2024/08/22 by Mirjam Cvetič, Ron Donagi, Cvetič, Mirjam +7 · 4 citations
Chemistry · Physics and Astronomy · #Algebraic Topology (math.AT) #FOS: Mathematics #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) #Molecular spectroscopy and chirality #Origins and Evolution of Life
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2408.12600
openalex publication_date 2024/08/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
The symmetry data of a d-dimensional quantum field theory (QFT) can often be captured in terms of a higher-dimensional symmetry topological field theory (SymTFT). In top down (i.e., stringy) realizations of this structure, the QFT in question is localized in a higher-dimensional bulk. In many cases of interest, however, the associated (d+1)-dimensional bulk is not fully gapped and one must instead consider a filtration of theories to reach a gapped bulk in D = d+m dimensions. Overall, this leads us to a nested structure of relative symmetry theories which descend to coupled edge modes, with the original QFT degrees of freedom localized at a corner of this D-dimensional bulk system. We present a bottom up characterization of this structure and also show how it naturally arises in a number of string-based constructions of QFTs with both finite and continuous symmetries.