Background Gauge Field Research Articles

Goldstone bosons and fluctuating hydrodynamics with dipole and momentum conservation

We develop a Schwinger-Keldysh effective field theory describing the hydrodynamics of a fluid with conserved charge and dipole moments, together with conserved momentum. The resulting hydrodynamic modes are highly unusual, including sound waves with quadratic (magnon-like) dispersion relation and subdiffusive decay rate. Hydrodynamics itself is unstable below four spatial dimensions. We show that the momentum density is, at leading order, the Goldstone boson for a dipole symmetry which appears spontaneously broken at finite charge density. Unlike an ordinary fluid, the presence or absence of energy conservation qualitatively changes the decay rates of the hydrodynamic modes. This effective field theory naturally couples to curved spacetime and background gauge fields; in the flat spacetime limit, we reproduce the “mixed rank tensor fields” previously coupled to fracton matter.

Gap equations of background field invariant refined Gribov-Zwanziger action proposals and the deconfinement transition

In earlier work, we set up an effective potential approach at zero temperature for the Gribov-Zwanziger model that takes into account not only the restriction to the first Gribov region as a way to deal with the gauge fixing ambiguity, but also the effect of dynamical dimension-two vacuum condensates. Here, we investigate the model at finite temperature in presence of a background gauge field that allows access to the Polyakov loop expectation value and the Yang-Mills (de)confinement phase structure. This necessitates paying attention to Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin and background gauge invariance of the whole construct. We employ two such methods as proposed elsewhere in literature: one based on using an appropriate dressed, Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin invariant, gluon field by the authors and one based on a Wilson-loop dressed Gribov-Zwanziger auxiliary field sector by Kroff and Reinosa. The latter approach outperforms the former in estimating the critical temperature for $N=2$, 3 as well as correctly predicting the order of the transition for both cases.

Codimension-2 defects and higher symmetries in (3+1)D topological phases

(3+1)D topological phases of matter can host a broad class of non-trivial topological defects of codimension-1, 2, and 3, of which the well-known point charges and flux loops are special cases. The complete algebraic structure of these defects defines a higher category, and can be viewed as an emergent higher symmetry. This plays a crucial role both in the classification of phases of matter and the possible fault-tolerant logical operations in topological quantum error-correcting codes. In this paper, we study several examples of such higher codimension defects from distinct perspectives. We mainly study a class of invertible codimension-2 topological defects, which we refer to as twist strings. We provide a number of general constructions for twist strings, in terms of gauging lower dimensional invertible phases, layer constructions, and condensation defects. We study some special examples in the context of \mathbb{Z}_2ℤ2 gauge theory with fermionic charges, in \mathbb{Z}_2 \times \mathbb{Z}_2ℤ2×ℤ2 gauge theory with bosonic charges, and also in non-Abelian discrete gauge theories based on dihedral (D_nDn) and alternating (A_6A6) groups. The intersection between twist strings and Abelian flux loops sources Abelian point charges, which defines an H^4H4 cohomology class that characterizes part of an underlying 3-group symmetry of the topological order. The equations involving background gauge fields for the 3-group symmetry have been explicitly written down for various cases. We also study examples of twist strings interacting with non-Abelian flux loops (defining part of a non-invertible higher symmetry), examples of non-invertible codimension-2 defects, and examples of the interplay of codimension-2 defects with codimension-1 defects. We also find an example of geometric, not fully topological, twist strings in (3+1)D A_6A6 gauge theory.

Massive gauge theory with quasigluon for hot SU(N) : Phase transition and thermodynamics

It is challenging to build a model that can correctly and unifiedly account for the deconfinement phase transition and thermodynamics of the hot $SU(N)$ pure Yang-Mills (PYM) system, for any $N$. In this article, we slightly generalize the massive PYM model to the situation with a quasigluon mass ${M}_{g}(T)$ varying with temperature, inspired by the quasigluon model. In such a framework, we can acquire an effective potential for the temporal gauge field background by perturbative calculation, rather than adding by hand. The resulting potential works well to describe the behavior of the hot PYM system for all $N$, via the single parameter ${M}_{g}(T)$. Moreover, under the assumption of unified eigenvalue distribution, the ${M}_{g}(T)$ fitted by machine learning is found to follow $N$-universality.

