Topological Responses of the Standard Model Gauge Group

We explore QCD$_4$ quark matter, the $\mu$-T (chemical potential-temperature) phase diagram, possible 't Hooft anomalies, and topological terms, via non-perturbative tools of cobordism theory and higher anomaly matching. We focus on quarks in 3-color and 3-flavor on bi-fundamentals of SU(3), then analyze the continuous and discrete global symmetries and pay careful attention to finite group sectors. We input constraints from $T=CP$ or $CT$ time-reversal symmetries, implementi...

We classify symmetry fractionalization and anomalies in a (3+1)d U(1) gauge theory enriched by a global symmetry group $G$. We find that, in general, a symmetry-enrichment pattern is specified by 4 pieces of data: $\rho$, a map from $G$ to the duality symmetry group of this $\mathrm{U}(1)$ gauge theory which physically encodes how the symmetry permutes the fractional excitations, $\nu\in\mathcal{H}^2_{\rho}[G, \mathrm{U}_\mathsf{T}(1)]$, the symmetry actions on the electric c...

A $q$-form global symmetry is a global symmetry for which the charged operators are of space-time dimension $q$; e.g. Wilson lines, surface defects, etc., and the charged excitations have $q$ spatial dimensions; e.g. strings, membranes, etc. Many of the properties of ordinary global symmetries ($q$=0) apply here. They lead to Ward identities and hence to selection rules on amplitudes. Such global symmetries can be coupled to classical background fields and they can be gauged ...

Motivated by symmetry-protected topological phases (SPTs) with both spatial symmetry (e.g., lattice rotation) and internal symmetry (e.g., spin rotation), we propose a class of exotic topological terms, which generalize the well-known Wen-Zee topological terms of quantum Hall systems [X.-G. Wen and A. Zee, Phys. Rev. Lett. 69, 953 (1992)]. These generalized Wen-Zee terms are expressed as wedge product of spin connection and usual gauge fields (1-form or higher) in various dim...

In this work, we explore topological phases of matter obtained by effectively gauging or fermionizing the system, where the Gauss law constraint is only enforced energetically. In contrast to conventional gauging or fermionizion, the symmetry that is effectively gauged in low energy still generates a global symmetry that acts on the whole Hilbert space faithfully. This symmetry turns out to protect a non-trivial topological phase with other emergent symmetry, or can have a no...

To appear in Encyclopedia of Mathematical Physics, published by Elsevier in early 2006. Comments/corrections welcome. The article surveys topological aspects in gauge theories.

We consider a weakly coupled gauge theory where charged particles all have large gaps (ie no Higgs condensation to break the gauge "symmetry") and the field strength fluctuates only weakly. We ask what kind of topological terms can be added to the Lagrangian of such a weakly coupled gauge theory. In this paper, we systematically construct quantized topological terms which are generalization of the Chern-Simons terms and $F\wedge F$ terms, in space-time dimensions $d$ and for ...

In this paper, we classify EF topological orders for 3+1D bosonic systems where some emergent pointlike excitations are fermions. (1) We argue that all 3+1D bosonic topological orders have gappable boundary. (2) All the pointlike excitations in EF topological orders are described by the representations of $G_f=Z_2^f\leftthreetimes_{e_2} G_b$ -- a $Z_2^f$ central extension of a finite group $G_b$ characterized by $e_2\in H^2(G_b,Z_2)$. (3) We find that the EF topological order...

We present a general formula for the topological part of the effective action for quantum Hall systems in higher dimensions, including fluctuations of the gauge field and metric around background fields of a specified topological class. The result is based on a procedure of integrating up from the Dolbeault index density which applies for the degeneracies of Landau levels, combined with some input from the standard descent procedure for anomalies. Features of the topological ...

Lorentz invariant quantum field theories (QFTs) in four spacetime dimensions (4D) have a $\mathbb{Z}_4$ symmetry provided there exists a basis of operators in the QFT where all operators have even operator dimension, $d$, including those with $d > 4$. The $\mathbb{Z}_4$ symmetry is the extension of operator dimension parity by fermion number parity. If the $\mathbb{Z}_4$ is anomaly-free, such QFTs can be related to 3D topological superconductors. Additionally, imposing the $\...