Time-reversal invariant TQFTs from self-mirror symmetric SCFTs

A bstract We establish a connection between three-dimensional self-mirror symmetric $$ \mathcal{N} $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>N</mml:mi> </mml:math> = 4 superconformal field theories (SCFTs) and time-reversal invariant topological quantum field theories (TQFTs) arising from universal mass deformations. Focusing on the Abelian case, the ultraviolet (UV) SCFT is characterized by the charge matrix Q , while the infrared (IR) TQFT corresponds to an Abelian Chern-Simons theory with level matrix K = QQ T . We derive constraints on the charge matrix for self-mirror symmetric SCFTs and demonstrate that the Coulomb and Higgs branch Hilbert series of these theories coincide. Additionally, we derive a general formula for the superconformal indices of Abelian $$ \mathcal{N} $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>N</mml:mi> </mml:math> = 4 SCFTs with arbitrary charge matrices. For SCFT with the constrained charge matrix, the superconformal index is argued to exhibit invariance under the inversion of fugacity associated with R-symmetry, providing further evidence of self-mirror symmetry. We explore various properties of time-reversal invariant Abelian Chern-Simons theories in detail and establish their connections to self-mirror symmetry in SCFTs from multiple perspectives. In particular, we introduce a quantity, dubbed Gauss generating function, which is real and thus invariant under complex conjugation for time-reversal symmetric TQFTs, in parallel with the superconformal index, which is invariant under the inversion of R-symmetry fugacity for self-mirror symmetric SCFTs.