Abstract
We analyze topological mass terms of BF type arising in supersymmetric M-theory compactifications to AdS5. These describe spontaneously broken higher-form gauge symmetries in the bulk. Different choices of boundary conditions for the BF terms yield dual field theories with distinct global discrete symmetries. We discuss in detail these symmetries and their ’t Hooft anomalies for 4d \( \mathcal{N} \) = 1 SCFTs arising from M5-branes wrapped on a Riemann surface without punctures, including theories from M5-branes at a ℤ2 orbifold singularity. The anomaly polynomial is computed via inflow and contains background fields for discrete global 0-, 1-, and 2-form symmetries and continuous 0-form symmetries, as well as axionic background fields. The latter are properly interpreted in the context of anomalies in the space of coupling constants.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
D. Gaiotto, A. Kapustin, N. Seiberg and B. Willett, Generalized global symmetries, JHEP 02 (2015) 172 [arXiv:1412.5148] [INSPIRE].
C. Córdova, D.S. Freed, H.T. Lam and N. Seiberg, Anomalies in the space of coupling constants and their dynamical applications I, SciPost Phys. 8 (2020) 001 [arXiv:1905.09315] [INSPIRE].
C. Córdova, D. S. Freed, H. T. Lam and N. Seiberg, Anomalies in the space of coupling constants and their dynamical applications II, SciPost Phys. 8 (2020) 002 [arXiv:1905.13361] [INSPIRE].
D. R. Morrison, S. Schäfer-Nameki and B. Willett, Higher-form symmetries in 5d, JHEP 09 (2020) 024 [arXiv:2005.12296] [INSPIRE].
F. Albertini, M. Del Zotto, I. García Etxebarria and S. S. Hosseini, Higher form symmetries and M-theory, JHEP 12 (2020) 203 [arXiv:2005.12831] [INSPIRE].
E. Witten, Some comments on string dynamics, in the proceedings of STRINGS’95: future perspectives in string theory, March 13–18, Los Angeles, U.S.A. (1995) [hep-th/9507121] [INSPIRE].
A. Strominger, Open p-branes, Phys. Lett. B 383 (1996) 44 [hep-th/9512059] [INSPIRE].
J. D. Blum and K. A. Intriligator, New phases of string theory and 6D RG fixed points via branes at orbifold singularities, Nucl. Phys. B 506 (1997) 199 [hep-th/9705044] [INSPIRE].
D. Gaiotto, N = 2 dualities, JHEP 08 (2012) 034 [arXiv:0904.2715] [INSPIRE].
D. Gaiotto, G. W. Moore and A. Neitzke, Wall-crossing, Hitchin systems, and the WKB approximation, arXiv:0907.3987 [INSPIRE].
K. Maruyoshi, M. Taki, S. Terashima and F. Yagi, New Seiberg dualities from N = 2 dualities, JHEP 09 (2009) 086 [arXiv:0907.2625] [INSPIRE].
F. Benini, Y. Tachikawa and B. Wecht, Sicilian gauge theories and N = 1 dualities, JHEP 01 (2010) 088 [arXiv:0909.1327] [INSPIRE].
I. Bah and B. Wecht, New N = 1 superconformal field theories in four dimensions, JHEP 07 (2013) 107 [arXiv:1111.3402] [INSPIRE].
I. Bah, C. Beem, N. Bobev and B. Wecht, AdS/CFT dual pairs from M 5-branes on Riemann surfaces, Phys. Rev. D 85 (2012) 121901 [arXiv:1112.5487] [INSPIRE].
I. Bah, C. Beem, N. Bobev and B. Wecht, Four-dimensional SCFTs from M 5-branes, JHEP 06 (2012) 005 [arXiv:1203.0303] [INSPIRE].
M. J. Duff, J. T. Liu and R. Minasian, Eleven-dimensional origin of string-string duality: a one loop test, Nucl. Phys. B 452 (1995) 261 [hep-th/9506126] [INSPIRE].
E. Witten, Five-brane effective action in M-theory, J. Geom. Phys. 22 (1997) 103 [hep-th/9610234] [INSPIRE].
D. Freed, J. A. Harvey, R. Minasian and G. W. Moore, Gravitational anomaly cancellation for M-theory five-branes, Adv. Theor. Math. Phys. 2 (1998) 601 [hep-th/9803205] [INSPIRE].
J. A. Harvey, R. Minasian and G. W. Moore, Non-Abelian tensor multiplet anomalies, JHEP 09 (1998) 004 [hep-th/9808060] [INSPIRE].
I. Bah, F. Bonetti, R. Minasian and E. Nardoni, Class \( \mathcal{S} \) anomalies from M-theory inflow, Phys. Rev. D 99 (2019) 086020 [arXiv:1812.04016] [INSPIRE].
I. Bah, F. Bonetti, R. Minasian and E. Nardoni, Anomaly inflow for M 5-branes on punctured Riemann surfaces, JHEP 06 (2019) 123 [arXiv:1904.07250] [INSPIRE].
I. Bah, F. Bonetti, R. Minasian and E. Nardoni, Anomalies of QFTs from M-theory and holography, JHEP 01 (2020) 125 [arXiv:1910.04166] [INSPIRE].
I. Bah, F. Bonetti, R. Minasian and P. Weck, Anomaly inflow methods for SCFT constructions in type IIB, JHEP 02 (2021) 116 [arXiv:2002.10466] [INSPIRE].
J. M. Maldacena, G. W. Moore and N. Seiberg, D-brane charges in five-brane backgrounds, JHEP 10 (2001) 005 [hep-th/0108152] [INSPIRE].
T. Banks and N. Seiberg, Symmetries and strings in field theory and gravity, Phys. Rev. D 83 (2011) 084019 [arXiv:1011.5120] [INSPIRE].
