Fermion–fermion duality in 3+1 dimensions

Abstract

Dualities play a central role in both quantum field theories and condensed matter systems. Recently, a web of dualities has been discovered in 2+1 dimensions. Here, we propose in particular a generalization of the Son’s fermion–fermion duality to 3+1 dimensions. We show that the action of charged Dirac fermions coupled to an external electromagnetic field is dual to an action of neutral fermions minimally coupled to an emergent vector gauge field. This dual action contains also a further tensor (Kalb–Ramond) gauge field coupled to the emergent and electromagnetic vector potentials. We firstly demonstrate the duality in the massive case. We then show the duality in the case of massless fermions starting from a lattice model and employing the slave-rotor approach already used in the 2+1-dimensional duality [Burkov (2019)]. We finally apply this result to 3D Dirac semimetals in the low-energy regime. Besides the implications in topological phases of matter, our results shed light on the possible existence of a novel web of dualities in 3+1-dimensional (non-supersymmetric) quantum field theories.