English

Line Operators in 3d Holomorphic QFT: Meromorphic Tensor Categories and dg-Shifted Yangians

High Energy Physics - Theory 2025-08-19 v1 Mathematical Physics math.MP Quantum Algebra Representation Theory

Abstract

We study line operators and their OPE's in perturbative 3d holomorphic-topological QFT's, including holomorphic-topological twists (quarter-BPS sectors) of 3d N=2N=2 theories. In particular, we develop the representation theory of the category CC of perturbative line operators and its chiral tensor product, by generalizing techniques introduced by Costello and collaborators. We argue that lines are equivalent to modules for an AA_\infty algebra A!A^! that's Koszul-dual to bulk local operators. We further establish a non-renormalization theorem for the OPE's of lines in a large class of theories (dubbed quasi-linear), allowing an exact resummation of quantum corrections. Based on physics arguments, we propose axioms for the full algebraic structure on A!A^!, calling it a "dg-shifted Yangian," which controls the OPE of lines. A key part of the structure is a Maurer-Cartan element r(z)A!A!( ⁣(z1) ⁣)r(z)\in A^!\otimes A^!(\!(z^{-1})\!) that satisfies an AA_\infty generalization of the Yang-Baxter equation. As examples, we consider 3d N=2N=2 gauge theories with arbitrary Chern-Simons levels, linear matter, and superpotential, and explicitly compute 1) perturbative bulk local operators (as AA_\infty-chiral algebras); and 2) the Koszul-duals A!A^! (proving they are dg-shifted Yangians).

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2508.11749,
  title  = {Line Operators in 3d Holomorphic QFT: Meromorphic Tensor Categories and dg-Shifted Yangians},
  author = {Tudor Dimofte and Wenjun Niu and Victor Py},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.11749},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

132 pages + appendix and references