English

Averaging over codes and an $SU(2)$ modular bootstrap

High Energy Physics - Theory 2023-11-17 v2

Abstract

Error-correcting codes are known to define chiral 2d lattice CFTs where all the U(1)U(1) symmetries are enhanced to SU(2)SU(2). In this paper, we extend this construction to a broader class of length-nn codes which define full (non-chiral) CFTs with SU(2)nSU(2)^n symmetry, where n=c+cˉn=c+\bar c. We show that codes give a natural discrete ensemble of 2d theories in which one can compute averaged observables. The partition functions obtained from averaging over all codes weighted equally is found to be given by the sum over modular images of the vacuum character of the full extended symmetry group, and in this case the number of modular images is finite. This averaged partition function has a large gap, scaling linearly with nn, in primaries of the full SU(2)nSU(2)^n symmetry group. Using the sum over modular images, we conjecture the form of the genus-2 partition function. This exhibits the connected contributions to disconnected boundaries characteristic of wormhole solutions in a bulk dual.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2208.14457,
  title  = {Averaging over codes and an $SU(2)$ modular bootstrap},
  author = {Johan Henriksson and Brian McPeak},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2208.14457},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

31 + 20 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-28T00:25:59.231Z