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Related papers: Higher Form Symmetries and M-theory

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In this work we uncover a connection that relates the 1-form and the 2-group symmetries of 5D SCFTs derived from geometric engineering methods to monodromies of the corresponding B-models via mirror symmetry. Viewing defects as branes…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2025-06-25 Jiahua Tian , Xin Wang

We examine six-dimensional quantum field theories through the lens of higher-form global symmetries. Every Yang-Mills gauge theory in six dimensions, with field strength $f^{(2)}$, naturally gives rise to a continuous 1-form global symmetry…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2021-05-12 Clay Cordova , Thomas T. Dumitrescu , Kenneth Intriligator

We study generalized global symmetries and their 't Hooft anomalies in 3d N=4 superconformal field theories (SCFTs). Following some general considerations, we focus on good quiver gauge theories, comprised of balanced unitary nodes and…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2024-03-20 Lakshya Bhardwaj , Mathew Bullimore , Andrea E. V. Ferrari , Sakura Schafer-Nameki

We explore the connection between the global symmetry quantum numbers of line defects and 't Hooft anomalies. Relative to local (point) operators, line defects may transform projectively under both internal and spacetime symmetries. This…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2022-07-01 T. Daniel Brennan , Clay Cordova , Thomas T. Dumitrescu

We construct 4d superconformal field theories (SCFTs) whose Coulomb branches have singular complex structures. This implies, in particular, that their Coulomb branch coordinate rings are not freely generated. Our construction also gives…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2018-07-04 Philip C. Argyres , Mario Martone

Higher-form symmetries are associated with transformations that only act on extended objects, not on point particles. Typically, higher-form symmetries live alongside ordinary, point-particle (0-form), symmetries and they can be jointly…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2021-04-08 Tomas Brauner

We study the 't Hooft anomalies of four-dimensional superconformal field theories that arise from M5-branes wrapped on a punctured Riemann surface. In general there are two independent contributions to the anomalies. There is a bulk term…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2019-03-27 Ibrahima Bah , Emily Nardoni

We analyze the global symmetries and anomalies of 4d $\mathcal{N} = 1$ field theories that arise from a stack of $N$ M5-branes probing a class of flux backgrounds. These backgrounds consist of a resolved $\mathbb{C}^2 / \mathbb{Z}_k$…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2022-11-09 Ibrahima Bah , Federico Bonetti , Enoch Leung , Peter Weck

These are a set of lecture notes on generalized global symmetries in quantum field theory. The focus is on invertible symmetries with a few comments regarding non-invertible symmetries. The main topics covered are the basics of higher-form…

2-group symmetries arise when 1-form symmetries and 0-form symmetries of a theory mix with each other under group multiplication. We discover the existence of 2-group symmetries in 5d N=1 abelian gauge theories arising on the (non-extended)…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2022-08-17 Fabio Apruzzi , Lakshya Bhardwaj , Jihwan Oh , Sakura Schafer-Nameki

We investigate a higher-group structure of massless axion electrodynamics in $(3+1)$ dimensions. By using the background gauging method, we show that the higher-form symmetries necessarily have a global semistrict 3-group (2-crossed module)…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2021-02-10 Yoshimasa Hidaka , Muneto Nitta , Ryo Yokokura

Much insight into the dynamics of quantum field theories can be gained by studying the relationship between field theories in different dimensions. An interesting observation is that when two theories are related by dimensional reduction on…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2023-05-16 Matteo Sacchi , Orr Sela , Gabi Zafrir

We show that the 't Hooft anomaly of a quantum field theory with continuous flavor symmetry can be detected from rearrangements of the topological defect webs implementing the global symmetry in general spacetime dimension, which is…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2025-12-22 Qiang Jia , Ran Luo , Jiahua Tian , Yi-Nan Wang , Yi Zhang

We study 't Hooft anomalies for discrete global symmetries in bosonic theories in 2, 3 and 4 dimensions. We show that such anomalies may arise in gauge theories with topological terms in the action, if the total symmetry group is a…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2014-04-18 Anton Kapustin , Ryan Thorngren

It was recently argued that quantum field theories possess one-form and higher-form symmetries, labelled `generalized global symmetries.' In this paper, we describe how those higher-form symmetries can be understood mathematically as…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2016-01-28 E. Sharpe

We examine higher-form symmetries of quantum lattice gauge theories through the lens of homotopy theory and operator algebras. We show that in the operator-algebraic approach both higher-form symmetries and 't Hooft anomalies arise from…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2025-07-24 Anton Kapustin , Lev Spodyneiko

We investigate (-1)-form symmetries using the framework of symmetry topological field theories. Previous studies of (-1)-form symmetries have primarily focused on SymTFTs with topological point operators. Here we examine SymTFTs devoid of…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2026-03-03 Daniel Robbins , Subham Roy

The modern approach to $m$-form global symmetries in a $d$-dimensional quantum field theory (QFT) entails specifying dimension $d-m-1$ topological generalized symmetry operators which non-trivially link with $m$-dimensional defect…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2023-08-09 Jonathan J. Heckman , Max Hübner , Ethan Torres , Hao Y. Zhang

We study higher-form global symmetries and a higher-group structure of a low-energy limit of $(3+1)$-dimensional axion electrodynamics in a gapped phase described by a topological action. We argue that the higher-form symmetries should have…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2022-03-04 Yoshimasa Hidaka , Muneto Nitta , Ryo Yokokura

We consider the 6d (1,0) SCFT on a stack of $N$ M5-branes probing a $\mathbb C^2/\mathbb Z_2$ singularity. In particular, we study its compactifications to four dimensions on a smooth genus-$g$ Riemann surface with non-trivial flavor flux,…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2020-02-19 Ibrahima Bah , Federico Bonetti