Photons production in heavy-ion collisions as a signal of deconfinement phase

The photon production due to conversion of two gluons into a photon, $$gg\rightarrow \gamma $$ , in the presence of the background gauge fields is studied within the specific mean-field approach to QCD vacuum. In this approach, mean field in the confinement phase is represented by the statistical ensemble of almost everywhere homogeneous abelian (anti-)self-dual gluon configurations, while the deconfined phase can be characterized by the purely chromomagnetic fields. The probability of gluon conversion of two gluons into a photon vanishes in the confinement phase due to the randomness of the background field configurations. The anisotropic strong electromagnetic field, generated in the collision of relativistic heavy ions, serves as a catalyst for deconfinement with the appearance of an anisotropic purely chromomagnetic mean field. Respectively, deconfined phase is characterized by nonzero probability of the conversion of two gluons into a photon with strongly anisotropic angular distribution.

Theory of oblique topological insulators

A long-standing problem in the study of topological phases of matter has been to understand the types of fractional topological insulator (FTI) phases possible in 3+1 dimensions. Unlike ordinary topological insulators of free fermions, FTI phases are characterized by fractional \ThetaΘ-angles, long-range entanglement, and fractionalization. Starting from a simple family of \mathbb{Z}_NℤN lattice gauge theories due to Cardy and Rabinovici, we develop a class of FTI phases based on the physical mechanism of oblique confinement and the modern language of generalized global symmetries. We dub these phases oblique topological insulators. Oblique TIs arise when dyons—bound states of electric charges and monopoles—condense, leading to FTI phases characterized by topological order, emergent one-form symmetries, and gapped boundary states not realizable in 2+1-D alone. Based on the lattice gauge theory, we present continuum topological quantum field theories (TQFTs) for oblique TI phases involving fluctuating one-form and two-form gauge fields. We show explicitly that these TQFTs capture both the generalized global symmetries and topological orders seen in the lattice gauge theory. We also demonstrate that these theories exhibit a universal “generalized magnetoelectric effect” in the presence of two-form background gauge fields. Moreover, we characterize the possible boundary topological orders of oblique TIs, finding a new set of boundary states not studied previously for these kinds of TQFTs.

BCF anomaly and higher-group structure in the low energy effective theories of mesons

We discuss the BCF anomaly of massless QCD-like theories, first obtained by Anber and Poppitz, from the viewpoint of the low energy effective theories. We assume that the QCD-like theories exhibit spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking due to a quark bilinear condensate. Using the ’t Hooft anomaly matching condition for the BCF anomaly, we find that the low energy effective action is composed of a chiral Lagrangian and a Wess-Zumino-Witten term together with an interaction term of the η′ meson with the background gauge field for a discrete one-form symmetry. It is shown that the low energy effective action cancels the quantum inconsistencies associated with η′ due to an ambiguity of how to uplift the action to a five-dimensional spacetime with a boundary. The η′ term plays a substantial role in exploring the emergent higher-group structure at low energies.

Higher-group structure in 2n-dimensional axion-electrodynamics

We investigate 2n-dimensional axion electrodynamics for the purpose of exploring a higher-group structure underlying it. This is manifested as a Green-Schwarz transformation of the background gauge fields that couple minimally to the conserved currents. The n = 3 case is studied most intensively. We derive the identities of correlation functions among the global symmetry generators by using a gauge transformation that maps two correlation functions with each other. A key ingredient in this computation is given by the Green-Schwarz transformation and the ’t Hooft anomalies associated with the gauge transformation. The algebraic structure of these results and its physical interpretations are discussed in detail. In particular, we find that the higher-group structure for n = 3 is endowed with a multi-ary operation among the symmetry generators.

