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Higher central charges and topological boundaries in 2+1-dimensional TQFTs

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arxiv 2107.13091 v2 pith:DOOU6COW submitted 2021-07-27 hep-th cond-mat.str-el

Higher central charges and topological boundaries in 2+1-dimensional TQFTs

classification hep-th cond-mat.str-el
keywords topologicalconditionsboundarycentraltqftschargeshighernecessary
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal T4 reserved
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A 2+1-dimensional topological quantum field theory (TQFT) may or may not admit topological (gapped) boundary conditions. A famous necessary, but not sufficient, condition for the existence of a topological boundary condition is that the chiral central charge $c_-$ has to vanish. In this paper, we consider conditions associated with "higher" central charges, which have been introduced recently in the math literature. In terms of these new obstructions, we identify necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a topological boundary in the case of bosonic, Abelian TQFTs, providing an alternative to the identification of a Lagrangian subgroup. Our proof relies on general aspects of gauging generalized global symmetries. For non-Abelian TQFTs, we give a geometric way of studying topological boundary conditions, and explain certain necessary conditions given again in terms of the higher central charges. Along the way, we find a curious duality in the partition functions of Abelian TQFTs, which begs for an explanation via the 3d-3d correspondence.

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