Abstract
Quantum field theories with identical local dynamics can admit different choices of global structure, leading to different partition functions and spectra of extended operators. Such choices can be reformulated in terms of a topological field theory in one dimension higher, the symmetry TFT. In this paper we show that this TFT can be reconstructed from a careful analysis of the infrared Coulomb-like phases. In particular, the TFT matches between the UV and the IR. This provides a purely field theoretical counterpart of several recent results obtained via geometric engineering in various string/M/F theory setups for theories in four and five dimensions that we confirm and extend.
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Acknowledgments
We thank P. Argyres and M. Martone for illuminating discussions. We warmly thank Dan Freed for very interesting comments and for sharing with us a very intriguing note. This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 851931). I.G.-E. is partially supported by STFC consolidated grant ST/T000708/1. We also both acknowledge support from the Simons Foundation via the Simons Collaboration on Global Categorical Symmetries.
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Del Zotto, M., García Etxebarria, I. Global structures from the infrared. J. High Energ. Phys. 2023, 58 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP11(2023)058
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP11(2023)058