Speaker: Anton Kapustin (Caltech)
Title: Higher-form symmetries and anomalies on the lattice
Abstract: Higher-form symmetries are usually defined as invertible topological defects in the Euclidean path-integral. The drawback of such a definition is that the Euclidean path-integral is ill-defined, which makes it hard to verify the expected properties of topological defects. For example, it is not easy to see that they form a higher group. In this talk I propose an operator-based approach to higher-form symmetries. It can be made completely rigorous if one works on a spatial lattice. I will outline how to see the expected higher group structure, at least in dimension one and two. This approach also leads to a re-interpretation of ’t Hooft anomalies in homotopy-theoretic terms.
Note unusual time: 5pm GMT.
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