Anomalies in (2+1)D Fermionic Topological Phases and (3+1)D Path Integral State Sums for Fermionic SPTs

Given a (2+1)D fermionic topological order and a symmetry fractionalization class for a global symmetry group $G$, we show how to construct a (3+1)D topologically invariant path integral for a fermionic $G$ symmetry-protected topological state ($G$-FSPT) in terms of an exact combinatorial state sum. This provides a general way to compute anomalies in (2+1)D fermionic symmetry-enriched topological states of matter. Equivalently, our construction provides an exact (3+1)D combinatorial state sum for a path integral of any FSPT that admits a symmetry-preserving gapped boundary, including the (3+1)D topological insulators and superconductors in class AII, AIII, DIII, and CII that arise in the free fermion classification. Our construction uses the fermionic topological order (characterized by a super-modular tensor category) and symmetry fractionalization data to define a (3+1)D path integral for a bosonic theory that hosts a non-trivial emergent fermionic particle, and then condenses the fermion by summing over closed 3-form $\mathbb{Z}_2$ background gauge fields. This procedure involves a number of non-trivial higher-form anomalies associated with Fermi statistics and fractional quantum numbers that need to be appropriately canceled off with a Grassmann integral that depends on a generalized spin structure. We show how our construction reproduces the $\mathbb{Z}_{16}$ anomaly indicator for time-reversal symmetric topological superconductors with ${\bf T}^2 = (-1)^F$. Mathematically, with standard technical assumptions, this implies that our construction gives a combinatorial state sum on a triangulated 4-manifold that can distinguish all $\mathbb{Z}_{16}$ $\mathrm{Pin}^+$ smooth bordism classes. As such, it contains the topological information encoded in the eta invariant of the pin$^+$ Dirac operator, thus giving an example of a state sum TQFT that can distinguish exotic smooth structure.

Noether’s 1st theorem with local symmetries

Abstract Noether’s 2nd theorem applied to a total system states that a global symmetry which is a part of local symmetries does not provide a physically meaningful conserved charge but it instead leads to off-shell constraints as a form of conserved currents. In this paper, we propose a general method to derive a matter-conserved current associated with a special global symmetry in the presence of local symmetries. While currents derived from local symmetries of a matter sector with a covariant background gauge field are not conserved in general, we show that the current associated with a special type of a global symmetry, called a hidden matter symmetry, is on-shell conserved. We apply this derivation to a U(1) gauge theory, general relativity and non-abelian gauge theory. In general relativity, the associated conserved charge agrees with the one recently proposed from a different point of view.

Topological superconductor from the quantum Hall phase: Effective field theory description

We derive low-energy effective field theories for the quantum anomalous Hall and topological superconducting phases. The quantum Hall phase is realized in terms of free fermions with nonrelativistic dispersion relation, possessing a global $U(1)$ symmetry. We couple this symmetry with a background gauge field and compute the effective action by integrating out the gapped fermions. In spite of the fact that the corresponding Dirac operator governing the dynamics of the original fermions is nonrelativistic, the leading contribution in the effective action is a usual Abelian $U(1)$ Chern-Simons term. The proximity to a conventional superconductor induces a pairing potential in the quantum Hall state, favoring the formation of Cooper pairs. When the pairing is strong enough, it drives the system to a topological superconducting phase, hosting Majorana fermions. Even though the continuum $U(1)$ symmetry is broken down to a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ one, we can forge fictitious $U(1)$ symmetries that enable us to derive the effective action for the topological superconducting phase, also given by a Chern-Simons theory. To eliminate spurious states coming from the artificial symmetry enlargement, we demand that the fields in the effective action are $O(2)$ instead of $U(1)$ gauge fields. In the $O(2)$ case we have to sum over the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ bundles in the partition function, which projects out the states that are not $\mathbb{Z}_2$ invariants. The corresponding edge theory is the $U(1)/\mathbb{Z}_2$ orbifold, which contains Majorana fermions in its operator content.

Anomaly inflow for subsystem symmetries

We study 't Hooft anomalies and the related anomaly inflow for subsystem global symmetries. These symmetries and anomalies arise in a number of exotic systems, including models with fracton order such as the $X$-cube model. As is the case for ordinary global symmetries, anomalies for subsystem symmetries can be canceled by anomaly inflow from a bulk theory in one higher dimension; the corresponding bulk is therefore a nontrivial subsystem symmetry protected topological (SSPT) phase. We demonstrate these phenomena in several examples with continuous and discrete subsystem global symmetries, as well as time-reversal symmetry. For each example we describe the boundary anomaly, and present classical continuum actions for the corresponding bulk SSPT phases, which describe the response of background gauge fields associated with the subsystem symmetries. Interestingly, we show that the anomaly does not uniquely specify the bulk SSPT phase. In general, the latter may also depend on how the symmetry and the associated foliation structure on the boundary are extended into the bulk.

