Integrable defects in two-dimensional integrable models are purely transmitting thus topological. By fusing them to integrable boundaries new integrable boundary conditions can be generated, and, from the comparison of the two solved boundary theories, explicit solutions of defect models can be extracted. This idea is used to determine the transmission factors and defect energies of topological defects in sinh-Gordon and Lee-Yang models. The transmission factors are checked in Lagrangian perturbation theory in the sinh-Gordon case, while the defect energies are checked against defect thermodynamic Bethe ansatz equations derived to describe the ground-state energy of diagonal defect systems on a cylinder. Defect bootstrap equations are also analyzed and are closed by determining the spectrum of defect bound-states in the Lee-Yang model.
Topological defects have long been known to encode symmetries and dualities between physical systems. In the context of string theory, defects have been intensively studied at the level of the worldsheet. Although marked by a number of pioneering milestones, the target space picture of defects is much less understood. In this paper, we show, at the level of the target space, that Poisson-Lie T-duality can be encoded as a topological defect. With this result at hand, we can postulate the kernel capturing the Fourier-Mukai transform associated to the action of Poisson-Lie T-duality on the RR-sec…
In the twisted M-theory setting, various types of fusion of M2 and M5 branes induce coproducts between the algebra of operators on M2 branes and the algebra of operators on M5 branes. By doing a perturbative computation in the gravity side, which is captured by the 5d topological holomorphic $U(1)$ Chern-Simons theory, we reproduce the non-perturbative coproducts.
This is the first of a series of papers discussing canonical aspects of the two-dimensional non-linear sigma model in the presence of conformal defects on the world-sheet in the framework of gerbe theory. In the paper, the basic tools of the state-space analysis are introduced, such as the symplectic structure on the state space of the sigma model and the pre-quantum bundle over it, and a relation between the defects and dualities of the sigma model is established. Also, a state-space description of the splitting-joining interaction of the string across the defect is presented, leading to an i…
Perturbations of B-type defects in Landau-Ginzburg models are considered. In particular, the effect of perturbations of defects on their fusion is analyzed in the framework of matrix factorizations. As an application, it is discussed how fusion with perturbed defects induces perturbations on boundary conditions. It is shown that in some classes of models all boundary perturbations can be obtained in this way. Moreover, a universal class of perturbed defects is constructed, whose fusion under certain conditions obey braid relations. The functors obtained by fusing these defects with boundary co…
We consider the triality fusion category discovered in the $c = 1$ KT theory \cite{Thorngren:2021yso}. We analyze this fusion category using the tools from the group theoretical fusion category and describe how to compute the simple lines, fusion rules and $F$-symbols. We then study the physical implication of this fusion category including deriving the spin selection rule, computing the asymptotic density of states of irreps of the fusion category symmetries, and analyzing its anomaly and constraints on the renormalization group flow. There is another set of $F$-symbols for the fusion categor…
Two defect lines separated by a distance delta look from much larger distances like a single defect. In the critical theory, when all scales are large compared to the cutoff scale, this fusion of defect lines is universal. We calculate the universal fusion rule in the critical 2D Ising model and show that it is given by the Verlinde algebra of primary fields, combined with group multiplication in O(1,1)/Z_2. Fusion is in general singular and requires the subtraction of a divergent Casimir energy.
We consider two conformal defects close to each other in a free theory, and study what happens as the distance between them goes to zero. This limit is the same as zooming out, and the two defects have fused to another defect. As we zoom in we find a non-conformal effective action for the fused defect. Among other things this means that we cannot in general decompose the two-point correlator of two defects in terms of other conformal defects. We prove the fusion using the path integral formalism by treating the defects as sources for a scalar in the bulk.
