Symmetry Breaking from Monopole Condensation in QED$_3$
Mani L. Bhaumik Institute for Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles（加州大学洛杉矶分校理论物理曼尼·L·巴奥米克研究所，物理与天文学系）
Thomas T. Dumitrescu, Pierluigi Niro, Ryan Thorngren
QED in three dimensions with an $SU(2)_f$ doublet $ψ^i$ of massless, charge-1 Dirac fermions (and no Chern-Simons term) has a $U(2) = (SU(2)_f \times U(1)_m)/\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry that acts on gauge-invariant local operators, including monopole operators charged under $U(1)_m$. We argue that there are only two plausible IR scenarios: either the theory flows to a CFT with $U(2)$ symmetry (a scenario strongly constrained by conformal bootstrap bounds); or it spontaneously breaks $U(2) \to U(1)$ via the condensation of a monopole operator of smallest $U(1)_m$ charge, which is a $U(2)$ doublet. This leads to three Nambu-Goldstone bosons described by a sigma model into a squashed three-sphere $S^3$ with $U(2)$ isometry. The conventional $SU(2)_f$-triplet order parameter $i \bar ψ\vec σ\, ψ$ also gets a vev, exactly aligned with the monopole vev, such that the triplet parametrizes the $\mathbb{CP}^1$ base of the $S^3$ Hopf bundle, with the monopoles providing the $S^1$ fibers. We recall why this scenario is compatible with the Vafa-Witten theorem. These results are obtained by considering the phase diagram as a function of the fermion triplet mass $\vec m$. We argue that for all $\vec m \neq 0$ there is a Coulomb phase with a weakly-coupled photon, which arises from a suitable monopole vev; taking $\vec m \to 0$ leads to the symmetry-breaking scenario above. Throughout, we give a detailed account of anomaly matching, which leads to a $θ=π$ term in the $S^3$ sigma model. In one presentation, it can be understood as a Hopf term in a suitably gauged version of the $\mathbb{CP}^1$ sigma model.
We study monopole operators with the lowest possible topological charge $q=1/2$ at the infrared fixed point of scalar electrodynamics in $2+1$ dimension (scalar QED$_3$) with $N$ complex scalars and Chern-Simons coupling $|k|=N$. In the large $N$ expansion, monopole operators in this theory with spins $\ell<O(\sqrt{N})$ and associated flavor representations are expected to have the same scaling dimension to sub-leading order in $1/N$. We use the state-operator correspondence to calculate the scaling dimension to sub-leading order with the result $N-0.2789+O(1/N)$, which improves on existing le…
Monopole operators are studied in a large family of quantum critical points between Dirac and topological quantum spin liquids (QSLs): chiral and Z$_{2}$ QSLs. These quantum phase transitions are described by conformal field theories (CFTs): quantum electrodynamics in 2+1 dimensions with 2N flavors of two-component massless Dirac fermions and a four-fermion interaction. For the transition to a chiral spin liquid, it is the Gross-Neveu interaction (QED$_{3}$-GN), while for the transitions to Z$_{2}$ QSLs it is a superconducting pairing term with general spin/valley structure (generalized QED$_{…
Monopole operators are topological disorder operators in 2+1 dimensional compact gauge field theories appearing notably in quantum magnets with fractionalized excitations. For example, their proliferation in a spin-1/2 kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet triggers a quantum phase transition from a Dirac spin liquid phase to an antiferromagnet. The quantum critical point (QCP) for this transition is described by a conformal field theory: Compact quantum electrodynamics (QED3) with a fermionic self-interaction, a type of QED3-Gross-Neveu model. We obtain the scaling dimensions of monopole operators…
We study the quantum phase transition from a Dirac spin liquid to an antiferromagnet driven by condensing monopoles with spin quantum numbers. We describe the transition in field theory by tuning a fermion interaction to condense a spin-Hall mass, which in turn allows the appropriate monopole operators to proliferate and confine the fermions. We compute various critical exponents at the quantum critical point (QCP), including the scaling dimensions of monopole operators by using the state-operator correspondence of conformal field theory. We find that the degeneracy of monopoles in QED3 is lif…
We present a direct Monte-Carlo determination of the scaling dimension of a topological defect operator in the infrared fixed point of a three-dimensional interacting quantum field theory. For this, we compute the free energy to introduce the background gauge field of the $Q=1$ monopole-antimonopole pair in three-dimensional non-compact QED with $N=2,4$ and $12$ flavors of massless two-component fermions, and study its asymptotic logarithmic dependence on the monopole-antimonopole separation. We estimate the scaling dimension in the $N=12$ case to be consistent with the large-$N$ (free fermion…
