Monodromy Defects in Free Field Theories

5 Pith papers cite this work. Polarity classification is still indexing.

5 Pith papers citing it
abstract

We study co-dimension two monodromy defects in theories of conformally coupled scalars and free Dirac fermions in arbitrary $d$ dimensions. We characterise this family of conformal defects by computing the one-point functions of the stress-tensor and conserved current for Abelian flavour symmetries as well as two-point functions of the displacement operator. In the case of $d=4$, the normalisation of these correlation functions are related to defect Weyl anomaly coefficients, and thus provide crucial information about the defect conformal field theory. We provide explicit checks on the values of the defect central charges by calculating the universal part of the defect contribution to entanglement entropy, and further, we use our results to extract the universal part of the vacuum R\'enyi entropy. Moreover, we leverage the non-supersymmetric free field results to compute a novel defect Weyl anomaly coefficient in a $d=4$ theory of free $\mathcal{N}=2$ hypermultiplets. Including singular modes in the defect operator product expansion of fundamental fields, we identify notable relevant deformations in the singular defect theories and show that they trigger a renormalisation group flow towards an IR fixed point with the most regular defect OPE. We also study Gukov-Witten defects in free $d=4$ Maxwell theory and show that their central charges vanish.

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background 2 other 1

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hep-th 5

years

2026 4 2025 1

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background 2 unclear 1

representative citing papers

Monodromy defects in Chern-Simons theory and Holography

hep-th · 2026-07-07 · accept · novelty 8.0

Monodromy defects in charge-conjugation-symmetric Chern-Simons theory are labeled by twisted affine representations, realize a Z2-crossed category, and are holographically dual to orientifolds of the resolved conifold plus branes.

Conformal Defects in Neural Network Field Theories

hep-th · 2025-12-08 · unverdicted · novelty 6.0

The paper introduces a formalism for constructing conformally invariant defects in Neural Network Field Theories, demonstrates it on two toy scalar models, and provides a neural-network reading of a defect OPE expansion in two-point functions.

When Symmetries Twist: Anomaly Inflow on Monodromy Defects

hep-th · 2026-05-15 · unverdicted · novelty 5.0 · 2 refs

Anomaly inflow on monodromy defects in anomalous symmetry theories defines them as domain walls inducing topological order, yielding protected chiral edge modes and adiabatic pumping of gapless degrees of freedom, verified in chiral symmetry examples on continuum and lattice.

Universalities of Defects in Quantum Field Theories

hep-th · 2026-05-20 · unverdicted · novelty 4.0

A dissertation synthesizing universal aspects of defect dynamics in QFT through symmetry principles across defect RG flows, effective strings, and quantum gas impurities.

citing papers explorer

Showing 5 of 5 citing papers.

  • Monodromy defects in Chern-Simons theory and Holography hep-th · 2026-07-07 · accept · none · ref 42 · internal anchor

    Monodromy defects in charge-conjugation-symmetric Chern-Simons theory are labeled by twisted affine representations, realize a Z2-crossed category, and are holographically dual to orientifolds of the resolved conifold plus branes.

  • Conformal Defects in Neural Network Field Theories hep-th · 2025-12-08 · unverdicted · none · ref 19

    The paper introduces a formalism for constructing conformally invariant defects in Neural Network Field Theories, demonstrates it on two toy scalar models, and provides a neural-network reading of a defect OPE expansion in two-point functions.

  • When Symmetries Twist: Anomaly Inflow on Monodromy Defects hep-th · 2026-05-15 · unverdicted · none · ref 29 · 2 links

    Anomaly inflow on monodromy defects in anomalous symmetry theories defines them as domain walls inducing topological order, yielding protected chiral edge modes and adiabatic pumping of gapless degrees of freedom, verified in chiral symmetry examples on continuum and lattice.

  • Monodromy Defects for Electric-Magnetic Duality, Hyperbolic Space, and Lines hep-th · 2026-04-16 · unverdicted · none · ref 5

    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.

  • Universalities of Defects in Quantum Field Theories hep-th · 2026-05-20 · unverdicted · none · ref 71

    A dissertation synthesizing universal aspects of defect dynamics in QFT through symmetry principles across defect RG flows, effective strings, and quantum gas impurities.