Aspects of categorical symmetries from branes: SymTFTs and generalized charges
Fabio Apruzzi, Federico Bonetti, Dewi S.W. Gould, Sakura Schäfer-Nameki
SciPost Phys. 17, 025 (2024) · published 29 July 2024
- doi: 10.21468/SciPostPhys.17.1.025
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Abstract
Recently it has been observed that branes in geometric engineering and holography have a striking connection with generalized global symmetries. In this paper we argue that branes, in a certain topological limit, not only furnish the symmetry generators, but also encode the so-called Symmetry Topological Field Theory (or SymTFT). For a $d$-dimensional QFT, this is a $(d+1)$-dimensional topological field theory, whose topological defects encode both the symmetry generators (invertible or non-invertible) and the generalized charges. Mathematically, the topological defects form the Drinfeld center of the symmetry category of the QFT. In this paper we derive the SymTFT and the Drinfeld center topological defects directly from branes. Central to the identification of these are Hanany-Witten brane configurations, which encode both topological couplings in the SymTFT and the generalized charges under the symmetries. We exemplify the general analysis with examples of QFTs realized in geometric engineering or holography.
Authors / Affiliations: mappings to Contributors and Organizations
See all Organizations.- 1 Università degli Studi di Padova / University of Padua [UNIPD]
- 2 INFN Sezione di Padova / INFN Padova Division [INFN Padova]
- 3 Durham University
- 4 University of Oxford