Non-invertible symmetries in finite-group gauge theory
We investigate the invertible and non-invertible symmetries of topological finite-group gauge theories in general spacetime dimensions, where the gauge group can be abelian or non-abelian. We focus in particular on the 0-form symmetry. The gapped domain walls that generate these symmetries are specified by boundary conditions for the gauge fields on either side of the wall. We investigate the fusion rules of these symmetries and their action on other topological defects including the Wilson lines, magnetic fluxes, and gapped boundaries. We illustrate these constructions with various novel examples, including non-invertible electric-magnetic duality symmetry in 3+1d \mathbb{Z}_2 <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:msub> <mml:mstyle mathvariant="double-struck"> <mml:mi>ℤ</mml:mi> </mml:mstyle> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msub> </mml:math> gauge theory, and non-invertible analogs of electric-magnetic duality symmetry in non-abelian finite-group gauge theories. In particular, we discover topological domain walls that obey Fibonacci fusion rules in 2+1d gauge theory with dihedral gauge group of order 8. We also generalize the Cheshire string defect to analogous defects of general codimensions and gauge groups and show that they form a closed fusion algebra.
Authors
- Davi B. Costa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7553-4080)
- Po-Shen Hsin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4764-1476)
- Clay Córdova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0579-3295)
Institutions
- Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (US)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- King's College London (GB)
- University of Chicago (US)
- Instituto de Física Teórica (ES)
Publication Details
- Journal
- SciPost Physics
- Published
- 2025-01-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.21468/scipostphys.18.1.019
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Topological Materials and Phenomena
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.49
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
- Simons Foundation
- King's College London
- Institut Périmètre de physique théorique
- Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara