Work

Wilson lines with endpoints in 3d CFT

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: In Abelian gauge theories with dynamical matter, Wilson lines can end on the insertions of charged fields. We study the endpoints of Wilson lines in large N N bosonic QED _3 3 at its critical point. We first study the stability of an infinite Wilson line in the \mathbb{CP}^{N-1} ℂ ℙ N − 1 model by computing the appropriate functional determinant at large N N . We also compute the conformal dimension of the lowest-dimension endpoint of the line to first order in N^{-1} N − 1 . Along the way we calculate the field-strength tensor F_{\mu\nu} F μ ν in the presence of the line with endpoint and discuss a state-operator correspondence for the endpoints, as well as the existence of an OPE that allows two open-ended Wilson lines to be glued together into a single line.

Source: SciPost Physics

DOI: 10.21468/scipostphys.21.2.046

Authors: Nabil Iqbal, Navonil Neogi

Institutions: Durham University, University of Amsterdam, Institute for Theoretical Physics Amsterdam

Language: English

Topic: Black Holes and Theoretical Physics

Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: diamond

Funder: Science and Technology Facilities Council

Awards: G1677287301, Particles, Fields and Spacetime