SciPost Submission Page
Fractons in curved space
by Akash Jain, Kristan Jensen
This Submission thread is now published as
Submission summary
| Authors (as registered SciPost users): | Akash Jain · Kristan Jensen |
| Submission information | |
|---|---|
| Preprint Link: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2111.03973v2 (pdf) |
| Date accepted: | April 11, 2022 |
| Date submitted: | Feb. 2, 2022, 7:52 p.m. |
| Submitted by: | Jensen, Kristan |
| Submitted to: | SciPost Physics |
| Ontological classification | |
|---|---|
| Academic field: | Physics |
| Specialties: |
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| Approach: | Theoretical |
Abstract
We consistently couple simple continuum field theories with fracton excitations to curved spacetime backgrounds. We consider homogeneous and isotropic fracton field theories, with a conserved $U(1)$ charge and dipole moment. Coupling to background fields allows us to consistently define a stress-energy tensor for these theories and obtain the respective Ward identities. Along the way, we find evidence for a mixed gauge-gravitational anomaly in the symmetric tensor gauge theory which naturally couples to conserved dipoles. Our results generalise to systems with arbitrarily higher conserved moments, in particular, a conserved quadrupole moment.
Published as SciPost Phys. 12, 142 (2022)
Reports on this Submission
Report #2 by Anonymous (Referee 2) on 2022-4-2 (Invited Report)
- Cite as: Anonymous, Report on arXiv:2111.03973v2, delivered 2022-04-02, doi: 10.21468/SciPost.Report.4845
Strengths
- The authors develop the formalism to couple fractons to curved space-times
- The paper provides a first step towards a systematic study of anomalies of fracton theories
Weaknesses
- The focus is mainly on the formalism without much emphasis of the underlying physical realizations and relevance
- The main message that fractons cannot be coupled to curved geometries is already known in the community
Report
The paper may be of use to the sub-community of high-energy physicists interested in the formal aspects of higher-rank gauge theories. It meets the formal criteria of SciPost and I recommend it for publication.
Strengths
The paper explores an interesting question in fracton field theories: their couplings to background geometry.
Weaknesses
None
Report
The paper is addressing an interesting problem, and provides some concrete results in this direction. It is worthy of publication.