2025/06/30 by Chen, Shi, Cherman, Aleksey, Neuzil, Maria · 4 citations
#FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2507.00220
We introduce a large class of θ angles in quantum field theory that we call symmetry θ angles. Unlike conventional θ angles whose definition depends on a choice of a path integral, symmetry θ angles are intrinsic parameters of a quantum field theory that depend only on its symmetries. A frequent consequence of symmetry θ angles is a phenomenon we call the topological Witten effect, which is a generalization of the standard Witten effect. Topological Witten effects modify which charged operators are attached to topological operators as a function of θ. Physically, topological Witten effects induce generalized Aharonov-Bohm effects. We show that these new θ angles and Witten effects can appear in many familiar field theories.