In this paper we outline the application of decomposition to condensation defects and their fusion rules. Briefly, a condensation defect is obtained by gauging a higher-form symmetry along a submanifold, and so there is a natural interplay with notions of decomposition, the statement that d-dimensional quantum field theories with global (d-1)-form symmetries are equivalent to disjoint unions of other quantum field theories. We will also construct new (sometimes non-invertible) defects, and compute their fusion products, again utilizing decomposition. An important role will be played in all the…
We investigate the fusion of B-type interfaces in two-dimensional supersymmetric Landau-Ginzburg models. In particular, we propose to describe the fusion of an interface in terms of a fusion functor that acts on the category of modules of the underlying polynomial rings of chiral superfields. This uplift of a functor on the category of matrix factorisations simplifies the actual computation of interface fusion. Besides a brief discussion of minimal models, we illustrate the power of this approach in the SU(3)/U(2) Kazama-Suzuki model where we find fusion functors for a set of elementary topolo…
Defect conformal field theories (dCFTs) have been attracting increased attention recently, mainly because they enable us to bridge the gap between idealistic, highly symmetric models of our world (such as the particle/string duality) and real-world systems. This talk is about the AdS/defect CFT correspondence, an exciting new proposal that joins the forces of holography, integrability, supersymmetric localization and the conformal bootstrap program in a framework that is appropriate for the study of defects in real-world systems. After introducing dCFTs and some of their holographic realizatio…
We compute the categorified sl(N) link invariants as defined by Khovanov and Rozansky, for various links and values of N. This is made tractable by an algorithm for reducing tensor products of matrix factorisations to finite rank, which we implement in the computer algebra package Singular.
It was well known that there are $e$-particles and $m$-strings in the 3-dimensional (spatial dimension) toric code model, which realizes the 3-dimensional $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topological order. Recent mathematical result, however, shows that there are additional string-like topological defects in the 3-dimensional $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topological order. In this work, we construct all topological defects of codimension 2 and higher, and show that they form a braided fusion 2-category satisfying a braiding non-degeneracy condition.
We establish that the relevant geometric data for the target space description of world sheet topological defects are submanifolds - which we call bi-branes - in the product M1 x M2 of the two target spaces involved. Very much like branes, they are equipped with a vector bundle, which in backgrounds with non-trivial B-field is actually a twisted vector bundle. We explain how to define Wess-Zumino terms in the presence of bi-branes and discuss the fusion of bi-branes. In the case of WZW theories, symmetry preserving bi-branes are shown to be biconjugacy classes. The algebra of functions on a bi…
We show how conformal field theory topological defects can relate solutions of open string field theory for different boundary conditions. To this end we generalize the results of Graham and Watts to include the action of defects on boundary condition changing fields. Special care is devoted to the general case when nontrivial multiplicities arise upon defect action. Surprisingly the fusion algebra of defects is realized on open string fields only up to a (star algebra) isomorphism.
Using the properties of defect lines, we study boundary renormalisation group flows. We find that when there exists a flow between maximally symmetric boundary conditions "a" and "b" then there also exists a boundary flow between "c x a" and "c x b" where "x" denotes the fusion product. We also discuss applications of this simple observation.
We propose defect lines as a useful tool to study bulk perturbations of conformal field theories, in particular to analyse the induced renormalisation group flows of boundary conditions. As a concrete example we investigate bulk perturbations of N=2 supersymmetric minimal models. To these perturbations we associate a special class of defects between the respective UV and IR theories, whose fusion with boundary conditions indeed reproduces the behaviour of the latter under the corresponding RG flows. v2: Some explanations added in section 4, minor changes.
A large class of two-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=(2,2)$ superconformal field theories can be understood as IR fixed-points of Landau-Ginzburg models. In particular, there are rational conformal field theories that also have a Landau-Ginzburg description. To understand better the relation between the structures in the rational conformal field theory and in the Landau-Ginzburg theory, we investigate how rational B-type boundary conditions are realised as matrix factorisations in the $SU(3)/U(2)$ Grassmannian Kazama-Suzuki model. As a tool to generate the matrix factorisations we make use of a parti…
The super-$σ$-model of dynamics of the super-charged loop in an ambient supermanifold in the presence of worldsheet defects of arbitrary topology is formalised within Gawȩdzki's higher-cohomological approach, drawing inspiration from the precursor arXiv:0808.1419 [hep-th]. A distinguished class of the corresponding backgrounds (supertargets with additional bicategorial supergeometric data), organised into simplicial hierarchies, is considered. To these, configurational (super)symmetry of the bulk field theory is lifted coherently, whereby the notion of a maximally (super)symmetric background, …
Form factor axioms are derived in two dimensional integrable defect theories for matrix elements of operators localized both in the bulk and on the defect. The form factors of bulk operators are expressed in terms of the bulk form factors and the transmission factor. The structure of the form factors of defect operators is established in general, and explicitly calculated in particular, for the free boson and for some operator of the Lee-Yang model. Fusion method is also presented to generate boundary form factor solutions for a fused boundary from the known unfused ones.
