Anomalous symmetries end at the boundary

A global symmetry of a quantum field theory is said to have an ’t Hooft anomaly if it cannot be promoted to a local symmetry of a gauged theory. In this paper, we show that the anomaly is also an obstruction to defining symmetric boundary conditions. This applies to Lorentz symmetries with gravitational anomalies as well. For theories with perturbative anomalies, we demonstrate the obstruction by analyzing the Wess-Zumino consistency conditions and current Ward identities in the presence of a boundary. We then recast the problem in terms of symmetry defects and find the same conclusions for anomalies of discrete and orientation-reversing global symmetries, up to the conjecture that global gravitational anomalies, which may not be associated with any diffeomorphism symmetry, also forbid the existence of boundary conditions. This conjecture holds for known gravitational anomalies in D ≤ 3 which allows us to conclude the obstruction result for D ≤ 4.

Supervariable and BRST Approaches to a Reparameterization Invariant Nonrelativistic System

We exploit the theoretical strength of the supervariable and Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin (BRST) formalisms to derive the proper (i.e., off-shell nilpotent and absolutely anticommuting) (anti-)BRST symmetry transformations for the reparameterization invariant model of a nonrelativistic (NR) free particle whose space x and time t variables are a function of an evolution parameter τ . The infinitesimal reparameterization (i.e., 1D diffeomorphism) symmetry transformation of our theory is defined w.r.t. this evolution parameter τ . We apply the modified Bonora-Tonin (BT) supervariable approach (MBTSA) as well as the (anti)chiral supervariable approach (ACSA) to BRST formalism to discuss various aspects of our present system. For this purpose, our 1D ordinary theory (parameterized by τ ) is generalized onto a 1 , 2 -dimensional supermanifold which is characterized by the superspace coordinates Z M = τ , θ , θ ¯ where a pair of the Grassmannian variables satisfy the fermionic relationships: θ 2 = θ ¯ 2 = 0 , θ θ ¯ + θ ¯ θ = 0 , and τ is the bosonic evolution parameter. In the context of ACSA, we take into account only the 1 , 1 -dimensional (anti)chiral super submanifolds of the general 1 , 2 -dimensional supermanifold. The derivation of the universal Curci-Ferrari- (CF-) type restriction, from various underlying theoretical methods, is a novel observation in our present endeavor. Furthermore, we note that the form of the gauge-fixing and Faddeev-Popov ghost terms for our NR and non-SUSY system is exactly the same as that of the reparameterization invariant SUSY (i.e., spinning) and non-SUSY (i.e., scalar) relativistic particles. This is a novel observation, too.

Construction of Higher-Order Metric Fluctuation Terms in Spacetime Symmetry-Breaking Effective Field Theory

We examined the basic conservation laws for diffeomorphism symmetry in the context of spontaneous diffeomorphism and local Lorentz-symmetry breaking. The conservation laws were used as constraints on a generic series of terms in an expansion around a flat background. We found all such terms for a two-tensor coupling to cubic order in the metric and tensor field fluctuations. The results are presented in a form that can be used for phenomenological calculations. One key result is that if we preserve the underlying diffeomorphism symmetry in a spontaneous-symmetry breaking scenario, one cannot decouple the two-tensor fluctuations from the metric fluctuations at the level of the action, except in special cases of the quadratic actions.

Fermions, q-deformed diffeomorphism and the evolution of spin networks

We have considered here the emergence of diffeomorphism symmetry in quantum gravity in the framework of the quantization of a fermion. It is pointed out that a closed loop having the holonomy associated with the SU(2) gauge group is realized from the rotation of the direction vector associated with the quantization of a fermion depicting spin degrees of freedom which appear as SU(2) gauge bundle. During the formation of a loop, a noncyclic path with open ends can be mapped onto a closed loop when the holonomy involves q-deformed gauge group SUq(2). This gives rise to q-deformed diffeomorphism and helps to realize diffeomorphism invariance in quantum gravity through a sequence of q-deformed diffeomorphism in the limit q = 1. We can consider adiabatic iteration such that the quasispin associated with the quantum group SUq(2) gradually evolves as the time dependent deformation parameter q changes and in the limit q = 1, we achieve the standard spin. This essentially depicts the evolution of spin network as the loop is being formed and links fermionic degrees of freedom with loop quantum gravity.