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-degenerate gapped state. For various massive flows, we determine the infrared TQFTs completely from the consideration of TDLs together with modular invariance.
We consider line defects in d-dimensional Conformal Field Theories (CFTs). The ambient CFT places nontrivial constraints on Renormalization Group (RG) flows on such line defects. We show that the flow on line defects is consequently irreversible and furthermore a canonical decreasing entropy function exists. This construction generalizes the g theorem to line defects in arbitrary dimensions. We demonstrate our results in a flow between Wilson loops in 4 dimensions.
A conformal field theory (CFT) in dimension $d\geq 3$ coupled to a planar, two-dimensional, conformal defect is characterized in part by a "central charge" $b$ that multiplies the Euler density in the defect's Weyl anomaly. For defect renormalization group flows, under which the bulk remains critical, we use reflection positivity to show that $b$ must decrease or remain constant from ultraviolet to infrared. Our result applies also to a CFT in $d=3$ flat space with a planar boundary.
The continuous Multiscale Entanglement Renormalization Ansatz (cMERA) [Haegeman et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 100402 (2013)] gives a variational wavefunctional for ground states of quantum field theoretic Hamiltonians. A cMERA is defined as the result of applying to a reference unentangled state a unitary evolution generated by a quasilocal operator, the entangler. This makes the extension of the formalism to the case where boundaries and defects are present nontrivial. Here we show how this generalization works, using the 1+1d free boson cMERA as a proof-of-principle example, and restricting …
The structure of extrinsic defects in topologically ordered states of matter is host to a rich set of universal physics. Extrinsic defects in 2+1 dimensional topological states include line-like defects, such as boundaries between topologically distinct states, and point-like defects, such as junctions between different line defects. Gapped boundaries in particular can themselves be \it topologically \rm distinct, and the junctions between them can localize topologically protected zero modes, giving rise to topological ground state degeneracies and projective non-Abelian statistics. In this pa…
Recently Gaiotto [1] considered conformal defects which produce an expansion of infrared local fields in terms of the ultraviolet ones for a given renormalization group flow. In this paper we propose that for a boundary RG flow in two dimensions there exist boundary condition changing fields (RG defect fields) linking the UV and the IR conformal boundary conditions which carry similar information on the expansion of boundary fields at the fixed points. We propose an expression for a pairing between IR and UV operators in terms of a four-point function with two insertions of the RG defect field…
The worldsheet renormalization group approach to tachyon condensation in string theory is reviewed. The open string case is summarized with examples, and closed string tachyon condensation on nonsupersymmetric orbifolds is examined in detail. The idea that the renormalization group dissipates the localized states associated to the defect is explored.
Periodically driven (Floquet) systems have been under active theoretical and experimental investigations. This paper aims at a systematic study in the following aspects of Floquet systems: (i) A systematic formulation of topological invariants of Floquet systems based on the cooperation of topology and symmetries. Topological invariants are constructed for the ten symmetry classes in all spatial dimensions, for both homogeneous Floquet systems (Floquet topological insulators and superconductors) and Floquet topological defects. Meanwhile, useful representative Dirac Hamiltonians for all the sy…
We study the effect of bulk perturbations of N=(2,2) superconformal minimal models on topological defects. In particular, symmetries and more general topological defects which survive the flow to the IR are identified. Our method is to consider the topological subsector and make use of the Landau-Ginzburg formulation to describe RG flows and topological defects in terms of matrix factorizations.
In this paper and a companion one, we study the effect of integrable line defects on entanglement entropy in massive integrable field theories in 1+1 dimensions. The current paper focuses on topological defects that are purely transmissive. Using the form factor bootstrap method, we show that topological defects do not affect the the entanglement entropy in the UV limit and modify slightly the leading exponential correction in the IR. This conclusion holds for both unitary and non-unitary field theories. In contrast, non-topological defects affect the entanglement entropy more significantly bo…
We present a new generalized topological current in terms of the order parameter field $\vec ϕ$ to describe the arbitrary dimensional topological defects. By virtue of the $% ϕ$-mapping method, we show that the topological defects are generated from the zero points of the order parameter field $\vec ϕ$, and the topological charges of these topological defects are topological quantized in terms of the Hopf indices and Brouwer degrees of $ϕ$-mapping under the condition that the Jacobian $% J(\frac ϕv)\neq 0$. When $J(\frac ϕv)=0$, it is shown that there exist the crucial case of branch process. …
Motivated by the three-dimensional topological field theory / two-dimensional conformal field theory (CFT) correspondence, we study a broad class of one-dimensional quantum mechanical models, known as anyonic chains, that can give rise to an enormously rich (and largely unexplored) space of two-dimensional critical theories in the thermodynamic limit. One remarkable feature of these systems is the appearance of non-local microscopic "topological symmetries" that descend to topological defects of the resulting CFTs. We derive various model-independent properties of these theories and of this to…
In the light of $ϕ$--mapping method and topological current theory, the topological structure and the topological quantization of arbitrary dimensional topological defects are investigated. It is pointed out that the topological quantum numbers of the defects are described by the Winding numbers of $ϕ$--mapping which are determined in terms of the Hopf indices and the Brouwer degrees of $ϕ$--mapping. Furthermore, it is shown that all the topological defects are generated from where $\vec ϕ=0$, i.e. from the zero points of the $ϕ$--mapping.