Topological defects attract much recent interest in high-energy and condensed matter physics because they encode (non-invertible) symmetries and dualities. We study codimension-1 topological defects from a hamiltonian point of view, with the defect location playing the role of `time'. We show that the Weinstein symplectic category governs topological defects and their fusion: each defect is a lagrangian correspondence, and defect fusion is their geometric composition. We illustrate the utility of these ideas by constructing S- and T-duality defects in string theory, including a novel topology-…
Unitary and Nonunitary A-D-E minimal models: Coset graph fusion algebras, defects, entropies, SREEs and dilogarithm identities
School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne（墨尔本大学数学与统计学院）；School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Queensland（昆士兰大学数学与物理学院）；High Energy Physics Research Unit, Faculty of Science Chulalongkorn University（朱拉隆功大学理学院高能物理研究单元）
Para-fusion Category and Topological Defect Lines in $\mathbb Z_N$-parafermionic CFTs
Xiamen University（厦门大学）；Yau Mathematical Sciences Center, Tsinghua University（丘成桐数学科学中心，清华大学）；Yanqi Lake Beijing Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Applications (BIMSA)（北京雁栖湖应用数学研究院）
We demonstrate that the fusion algebra of conformal defects of a two-dimensional conformal field theory contains information about the internal symmetries of the theory and allows one to read off generalisations of Kramers-Wannier duality. We illustrate the general mechanism in the examples of the Ising model and the three-states Potts model.
We investigate the emergence of topological defect lines in the conformal Regge limit of two-dimensional conformal field theory. We explain how a local operator can be factorized into a holomorphic and an anti-holomorphic defect operator connected through a topological defect line, and discuss implications on Lorentzian dynamics including aspects of chaos. We derive a formula relating the infinite boost limit, which holographically encodes the "opacity" of bulk scattering, to the action of topological defect lines on local operators. Leveraging the unitary bound on the opacity and the positivi…
We sketch a procedure to capture general non-invertible symmetries of a d-dimensional quantum field theory in the data of a higher-category, which captures the local properties of topological defects associated to the symmetries. We also discuss fusions of topological defects, which involve condensations/gaugings of higher-categorical symmetries localized on the worldvolumes of topological defects. Recently some fusions of topological defects were discussed in the literature where the dimension of topological defects seems to jump under fusion. This is not possible in the standard description …
Transmission matrices for two types of integrable defect are calculated explicitly, first by solving directly the nonlinear transmission Yang-Baxter equations, and second by solving a linear intertwining relation between a finite dimensional representation of the relevant Borel subalgebra of the quantum group underpinning the integrable quantum field theory and a particular infinite dimensional representation expressed in terms of sets of generalized `quantum' annihilation and creation operators. The principal examples analysed are based on the $a_2^{(2)}$ and $a_n^{(1)}$ affine Toda models bu…
We consider topological defect lines (TDLs) in two-dimensional conformal field theories. Generalizing and encompassing both global symmetries and Verlinde lines, TDLs together with their attached defect operators provide models of fusion categories without braiding. We study the crossing relations of TDLs, discuss their relation to the 't Hooft anomaly, and use them to constrain renormalization group flows to either conformal critical points or topological quantum field theories (TQFTs). We show that if certain non-invertible TDLs are preserved along a RG flow, then the vacuum cannot be a non-…
Given a unitary fusion category, one can define the Hilbert space of a so-called ``anyonic spin-chain'' and nearest neighbor Hamiltonians providing a real-time evolution. There is considerable evidence that suitable scaling limits of such systems can lead to $1+1$-dimensional conformal field theories (CFTs), and in fact, can be used potentially to construct novel classes of CFTs. Besides the Hamiltonians and their densities, the spin chain is known to carry an algebra of symmetry operators commuting with the Hamiltonian, and these operators have an interesting representation as matrix-product-…
Studying two-dimensional field theories in the presence of defect lines naturally gives rise to monoidal categories: their objects are the different (topological) defect conditions, their morphisms are junction fields, and their tensor product describes the fusion of defects. These categories should be equipped with a duality operation corresponding to reversing the orientation of the defect line, providing a rigid and pivotal structure. We make this structure explicit in topological Landau-Ginzburg models with potential x^d, where defects are described by matrix factorisations of x^d-y^d. The…
