English

Undoing decomposition

High Energy Physics - Theory 2020-01-31 v2

Abstract

In this paper we discuss gauging one-form symmetries in two-dimensional theories. The existence of a global one-form symmetry in two dimensions typically signals a violation of cluster decomposition -- an issue resolved by the observation that such theories decompose into disjoint unions, a result that has been applied to, for example, Gromov-Witten theory and gauged linear sigma model phases. In this paper we describe how gauging one-form symmetries in two-dimensional theories can be used to select particular elements of that disjoint union, effectively undoing decomposition. We examine such gaugings explicitly in examples involving orbifolds, nonsupersymmetric pure Yang-Mills theories, and supersymmetric gauge theories in two dimensions. Along the way, we learn explicit concrete details of the topological configurations that path integrals sum over when gauging a one-form symmetry, and we also uncover `hidden' one-form symmetries.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1911.05080,
  title  = {Undoing decomposition},
  author = {E. Sharpe},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1911.05080},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

50 pages, LaTeX, 2 figures; v2: reference added

R2 v1 2026-06-23T12:13:27.814Z