Higher group Weyl symmetry

Abstract

We study a higher group analog of the Weyl symmetry in four-dimensional quantum field theories. A typical example is that the modified transformation of the 2-form background gauge field replaces the operator-valued Weyl anomaly associated with gauging the 0-form global symmetry. It is analogous to the 2-group global symmetry where the modified transformation of the 2-form background gauge field replaces the operator-valued chiral anomaly associated with gauging the 0-form symmetry. The physical origin of the higher group Weyl symmetry is that under the renormalization group flow, the conserved current mixes with the electromagnetic current that couples with the dynamical gauge field. We can express these effects in the local renormalization group equations in a unified manner.