English

Fractional topological charge in lattice Abelian gauge theory

High Energy Physics - Theory 2023-02-09 v4 High Energy Physics - Lattice

Abstract

We construct a non-trivial U(1)/ZqU(1)/\mathbb{Z}_q principal bundle on~T4T^4 from the compact U(1)U(1) lattice gauge field by generalizing L\"uscher's constriction so that the cocycle condition contains Zq\mathbb{Z}_q elements (the 't~Hooft flux). The construction requires an admissibility condition on lattice gauge field configurations. From the transition function so constructed, we have the fractional topological charge that is Zq\mathbb{Z}_q one-form gauge invariant and odd under the lattice time reversal transformation. Assuming a rescaling of the vacuum angle θqθ\theta\to q\theta suggested from the Witten effect, our construction provides a lattice implementation of the mixed 't~Hooft anomaly between the Zq\mathbb{Z}_q one-form symmetry and the time reversal symmetry in the U(1)U(1) gauge theory with matter fields of charge~q2Zq\in2\mathbb{Z} when θ=π\theta=\pi, which was studied by Honda and Tanizaki [J. High Energy Phys. \textbf{12}, 154 (2020)] in the continuum framework.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2210.12967,
  title  = {Fractional topological charge in lattice Abelian gauge theory},
  author = {Motokazu Abe and Okuto Morikawa and Hiroshi Suzuki},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2210.12967},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

18 pages. The final version to appear in PTEP