Fate of stringy noninvertible symmetries

Journal Article · 04 November 2024 · Physical Review. D.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.110.106001 · OSTI ID:2476065

Heckman, Jonathan J.; McNamara, Jacob ; Montero, Miguel; Sharon, Adar ; Vafa, Cumrun; Valenzuela, Irene

Noninvertible symmetries in quantum field theory (QFT) generalize the familiar product rule of groups to a more general fusion rule. In many cases, gauged versions of these symmetries can be regarded as dual descriptions of invertible gauge symmetries. One may ask: are there any other types of noninvertible gauge symmetries? In theories with gravity we find a new form of noninvertible gauge symmetry that emerges in the limit of fundamental, tensionless strings. These stringy noninvertible gauge symmetries appear in standard examples such as non-Abelian orbifolds. Moving away from the tensionless limit always breaks these symmetries. We also find that both the conventional form of noninvertible gauge symmetries and these stringy generalizations are realized in AdS/CFT. Although generically broken, approximate noninvertible symmetries have implications for swampland constraints: in certain cases they can be used to prove the existence of towers of states related to the distance conjecture, and can sometimes explain the existence of slightly subextremal states which fill in the gaps in the sublattice weak gravity conjecture. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
• Grant/Contract Number: SC0011632; SC0013528
• OSTI ID: 2476065
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D., Journal Name: Physical Review. D. Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 110; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 2470-0010
• Publisher: American Physical SocietyCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English