We study monopole operators at the infrared fixed points of $U(1)$ Chern-Simons-matter theories (QED$_3$, scalar QED$_3$, ${\cal N} =1$ SQED$_3$, and ${\cal N} = 2$ SQED$_3$) with $N$ matter flavors and Chern-Simons level $k$. We work in the limit where both $N$ and $k$ are taken to be large with $κ= k/N$ fixed. In this limit, we extract information about the low-lying spectrum of monopole operators from evaluating the $S^2 \times S^1$ partition function in the sector where the $S^2$ is threaded by magnetic flux $4 πq$. At leading order in $N$, we find a large number of monopole operators with…
Nonlinear $σ$ models (NLSM) with topological terms, i.e., Wess-Zumino-Witten (WZW) terms, or topological NLSM, are potent descriptions of many critical points and phases beyond the Landau paradigm. These critical systems include the deconfined quantum critical points (DQCP) between the Neel order and valance bond solid, and the Dirac spin liquid, in which the topological NLSMs are dual descriptions of the corresponding fermionic models or $\text{QED}$ theory. In this paper, we propose a dimensional reduction scheme to derive the $\text{U}(1)$ gauged topological NLSM in $n$-dimensional spacetim…
We study a class of defect quantum field theories where the quantum field theory in the 3+1-dimensional bulk is a free photon and charged matter and the interactions of the photons with the charges occur entirely on a 2+1-dimensional defect. We observe that at the fully quantum level, the effective action of such a theory is still a defect field theory with free photons propagating in the bulk and the nonlinearities in the quantum corrections to the Maxwell equations confined to the defect. We use this observation to show that the defect field theory has interesting electromagnetic properties.…
We show how to generalize the previous result of the monopole condensation in SU(2) QCD to SU(3) QCD. We present the gauge independent Weyl symmetric Abelian decomposition of the SU(3) QCD which decomposes the gluons to the color neutral neurons and the colored chromons. The decomposition allows us to separate the gauge invariant and parity conserving monopole background gauge independently, and reduces the non-Abelian gauge symmetry to a discrete color reflection symmetry which is easier to handle. With this we obtain the infra-red finite and gauge invariant integral expression of the one-loo…
In this paper we improve the existing order parameter for monopole condensation in gauge theory vacuum, making it gauge-invariant from scratch and free of the spurious infrared problems which plagued the old one. Computing the new parameter on the lattice will unambiguously detect weather dual superconductivity is the mechanism for color confinement. As a byproduct we relate confinement to the existence of a finite correlation length in the gauge-invariant correlator of chromo-electric field strengths.
Monopoles, duality, and large charge in Chern-Simons QED$_3$
Abdus Salam Centre for Theoretical Physics, Imperial College London（阿卜杜斯·萨拉姆理论物理中心，伦敦帝国理工学院）；Departement de physique, Universite de Montreal（蒙特利尔大学物理系）
We initiate the conformal bootstrap study of Quantum Electrodynamics in $2+1$ space-time dimensions (QED$_{3}$) with $N$ flavors of charged fermions by focusing on the 4-point function of four monopole operators with the lowest unit of topological charge. We obtain upper bounds on the scaling dimension of the doubly-charged monopole operator, with and without assuming other gaps in the operator spectrum. Intriguingly, we find a (gap-dependent) kink in these bounds that comes reasonably close to the large $N$ extrapolation of the scaling dimensions of the singly-charged and doubly-charged monop…
Thermal monopoles, identified after Abelian projection as magnetic currents wrapping non-trivially around the thermal circle, are studied in $N_f = 2+1$ QCD at the physical point. The distribution in the number of wrappings, which in pure gauge theories points to a condensation temperature coinciding with deconfinement, points in this case to around 275 MeV, almost twice the QCD crossover temperature $T_c$; similar indications emerge looking for the formation of a percolating current cluster. The possible relation with other non-perturbative phenomena observed above $T_c$ is discussed.
