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.

Penati, S., Castiglioni, L., Tenser, M., Trancanelli, D. (2025). Conformal defects and RG flows in ABJM. In Proceedings of the Corfu Summer Institute 2024 "School and Workshops on Elementary Particle Physics and Gravity" (CORFU2024) (pp.1-16). Sissa Medialab Srl [10.22323/1.490.0345].

Conformal defects and RG flows in ABJM

Penati, Silvia;Castiglioni, Luigi;Tenser, Marcia;
2025

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.
paper
ABJM, Wilson loops, supersymmetry
English
Corfu Summer Institute 2024 "School and Workshops on Elementary Particle Physics and Gravity" (CORFU2024) - 12 - 26 May, and 25 August - 27 September, 2024
2024
Proceedings of the Corfu Summer Institute 2024 "School and Workshops on Elementary Particle Physics and Gravity" (CORFU2024)
2025
490
1
16
open
Penati, S., Castiglioni, L., Tenser, M., Trancanelli, D. (2025). Conformal defects and RG flows in ABJM. In Proceedings of the Corfu Summer Institute 2024 "School and Workshops on Elementary Particle Physics and Gravity" (CORFU2024) (pp.1-16). Sissa Medialab Srl [10.22323/1.490.0345].
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/591501
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