Classifying global symmetries of 6D SCFTs

Abstract

We characterize the global symmetries for the conjecturally complete collection of all six dimensional superconformal field theories (6D SCFTs) which are realizable in F-theory and have no frozen singularities. We provide comprehensive checks of earlier 6D SCFT classification results via an alternative geometric approach yielding new restrictions which eliminate certain theories. We achieve this by directly constraining elliptically fibered Calabi-Yau (CY) threefold Weierstrass models and find this allows bypassing all anomaly cancellation machinery. This approach reduces the problem of classifying which 6D SCFT gauge and global symmetries are realizable in F-theory models before RG-flow to characterizing features of elliptic fibrations associated to these theories obtained by analysis of polynomials determining their local models. We supply an algorithm with implementation producing from a given SCFT base an explicit listing of all compatible gauge enhancements and their associated global symmetry maxima consistent with the geometric constraints we derive while making manifest the corresponding geometric ingredients for these symmetries including any possible Kodaira type realizations of each algebra summand. In mathematical terms, this amounts to determining all potentially viable non-compact CY threefold elliptic fibrations at finite distance in the moduli space with Weil-Petersson metric which meet certain requirements including the transverse pairwise intersection of singular locus components. We provide local analysis exhausting nearly all CY consistent transverse singular fiber collisions, global analysis concerning all viable gluings of these local models into larger configurations, and many novel constraints on singular locus component pair intersections and global fiber arrangements. We also investigate which transitions between 6D SCFTs can result from gauging of global symmetries and find that continuous degrees of freedom can be lost during such transitions.