Journal
JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS
Volume -, Issue 4, Pages -Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/JHEP04(2021)045
Keywords
Global Symmetries; Effective Field Theories; Anomalies in Field and String Theories
Categories
Funding
- ToppForsk-UiS program of the University of Stavanger [PR-10614]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Higher-form symmetries act on extended objects, not on point particles, and can coexist with ordinary point-particle symmetries in a direct product symmetry group. When these symmetries become entangled, a more general mathematical structure related to higher categorical groups is required. Higher-group symmetry can emerge from a bottom-up perspective when physical systems contain at least two different spontaneously broken symmetries.
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 described in terms of a direct product symmetry group. However, when the actions of 0-form and higher-form symmetries become entangled, a more general mathematical structure is required, related to higher categorical groups. Systems with continuous higher-group symmetry were previously constructed in a top-down manner, descending from quantum field theories with a specific mixed 't Hooft anomaly. I show that higher-group symmetry also naturally emerges from a bottom-up, low-energy perspective, when the physical system at hand contains at least two different given, spontaneously broken symmetries. This leads generically to a hierarchy of emergent higher-form symmetries, corresponding to the Grassmann algebra of topological currents of the theory, with an underlying higher-group structure. Examples of physical systems featuring such higher-group symmetry include superfluid mixtures and variants of axion electrodynamics.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available