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Reading between the lines of four-dimensional gauge theories

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Abstract

Starting with a choice of a gauge group in four dimensions, there is often freedom in the choice of magnetic and dyonic line operators. Different consistent choices of these operators correspond to distinct physical theories, with the same correlation functions of local operators in \( {{\mathbb{R}}^4} \). In some cases these choices are permuted by shifting the θ-angle by 2π. In other cases they are labeled by new discrete θ-like parameters. Using this understanding we gain new insight into the dynamics of four-dimensional gauge theories and their phases. The existence of these distinct theories clarifies a number of issues in electric/magnetic dualities of supersymmetric gauge theories, both for the conformal \( \mathcal{N} \) = 4 theories and for the low-energy dualities of \( \mathcal{N} \) = 1 theories.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 76100, Israel

    Ofer Aharony

  2. School of Natural Sciences, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, 08540, U.S.A

    Ofer Aharony & Nathan Seiberg

  3. Department of Physics, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan

    Yuji Tachikawa

  4. IPMU, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8583, Japan

    Yuji Tachikawa

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  1. Ofer Aharony
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  2. Nathan Seiberg
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  3. Yuji Tachikawa
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Correspondence to Yuji Tachikawa.

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ArXiv ePrint: 1305.0318

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Aharony, O., Seiberg, N. & Tachikawa, Y. Reading between the lines of four-dimensional gauge theories. J. High Energ. Phys. 2013, 115 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP08(2013)115

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