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Revisiting monodromy defects in O(N)\text{O}(N) conformal field theories

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Abstract

Monodromy defects are fundamental objects in extended quantum systems with global symmetries. We study such defects in O(N)\text{O}(N) conformal field theories (CFT), which describe the universality class of O(N)\text{O}(N) spontaneous symmetry breaking transitions. In particular, we consider partial-monodromy defects, whose corresponding symmetry transformations only act on a subset of the fundamental O(N)\text{O}(N) vector field. We develop an analytical theory of the defect phases, using both renormalization group and large NN expansion. In general (spacetime) dimensions 3≤d<43\leq d<4, multiple defect CFTs are identified, which are described by appropriate boundary conditions for the vector field near the defect. Near d=3d=3, we show that in the large NN limit, a stable defect CFT always exists, characterized by the so-called ("standard") "alternate" boundary conditions for the (twisted) untwisted fields, whose defect correlations are (suppressed) enhanced. We then perform large-scale classical Monte Carlo simulations of monodromy defects in the O(3) CFT in an improved lattice model and numerically extract the defect scaling dimensions. The numerical results are in qualitative agreement with the stable defect CFT identified in the field theory.

Introduction

Defects play crucial roles in quantum and classical many-body systems and field theories: they elucidate the structure of the underlying theories and determine physical properties. Any quantum system with global (zero-form) internal symmetry comes with a distinguished type of codimension-two defects, known as monodromy (or twist) defects. Upon encircling the defects, the fundamental fields are transformed by the corresponding symmetry action. In other words, the boundary conditions of the fields on the two-dimensional transverse plane are twisted by a symmetry of the system.

Physically, a monodromy defect can be created by threading a localized “magnetic” flux of the symmetry, analogous to an Aharonov-Bohm flux, producing a defect extending in the time direction. Alternatively, such defects can be generated by acting on the system with a disorder operator, i.e., a partial symmetry transformation [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. In a system with an exact or emergent space-time symmetry, these two constructions are equivalent and are related by a space-time rotation. Such defects, or extended operators, often provide probes of the underlying phase of matter beyond conventional local measurements. It is also worth noting that certain entanglement measures, such as Rényi entropies, can be formulated as the free energy of the system with replica symmetry defects [6, 7, 8].

The presence of a defect modifies the local correlations in its vicinity. This effect is particularly pronounced in a gapless system, where the correlation functions on the defect exhibit asymptotic long-distance behaviors distinct from those in the bulk. In particular, when the bulk is described by a conformal field theory (CFT), e.g. when the system is tuned to a critical point, the defect often preserves the residual conformal symmetry and is therefore called a conformal defect. In this case, the properties of local observables near the defect can be organized as a defect CFT (DCFT) [9, 10, 11], which essentially describes the universality class, or the “phase,” of the defect theory.

In this work, we study monodromy defects in the O(N) Wilson-Fisher theories in space-time dimension d≥3d \ge3. These are prototypical interacting CFTs in higher dimensions, whose bulk properties are well-understood. Monodromy defects therein have been studied previously [12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18], which we briefly review below.

We will denote the fundamental O(N) vector field by Φ=(Φ1,Φ2,…,ΦN)T\boldsymbol{\Phi} = (\Phi_1,\Phi_2,\ldots,\Phi_N)^\mathsf{T}. A general element of O(N) can always be written into block-diagonal form of 2×22 \times2 SO(2) rotations labeled by a set of monodromies, and remaining ±1\pm1 blocks. We refer to the fields transforming nontrivially under the symmetry as “twisted,” and the others as “untwisted.”

We mostly consider the following type of monodromy. Group the first MM real components into M/2M/2 complex vector ψ\psi with ψj=Φ2j−1+iΦ2j\psi_j = \Phi_{2j-1} + i\Phi_{2j} for j=1,…,M/2j = 1,\ldots,M/2, where M≤NM \le N is an even integer, and denote the remaining N−MN-M untwisted real fields by ϕ\phi. The monodromy is defined by the following twisted boundary condition:

ψ(x⃗,r,θ+2π)=e2πiνψ(x⃗,r,θ).(1)\psi(\vec{x},r,\theta+2\pi) = e^{2\pi i\nu}\psi(\vec{x},r,\theta). \tag*{(1)}

Here rr and θ\theta are polar coordinates in the plane transverse to the defect, and x⃗\vec{x} is the coordinate on the (d−2)(d-2)-dimensional defect. Throughout this paper we assume 0≤ν≤120 \le\nu\le\frac{1}{2}, as defects with monodromy ν\nu and 1−ν1-\nu are related by the charge-conjugation symmetry.

