English

BMS$_3$ invariant field theories

High Energy Physics - Theory 2026-07-07 v1

Abstract

We review existing and construct new two-dimensional field theories that exhibit BMS3_3 symmetry, with and without central extensions. These include interacting electric, magnetic and canonical BMS3_3 scalar theories, as well as couplings between the electric and magnetic sectors. We provide a careful analysis of boundary contributions at the corner points u±u\rightarrow\pm\infty, determine the counterterms and boundary conditions required by BMS3_3 invariance, and study the corresponding variational principles. Furthermore, we introduce external sources and derive the associated flux-balance laws. Within the framework of flat-space holography, we show that a simple free electric BMS3_3 model with the appropriate central charge reproduces the monodromy classification of three-dimensional Einstein gravity. Finally, we investigate the flat-space limits of both AdS3_3 and dS3_3, whose boundary dynamics are described by Carrollian limits of Liouville and Euclidean Liouville theory, respectively. Although the resulting BMS3_3 theories possess isomorphic spectra, they differ in the signs of the supertranslation charges and the central charge. This suggests that the flat-space limits of AdS3_3 and dS3_3 provide complementary realizations of flat-space holography.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.06826,
  title  = {BMS$_3$ invariant field theories},
  author = {Diego Hidalgo and Stefan Vandoren and Huaxuan Zeng},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.06826},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

60 pages

R2 v1 2026-07-22T20:31:38.406Z