2024/06/04 by Hofman, Diego M., Vitouladitis, Stathis · 3 citations
#FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2406.02662
We provide a one-to-one correspondence between line operators and states in four-dimensional CFTs with continuous 1-form symmetries. In analogy with 0-form symmetries in two dimensions, such CFTs have a free photon realisation and enjoy an infinite-dimensional current algebra that generalises the familiar Kac-Moody algebras. We construct the representation theory of this current algebra, which allows for a full description of the space of states on an arbitrary closed spatial slice. On \mathbbS2×\mathbbS1, we rederive the spectrum by performing a path integral on \mathbbB3×\mathbbS1 with insertions of line operators. This leads to a direct and explicit correspondence between the line operators of the theory and the states on \mathbbS2×\mathbbS1. Interestingly, we find that the vacuum state is not prepared by the empty path integral but by a squeezing operator. Additionally, we generalise some of our results in two directions. Firstly, we construct current algebras in (2p+2)-dimensional CFTs, that are universal whenever the theory has a p-form symmetry, and secondly we provide a non-invertible generalisation of those higher-dimensional current algebras.