2022/12/19 by Jonathan J. Heckman, Heckman, Jonathan J., Max Hübner +7 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2212.09743
openalex publication_date 2022/12/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Topological duality defects arise as codimension one generalized symmetry operators in quantum field theories (QFTs) with a duality symmetry. Recent investigations have shown that in the case of 4D N = 4 Super Yang-Mills (SYM) theory, an appropriate choice of (complexified) gauge coupling and global form of the gauge group can lead to a rather rich fusion algebra for the associated defects, leading to examples of non-invertible symmetries. In this work we present a top down construction of these duality defects which generalizes to QFTs with lower supersymmetry, where other 0-form symmetries are often present. We realize the QFTs of interest via D3-branes probing X a Calabi-Yau threefold cone with an isolated singularity at the tip of the cone. The IIB duality group descends to dualities of the 4D worldvolume theory. Non-trivial codimension one topological interfaces arise from configurations of 7-branes "at infinity" which implement a suitable SL(2, ℤ) transformation when they are crossed. Reduction on the boundary topology ∂ X results in a 5D symmetry TFT. Different realizations of duality defects, such as the gauging of 1-form symmetries with certain mixed anomalies and half-space gauging constructions, simply amount to distinct choices of where to place the branch cuts in the 5D bulk.