In the light of $ϕ$-mapping method and topological current theory, the topological structure and the topological quantization of arbitrary dimensional topological defects are obtained under the condition that the Jacobian $J(ϕ/v) \neq 0$. When $J(ϕ/v)=0$, it is shown that there exist the crucial case of branch process. Based on the implicit function theorem and the Taylor expansion, we detail the bifurcation of generalized topological current and find different directions of the bifurcation. The arbitrary dimensional topological defects are found splitting or merging at the degenerate point of…
We present a mathematical derivation of some of the most important physical quantities arising in topological bilayer systems with permutation twist defects as introduced by Barkeshli et al. in cond-mat/1208.4834. A crucial tool is the theory of permutation equivariant modular functors developed by Barmeier et al. in math.CT/0812.0986 and math.QA/1004.1825.
We give the superdiffeomorphisms transformations of the four-dimensional topological Yang-Mills theory in curved manifold and we discuss the ultraviolet renormalization of the model. The explicit expression of the most general counterterm is given.
In the light of $ϕ$-mapping method and topological current theory, the topological structure and the topological quantization of topological linear defects are obtained under the condition that the Jacobian $J(ϕ/v) \neq 0$. When $J(ϕ/v) = 0$, it is shown that there exist the crucial case of branch process. Based on the implicit function theorem and the Taylor expansion, the origin and bifurcation of the linear defects are detailed in the neighborhoods of the limit points and bifurcation points of $ϕ$-mapping, respectively.
From the topological properties of a three dimensional vector order parameter, the topological current of point defects is obtained. One shows that the charge of point defects is determined by Hopf indices and Brouwer degrees. The evolution of point defects is also studied. One concludes that there exist crucial cases of branch processes in the evolution of point defects when the Jacobian $D(\frac ϕx)=0$.
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 thermodyn…
We find topological defect solutions to the equations of motion of a generalised Higgs model with antisymmetric tensor fields. These solutions are direct higher dimensional analogues of the Nielsen-Olesen vortex solution for a gauge field in four dimensions.
I explain how conventional topological defects -- the Abrikosov-Nielsen-Olesen (ANO) string and domain walls -- can acquire non-Abelian moduli localized on their world sheets. The set-up is conceptually similar and generalizes that used by Witten for cosmic strings.
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.
The conditions leading to a nontrivial renormalization of the topological charge in four--dimensional Yang--Mills theory are discussed. It is shown that if the topological term is regarded as the limit of a certain nontopological interaction, quantum effects due to the gauge bosons lead to a finite multiplicative renormalization of the theta--parameter while fermions give rise to an additional shift of theta. A truncated form of an exact renormalization group equation is used to study the scale dependence of the theta--parameter. Possible implications for the strong CP--problem of QCD are disc…
This is the second part of two papers where we study the effect of integrable line defects on bipartite entanglement entropy in integrable field theories. In this paper, we consider non-topological line defects in Ising field theory. We derive an infinite series expression for the entanglement entropy and show that both the UV and IR limits of the bulk entanglement entropy are modified by the line defect. In the UV limit, we give an infinite series expression for the coefficient in front of the logarithmic divergence and the exact defect $g$-function. By tuning the defect to be purely transmis…
Two different conformal field theories can be joined together along a defect line. We study such defects for the case where the conformal field theories on either side are single free bosons compactified on a circle. We concentrate on topological defects for which the left- and right-moving Virasoro algebras are separately preserved, but not necessarily any additional symmetries. For the case where both radii are rational multiples of the self-dual radius we classify these topological defects. We also show that the isomorphism between two T-dual free boson conformal field theories can be descr…
A novel U(1) topological gauge field theory for topological defects in liquid crystals is constructed by considering the U(1) gauge field is invariant under the director inversion. Via the U(1) gauge potential decomposition theory and the $ϕ$-mapping topological current theory, the decomposition expression of U(1) gauge field and the unified topological current for monopoles and strings in liquid crystals are obtained. It is revealed that monopoles and strings are located in different spatial dimensions and their topological charges are just the winding numbers of $ϕ$-mapping.
