Work

Conformal defects and RG flows in ABJM

Year: 2025

Type: conference-paper

Abstract: Defects play a central role in many contexts, from condensed matter to quantum gravity. The situations in which the bulk theory is conformal and the defect inherits part of this symmetry – the so-called defect conformal field theories (dCFTs) – have recently received a lot of attention, also thanks to new powerful methods to tackle them, like supersymmetric localization, integrability or the bootstrap. A dCFT may be deformed by turning on marginally relevant operators, which trigger RG flows connecting different fixed points. A natural arena where this phenomenon can be explored are 3-dimensional Chern-Simons theories coupled to matter. These are in fact known to display a plethora of Wilson loops that can be used to define 1-dimensional dCFTs living on their contours. Here we discuss a few examples from an intricate web of RG flows connecting the dCFTs defined on the BPS and non-BPS Wilson loops of ABJM theory. We compute the anomalous dimensions of the deforming operators, establish g-theorems along the flows, and also discuss the role played by cohomological anomalies and framing.

Source: Corfu Summer Institute School and Workshops on Elementary Particle Physics and Gravity (CORFU)

DOI: 10.22323/1.490.0345

Authors: Silvia Penati, Luigi Castiglioni, Marcia Tenser, Diego Trancanelli

Institutions: Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Milano Bicocca, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bologna, University of Milano-Bicocca

Language: English

Topic: Black Holes and Theoretical Physics

Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Funder: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

Awards: G295657101, Gauge / gravity duality