English

Non-Invertible Surface Defects in 2+1d QFTs from Half Spacetime Gauging

High Energy Physics - Theory 2024-12-02 v2

Abstract

We study duality defects in 2+1d theories with \bZN(0)×\bZN(1)\bZ^{(0)}_N\times\bZ^{(1)}_N global symmetry and trivial mixed 't Hooft anomaly. By gauging these symmetries simultaneously in half of the spacetime, we define duality defects for theories that are self-dual under gauging. We calculate the fusion rules involving duality defects and show that they obey a fusion 2-category. We also construct the corresponding symmetry topological field theory, a four-dimensional BF theory on a slab which realizes the duality defects on the boundary upon shrinking the interval. Furthermore, we provide explicit examples of such duality defects in U(1)×U(1)U(1)\times U(1) gauge theories and in more general product theories. Finally, we find duality defects in non-Lagrangian theories obtained by compactification of 6d \cN=(2,0)\cN=(2,0) SCFTs of type AN1A_{N-1} on various three-manifolds.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2406.09261,
  title  = {Non-Invertible Surface Defects in 2+1d QFTs from Half Spacetime Gauging},
  author = {Wei Cui and Babak Haghighat and Lorenzo Ruggeri},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2406.09261},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

minor changes and references added

R2 v1 2026-06-28T17:04:47.155Z