Abstract
We study two well-known SU(N) chiral gauge theories with fermions in the symmetric, anti-symmetric and fundamental representations. We give a detailed description of the global symmetry, including various discrete quotients. Recent work argues that these theories exhibit a subtle mod 2 anomaly, ruling out certain phases in which the theories confine without breaking their global symmetry, leaving a gapless composite fermion in the infra-red. We point out that no such anomaly exists. We further exhibit an explicit path to the gapless fermion phase, showing that there is no kinematic obstruction to realising these phases.
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ArXiv ePrint: 2106.06402
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Smith, P.B., Karasik, A., Lohitsiri, N. et al. On discrete anomalies in chiral gauge theories. J. High Energ. Phys. 2022, 112 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP01(2022)112
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP01(2022)112