We discuss how the topological defects in the dark sector affect the Standard Model sector when the dark photon has a kinetic mixing with the QED photon. In particular, we consider the dark photon appearing in the successive gauge symmetry breaking, $\mathrm{SU}(2)\to \mathrm{U}(1) \to \mathbb{Z}_2$, where the remaining $\mathbb{Z}_2$ is the center of $\mathrm{SU(2)}$. In this model, the monopole is trapped into the cosmic strings and forms the so-called bead solution. As we will discuss, the dark cosmic string induces the QED magnetic flux inside the dark string through the kinetic mixing. Th…
The Maxwell equations imply that, under the background of non-zero $\boldsymbol{B}$, varying $θ$ term produces $\boldsymbol{E} \cdot \boldsymbol{B}$. An interesting example is the Witten effect where a magnetic monopole becomes a dyon which, however, should disappear in the exact massless limit of the fermion. Underlying mechanism of this phenomenon has been understood by Callan by the presence of an effective axion-like degree of freedom around the monopole, which is roughly the phase of the fermions. The configuration of this axion cancels the effect of the $θ$ term. Now, the chiral anomaly …
We present the results of a conformal bootstrap study of the presumed unitary IR fixed point of quantum electrodynamics in three dimensions (QED$_3$) coupled to $N_f=4$ two-component Dirac fermions. Specifically, we study the four-point correlators of the $SU(4)$ adjoint fermion bilinear $r$ and the monopole of lowest topological charge $\mathcal{M}_{1/2}$. Most notably, the scaling dimensions of the fermion bilinear $r$ and the monopole $\mathcal{M}_{1/2}$ are found to be constrained into a closed island with a combination of spectrum assumptions inspired by the $1/N_f$ perturbative results a…
Dirac spin liquids represent a class of highly-entangled quantum phases in two dimensional Mott insulators, featuring exotic properties such as critical correlation functions and absence of well-defined low energy quasi-particles. Existing numerical works suggest that the spin-orbital $SU(4)$ symmetric Kugel-Khomskii model of Mott insulators on the honeycomb lattice realizes a Dirac spin-orbital liquid, described at low energy by $(2+1)d$ quantum electrodynamics (QED$_3$) with $N_f=8$ Dirac fermions. We generalize methods previously developed for $SU(2)$ spin systems to analyze the symmetry pr…
Confining Properties of Abelian(-Projected) Theories
导出了阿贝尔投影SU（2）-和SU（3）-胶子动力学的磁流表示。除二次项外，所得到的有效作用量还包含了这些电流与四维电弦世界面或三维电涡旋线的相互作用。其次，我们证明了3D紧致QED是具有外磁单极子的3D Abel Higgs模型的小规范玻色子质量极限，并给出了约束弦论作为量子密度积分的物理解释。最后，我们导出了三维紧致QED弱场极限下的双局域场强度关联式，结果与随机真空模型预言的结果一致。
SU(2) gauge theory in the nonlinear gauge of the Curci-Ferrari type is studied in low-energy region. We give a classical solution that connects color electric charges. Its dual solution, which has a configuration of monopole, is also presented. Due to the gluon condensation subsequent to the ghost condensation, these classical fields become massive. The massive Lagrangian with the classical solution and that with the dual solution are derived. We show that these Lagrangians produce a linear potential between a quark and an antiquark. This is the mechanism of quark confinement that is different…