Lifshitz scaling effects on the holographic model for paramagnetism-antiferromagnetism phase transition

In this work, we construct a holographic antiferromagnetism model by introducing two real antisymmetric tensor fields coupling to the background gauge field strength and interacting with each other in the four-dimensional Lifshitz black hole, and investigate the effects of Lifshitz dynamical exponent z on the paramagnetism-antiferromagnetism phase transition in detail. Using the numerical shooting method, we find that there is still a phase transition in asymptotically Lifshitz space-time in the probe limit. In the absence of an external magnetic field and in low temperature, the magnetic moments condense spontaneously in antiparallel manner with the same magnitude. But the critical temperature and the staggered magnetization decrease with increasing z, which makes paramagnetism-antiferromagnetism phase transition harder to happen. In the presence of the weak external magnetic field, the magnetic susceptibility has a peak at the critical temperature and increasing values of z makes the peak higher. In the case of the strong external magnetic field, there exists a critical magnetic field Bc in the antiferromagnetic phase. When the magnetic field reaches Bc, the system turns into the paramagnetic phase. Besides, the increasing of z results in increasing of Bc.

Higher-group symmetries and weak gravity conjecture mixing

In four-dimensional axion electrodynamics, a Chern-Simons coupling of the form θF ^ F leads to a higher-group global symmetry between background gauge fields. At the same time, such a Chern-Simons coupling leads to a mixing between the Weak Gravity Conjectures for the axion and the gauge field, so that the charged excitations of a Weak Gravity Conjecture-satisfying axion string will also satisfy the Weak Gravity Conjecture for the gauge field. In this paper, we argue that these higher-group symmetries and this phenomenon of Weak Gravity Conjecture mixing are related to one another. We show that this relationship extends to supergravities in 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 dimensions, so higher-dimensional supergravity is endowed with precisely the structure needed to ensure consistency with emergent higher-group symmetries and with the Weak Gravity Conjecture. We further argue that a similar mixing of Weak Gravity Conjectures can occur in two-term Chern-Simons theories or in theories with kinetic mixing, though the connection with higher-group symmetries here is more tenuous, and accordingly the constraints on effective field theory are not as sharp.

Topological properties of minimally doubled fermions in two spacetime dimensions

The two-dimensional Schwinger model is used to explore how lattice fermion operators perceive the global topological charge $q \in \mathbb{Z}$ of a given background gauge field. We focus on Karsten-Wilczek and Borici-Creutz fermions, which are minimally doubled, and compare them to Wilson, Brillouin, naive, staggered and Adams fermions. For each operator the eigenvalue spectrum in a background with $q \neq 0$ is determined along with the chiralities of the eigenmodes, and the spectral flow of the pertinent hermitean operator is worked out. We find that Karsten-Wilczek and Borici-Creutz fermions perceive the global topological charge $q$ in the same way as staggered and naive fermions do.

Effective multi-satellite precipitation fusion procedure conditioned by gauge background fields over the Chinese mainland

The accurate estimation of precipitation has a basis for atmospheric and hydrological applications. However, large uncertainties exist in the estimation of regional precipitation derived solely from remote sensing data. Herein, we develop an effective method to fuse multiple satellite-based precipitation products to capitalize on their strengths and maximize their applicability at the 0.25° resolution scale. Specifically, we describe an approach based on bias correction in individual satellite-based products and their merging with up-scaled (1.0°) gauge-based interpolated data to produce finer -resolution (0.25°) data outputs. By focusing on seven regions to generate the estimates of merged precipitation across the Chinese mainland (MPCM), we performed a full evaluation based on a range of error metrics. The results showed that the bias correction procedure can reduce the discrepancies in the individual satellite-based precipitation products. In addition, the mean absolute error values are also considerably reduced (20%–45%) with respect to the original data over the Chinese mainland. Error statistical metrics demonstrated that the MPCM generated considerably better estimates on a daily scale, and performed better than the satellite-based precipitation products across different precipitation thresholds. The intercomparison results clearly states the superiority of the MPCM against Multi-Source Weighted-Ensemble Precipitation version 2 global product. Nonetheless, we also suggest that the large uncertainties in satellite-based products should be paid more attention over mountainous areas where rain gauge data are insufficient.