We examine codimension--1 topological defects whose associated worldline is geodesically embedded in $\AdS_{2}$. This discussion extends a previous study of exact analytical solutions to the equations of motion of topological defects in $\AdS_{n}$ in a particular limit where the masses of the scalar and gauge field vanish. We study the linear perturbations about the zeroth order kink-like solution and verify that they are stable. We also discuss general features of the perturbation expansion to all orders.
I discuss the possibility of topological defect solutions in field theories containing a tensor field which spontaneously breaks Lorentz symmetry. I find that for theories of a tensor with rank r <= 5 and for which the vacuum manifold consists of the tensors whose "square" is some constant value, only three types of tensor (vectors, antisymmetric two-tensors, and symmetric two-tensors) have the appropriate vacuum manifold topology to support topological defects. Of these, topological defect solutions can be easily constructed for two: vector domain wall solutions and antisymmetric tensor monop…
On the basis of the covariant description of the canonical formalism for quantization, we present the basic elements of the symplectic geometry for a restricted class of topological defects propagating on a curved background spacetime. We discuss the future extensions of the present results.
We study conformal defects in two important examples of string theory orbifolds. First, we show that topological defects in the language of Landau-Ginzburg models carry information about the RG flow between the non-compact orbifolds $\mathbb{C}/\mathbb{Z}_d$. Such defects are shown to correctly implement the bulk-induced RG flow on the boundary. Secondly, we study what the possible conformal defects are between the $c=1$ bosonic 2D conformal field theories with target space $S^1/\mathbb{Z}_2$. The defects cataloged here are obtained from boundary states corresponding to D-branes in the $c=2$ f…
We investigate a stability equation involving two-component eigenfunctions which is associated with a potential model in terms of two coupled real scalar fields, which presents non BPS topological defect.
We propose a class of field theories featuring solitonic solutions in which topological defects can end when they intersect other defects of equal or higher dimensionality. Such configurations may be termed ``Dirichlet topological defects'', in analogy with the D-branes of string theory. Our discussion focuses on defects in scalar field theories with either gauge or global symmetries, in (3+1) dimensions; the types of defects considered include walls ending on walls, strings on walls, and strings on strings.
We explore perturbations to a kink-like (codimension 1) topological defect whose world brane is $AdS_{q}$ embedded into $AdS_{q+1}$. Previously, we found solutions in the limit the mass of the scalar field vanishes. In this article we extend a calculation previously done in $AdS_{2}$ to higher-dimensional embedding spaces and find that all perturbations to the mass of the field are stable to first order as expected in a theory with topological defects. We find that the equation of motion to the correction strongly resembles a problem well-known in quantum mechanics.
Following a suggestion given in Phys. Lett. B 571 (2003) 250, we show how a bilayer Quantum Hall system at fillings nu =m/pm+2 can exhibit a point-like topological defect in its edge state structure. Indeed our CFT theory for such a system, the Twisted Model (TM), gives rise in a natural way to such a feature in the twisted sector. Our results are in agreement with recent experimental findings (cond-mat/0503478) which evidence the presence of a topological defect in the bilayer system.
We deal with the presence of topological defects in models for two real scalar fields. We comment on defects hosting topological defects, and we search for explicit defect solutions using the trial orbit method. As we know, under certain circumstances the second order equations of motion can be solved by first order differential equations. In this case we show that the trial orbit method can be used very efficiently to obtain explicit solutions.
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-…
Various types of topological defects in graphene are considered in the framework of the continuum model for long-wavelength electronic excitations, which is based on the Dirac--Weyl equation. The condition for the electronic wave function is specified, and we show that a topological defect can be presented as a pseudomagnetic vortex at the apex of a graphitic nanocone; the flux of the vortex is related to the deficit angle of the cone. The cases of all possible types of pentagonal defects, as well as several types of heptagonal defects (with the numbers of heptagons up to three, and six), are …
We consider the broken phase of the n-vector model in n+1 dimensions with boundary conditions enforcing the presence of topological defect lines (Ising domain walls, XY vortex lines, and so on), and use field theory to argue an exact expression for the order parameter.
These lectures review certain topological defects and aspects of their cosmology. Unconventional material includes brief descriptions of electroweak defects, the structure of domain walls in non-Abelian theories, and the spectrum of magnetic monopoles in SU(5) Grand Unified theory.