O. Bergman, Y. Tachikawa and G. Zafrir, Generalized symmetries and holography in ABJM-type theories, JHEP 07 (2020) 077 [arXiv:2004.05350] [INSPIRE].
I. Bah and F. Bonetti, Anomaly inflow, accidental symmetry, and spontaneous symmetry breaking, JHEP 01 (2020) 117 [arXiv:1910.07549] [INSPIRE].
J. P. Gauntlett, D. Martelli, J. Sparks and D. Waldram, Supersymmetric AdS5 solutions of M-theory, Class. Quant. Grav. 21 (2004) 4335 [hep-th/0402153] [INSPIRE].
K. Ohmori, H. Shimizu, Y. Tachikawa and K. Yonekura, Anomaly polynomial of general 6d SCFTs, PTEP 2014 (2014) 103B07 [arXiv:1408.5572] [INSPIRE].
D. S. Freed, G. W. Moore and G. Segal, Heisenberg groups and noncommutative fluxes, Annals Phys. 322 (2007) 236 [hep-th/0605200] [INSPIRE].
R. Dijkgraaf and E. Witten, Topological gauge theories and group cohomology, Commun. Math. Phys. 129 (1990) 393 [INSPIRE].
A. Kapustin and R. Thorngren, Anomalies of discrete symmetries in various dimensions and group cohomology, arXiv:1404.3230 [INSPIRE].
P. G. Cámara, L. E. Ibáñez and F. Marchesano, RR photons, JHEP 09 (2011) 110 [arXiv:1106.0060] [INSPIRE].
M. Berasaluce-Gonzalez, P. G. Cámara, F. Marchesano, D. Regalado and A. M. Uranga, Non-Abelian discrete gauge symmetries in 4d string models, JHEP 09 (2012) 059 [arXiv:1206.2383] [INSPIRE].
E. Witten, On flux quantization in M-theory and the effective action, J. Geom. Phys. 22 (1997) 1 [hep-th/9609122] [INSPIRE].
C.-T. Hsieh, Y. Tachikawa and K. Yonekura, Anomaly inflow and p-form gauge theories, arXiv:2003.11550 [INSPIRE].
J. M. Maldacena and C. Núñez, Supergravity description of field theories on curved manifolds and a no go theorem, Int. J. Mod. Phys. A 16 (2001) 822 [hep-th/0007018] [INSPIRE].
A. Kapustin and N. Saulina, Topological boundary conditions in abelian Chern-Simons theory, Nucl. Phys. B 845 (2011) 393 [arXiv:1008.0654] [INSPIRE].
S. Gukov, E. Martinec, G. W. Moore and A. Strominger, Chern-Simons gauge theory and the AdS3/CFT2 correspondence, hep-th/0403225 [INSPIRE].
D. Belov and G. W. Moore, Conformal blocks for AdS5 singletons, hep-th/0412167 [INSPIRE].
G. W. Moore, Anomalies, Gauss laws, and Page charges in M-theory, Comptes Rendus Physique 6 (2005) 251 [hep-th/0409158] [INSPIRE].
E. Witten, AdS/CFT correspondence and topological field theory, JHEP 12 (1998) 012 [hep-th/9812012] [INSPIRE].
D. J. Gross and H. Ooguri, Aspects of large N gauge theory dynamics as seen by string theory, Phys. Rev. D 58 (1998) 106002 [hep-th/9805129] [INSPIRE].
D. M. Hofman and N. Iqbal, Generalized global symmetries and holography, SciPost Phys. 4 (2018) 005 [arXiv:1707.08577] [INSPIRE].
E. Witten, Baryons and branes in Anti-de Sitter space, JHEP 07 (1998) 006 [hep-th/9805112] [INSPIRE].
O. Aharony, N. Seiberg and Y. Tachikawa, Reading between the lines of four-dimensional gauge theories, JHEP 08 (2013) 115 [arXiv:1305.0318] [INSPIRE].
C. Córdova, T. Dumitrescu and K. Intriligator, to appear.
Y. Tachikawa and K. Yonekura, Anomalies involving the space of couplings and the Zamolodchikov metric, JHEP 12 (2017) 140 [arXiv:1710.03934] [INSPIRE].
H. J. Kim, L. J. Romans and P. van Nieuwenhuizen, The mass spectrum of chiral N = 2 D = 10 supergravity on S5, Phys. Rev. D 32 (1985) 389 [INSPIRE].
K. A. Intriligator and B. Wecht, The exact superconformal R symmetry maximizes a, Nucl. Phys. B 667 (2003) 183 [hep-th/0304128] [INSPIRE].
R. Bott and A. S. Cattaneo, Integral invariants of 3-manifolds, J. Diff. Geom. 48 (1998) 91 [dg-ga/9710001].
J. Cheeger and J. Simons, Differential characters and geometric invariants, in Geometry and Topology, J. C. Alexander and J. L. Harer eds., Springer, Germany (1985).
M. J. Hopkins and I. M. Singer, Quadratic functions in geometry, topology, and M-theory, J. Diff. Geom. 70 (2005) 329 [math/0211216] [INSPIRE].
M. Bauer, G. Girardi, R. Stora and F. Thuillier, A class of topological actions, JHEP 08 (2005) 027 [hep-th/0406221] [INSPIRE].
U. Bunke, Differential cohomology, arXiv:1208.3961.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
ArXiv ePrint: 2007.15003
Rights and permissions
Open Access . This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits any use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
About this article
Cite this article
Bah, I., Bonetti, F. & Minasian, R. Discrete and higher-form symmetries in SCFTs from wrapped M5-branes. J. High Energ. Phys. 2021, 196 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP03(2021)196
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP03(2021)196