SO(5) Landau model and 4D quantum Hall effect in the SO(4) monopole background

We investigate the $SO(5)$ Landau problem in the $SO(4)$ monopole gauge field background by applying the techniques of the non-linear realization of quantum field theory. The $SO(4)$ monopole carries two topological invariants, the second Chern number and a generalized Euler number, specified by the $SU(2)$ monopole and anti-monopole indices, $I_+$ and $I_-$. The energy levels of the $SO(5)$ Landau problem are grouped into $\text{Min}(I_+, I_-) +1$ sectors, each of which holds Landau levels. In the $n$-sector, $N$th Landau level eigenstates constitute the $SO(5)$ irreducible representation with $(p,q)_5=(N+I_+ + I_--n, N+n)_5$ whose function form is obtained from the $SO(5)$ non-linear realization matrix. In the $n=0$ sector, the emergent quantum geometry of the lowest Landau level is identified as the fuzzy four-sphere with radius being proportional to the difference between $I_+$ and $I_-$. The Laughlin-like wavefunction is constructed by imposing the $SO(5)$ lowest Landau level projection to the many-body wavefunction made of the Slater determinant. We also analyze the relativistic version of the $SO(5)$ Landau model to demonstrate the Atiyah-Singer index theorem in the $SO(4)$ gauge field configuration.

Hydrodynamic effective field theories with discrete rotational symmetry

We develop a hydrodynamic effective field theory on the Schwinger-Keldysh contour for fluids with charge, energy, and momentum conservation, but only discrete rotational symmetry. The consequences of anisotropy on thermodynamics and first-order dissipative hydrodynamics are detailed in some simple examples in two spatial dimensions, but our construction extends to any spatial dimension and any rotation group (discrete or continuous). We find many possible terms in the equations of motion which are compatible with the existence of an entropy current, but not with the ability to couple the fluid to background gauge fields and vielbein.

Gauge symmetry restoration by Higgs condensation in flux compactifications on coset spaces

Extra-dimensional components of gauge fields in higher-dimensional gauge theories will play a role of the Higgs field and become tachyonic after Kaluza-Klein compactifications on internal spaces with (topologically nontrivial) gauge field backgrounds. Its condensation is then expected to break gauge symmetries spontaneously. But, contrary to the expectation, some models exhibit restoration of gauge symmetries. In this paper, by considering all the massive Kaluza-Klein excitations of gauge fields, we explicitly show that some of them indeed become massless at the minimum of the Higgs potential and restore (a part of) the gauge symmetries which are broken by gauge field backgrounds. We particularly consider compactifications on ${S}^{2}$ with monopolelike fluxes and also on ${\mathbb{CP}}^{2}$ with instanton and monopolelike fluxes. In some cases, the gauge symmetry is fully restored, as argued in previous literatures. In other cases, there is a stable vacuum with a partial restoration of the gauge symmetry after Higgs condensation. Topological structure of the gauge field configurations prevent the gauge symmetries from being restored.

A Local Gauge Description of the Interaction Between Magnetization and Electric Field in a Ferromagnet

We apply a non-abelian gauge field approach to generalize the micromagnetic energy description of a ferromagnet. This approach, without further assumption, takes into account three different energy terms: the well-known exchange term, chiral ones, and an intrinsic anisotropy term. In the non-abelian gauge field approach, the covariant gauge derivative plays a key role. The result is the emergence of a Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya-like energy term under two conditions: the first one is the pure gauge field background and the second one is the presence of a static electric field. Moreover, this approach allows one to reach a more deep understanding of the micromagnetics theory if rewritten in a gauge-invariant formulation. In this article, clearly emerges the interpretation of the voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA) mechanism.