We explore topological defects in the 4-dimensional pure $\mathbb{Z}_2$ lattice gauge theory. This theory has 1-form $\mathbb{Z}_{2}$ center symmetry as well as the Kramers-Wannier-Wegner (KWW) duality. We construct the KWW duality topological defects in the similar way to that constructed by Aasen, Mong, Fendley arXiv:1601.07185 for the 2-dimensional Ising model. These duality defects turn out to be non-invertible. We also construct the 1-form $\mathbb{Z}_{2}$ symmetry defects as well as the junctions among KWW duality defects and 1-form $\mathbb{Z}_{2}$ center symmetry defects. The crossing …
We propose a criterion to classify hybrid defects occurring in field theoretic models such as the standard electroweak model. This criterion leads us to consider the minimal extension of the electroweak model in which electroweak magnetic monopoles and $Z$-strings are topological. We briefly discuss the cosmology of such defects.
A topological defect separating a pair of two-dimensional CFTs is a codimension one interface along which all components of the stress-energy tensor glue continuously. We study topological defects of the bosonic, (0,1)- and (0,2)-supersymmetric sigma models in two dimensions. We find a geometric classification of such defects closely analogous to that of A-branes of symplectic manifolds, with the role of symplectic form played instead by a neutral signature metric. Alternatively, we find a compact description in terms of a generalized metric on the product of the targets. In the (0,1) case, we…
We discuss a new mechanism of obtaining a period of cosmological inflation in the context of string theory. This mechanism is based on embedded defects which form dynamically on higher dimensional D-branes. Such defects generate topological inflation, but unlike topological inflation from stable defects, here there is a natural graceful exit from inflation: the decay of the embedded defect. We demonstrate the idea in the context of a brane-antibrane annihilation process. The graceful exit mechanism suggested here applies generically to all realizations of inflation on D-branes.
In these lectures, I review cosmological phase transitions and the topological aspects of spontaneous symmetry breaking. I then discuss the formation of walls, strings and monopoles during phase transitions including lattice based studies of defect formation and recent attempts to go beyond the lattice. The close connection of defect formation with percolation is described. Open problems and possible future directions are mentioned.
Boundary conditions and defects of any codimension are natural parts of any quantum field theory. Surface defects in three-dimensional topological field theories of Turaev-Reshetikhin type have applications to two-dimensional conformal field theories, in solid state physics and in quantum computing. We explain an obstruction to the existence of surface defects that takes values in a Witt group. We then turn to surface defects in Dijkgraaf-Witten theories and their construction in terms of relative bundles; this allows one to exhibit Brauer-Picard groups as symmetry groups of three-dimensional …
By making use of the complete decomposition of SO(3) spin connection, the topological defect in 3-dimensional Euclidean gravity is studied in detail. The topological structure of disclination is given as the combination of a monopole structure and a vortex structure. Furthermore, the Kac-Moody algebra generated by the monopole and vortex is discussed in three dimensional Chern-Simons theory.
We propose an experimentally feasible scheme for topological interface engineering and show how it can be used for studies of dynamics of topologically nontrivial interfaces and perforation of defects and textures across such interfaces. The method makes use of the internal spin structure of the atoms together with locally applied control of interaction strengths to create many-particle states with highly complex topological properties. In particular, we consider a constructed coherent interface between topologically distinct phases of spinor Bose-Einstein condensates.
We study the diffusion processes of a real scalar field in the presence of the distorsion field induced by a chiral topological defect. The defect modifies the usual Euclidean background geometry into a non-diagonal Riemann-Cartan geometry characterized by a singular torsion field. The new form of the diffusion equation is established and the scalar field distribution in the vicinity of the defect is investigated numerically. Results show a high sensitivity to the boundary conditions. In the transient regime, we find that the defect vorticity generates an angular momentum associated to the dif…
In this paper we study Weyl fermions in a family of Gödel-type geometries in Einstein general relativity. We also consider that these solutions are embedded in a topological defect background. We solve the Weyl equation and find the energy eigenvalues and eigenspinors for all three cases of Gödel-type geometries where a topological defect is passing through them. We show that the presence of a topological in these geometries contributes to modification of the spectrum of energy. The energy zero modes for all three cases of the Gödel geometries are discussed.
Lattice Topological Defects in Non-Unitary Conformal Field Theories
Rutgers University（罗格斯大学）；Universidade Federal de São Carlos（圣卡洛斯联邦大学）；Institut de physique théorique, CEA, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay（巴黎萨克雷大学CEA-CNRS理论物理研究所）；University of Southern California（南加州大学）