When M=NM=N, i.e. all fields are twisted, the problem has been extensively studied through both numerical simulations for Ising defects in the Ising CFT [12], and analytical approaches for general NN [13, 14, 15, 19]. An infrared (IR) stable DCFT fixed point (FP) is found in all these studies, which can be accessed perturbatively in the ϵ\epsilon expansion [13, 14, 20, 21], or through the large NN approximation [15, 19].

In this work, we study monodromy defects with M<NM < N, which we will call partial-monodromy defects. Having untwisted fields substantially changes the defect dynamics, resulting in a richer IR phase diagram. Using the ϵ\epsilon expansion, we identify multiple perturbative FPs, characterized by having “standard” or “alternate” boundary conditions of the O(NN) vector fields near the defect. Equivalently, twisted or untwisted modes may have positive or negative mass pinning to suppress or enhance correlations.

We then study a large NN limit where M,N→∞M,N \to\infty but γ=M/N\gamma= M/N is fixed. In addition to the perturbative FPs at “weak-pinning” of the defect mass, the large NN approximation also finds non-perturbative “strong-pinning” saddle point solutions, which we identify as the endpoint of the runaway RG flows in the ϵ\epsilon expansion. For these solutions, the scaling dimension of the order parameter becomes parametrically small. We analyze how these solutions evolve as dd is varied between 3 and 4, and argue that for small γ\gamma the stable perturbative solution continues to d=3d = 3. For all γ\gamma and vv, we show that there is always a stable saddle point solution at d=3d = 3, featuring alternate (standard) boundary conditions for the untwisted (twisted) fields, implying that their correlations are enhanced (suppressed) compared to their bulk counterparts. We also show that near d=3d = 3 additional saddle points exist for v<vcstd,alt(γ)v < v_c^{\mathrm{std,alt}}(\gamma), with standard (alternate) boundary condition for the untwisted (twisted) fields. We support these results with analytic solutions of the large NN gap equations in the limit where vv or γ\gamma becomes small. We summarize the FP structures from large NN in Table I.

(ϕ,ψ)(\phi,\psi)Parameter regionFPs d:4→3d:4\to3
(alt,std)(\mathrm{alt},\mathrm{std})γ<12\gamma< \frac{1}{2}S→(2W+S)→WS\to(2W+S)\to W
(alt,std)(\mathrm{alt},\mathrm{std})γ>12\gamma> \frac{1}{2}SS
(std,alt)(\mathrm{std},\mathrm{alt})v<vcstd,alt(d,γ)v < v_c^{\mathrm{std,alt}}(d,\gamma)W+SW+S
(std,alt)(\mathrm{std},\mathrm{alt})Otherwise(W+S)→0(W+S)\to0
(alt,alt)(\mathrm{alt},\mathrm{alt})All v,γv,\gamma(W+S)→0(W+S)\to0
(std,std)(\mathrm{std},\mathrm{std})All v,γv,\gamma00

Table I. Evolution of defect FPs in the large NN limit as d:4→3d:4\to3, at fixed (v,γ)(v,\gamma). Boundary conditions are ordered as (ϕ,ψ)(\phi,\psi). WW and SS label weak- and strong-pinning branches of solutions as identified near d=4d=4.

Lastly, in d=3d = 3, we study the problem for N=3N = 3 with classical Monte Carlo simulations. Two types of defects are considered: Z2\mathbb{Z}_2 monodromy defect where the symmetry acts as Φ3→−Φ3\Phi_3 \to-\Phi_3, and SO(2) defects with the symmetry rotating Φ1\Phi_1 and Φ2\Phi_2. In the latter case we consider v=1/2v = 1/2 and v=1/4v = 1/4. Motivated by the analytical theory, we add a negative mass pinning (∼c~Φ~2\sim\tilde{c}\tilde{\Phi}^2 with c~<0\tilde{c} < 0) for the untwisted field on the defect. We then measure the two-point functions of twisted and untwisted fields to extract their scaling dimensions. For the SO(2) defects, when the pinning strength ∣c~∣|\tilde{c}| is large enough, we observe strong evidence for Z2\mathbb{Z}_2 spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) on the defect, which significantly impacts the behavior of the correlation functions. The numerically extracted scaling dimensions show substantial drift as ∣c~∣|\tilde{c}| increases. For the v=1/2v = 1/2 defect, the scaling dimension of the untwisted field Δϕ\Delta_\phi decreases from 0.409±0.0110.409\pm0.011 for c~=0\tilde{c}=0 to 0.194±0.0060.194\pm0.006 at c~∗=−1.8\tilde{c}_*=-1.8. Similar drifting behaviors are observed at v=1/4v=1/4. On the other hand, for the Z2\mathbb{Z}_2 (reflection) defect, the dependence of the measured scaling dimensions on the pinning strength is weaker. With this caveat in mind, the extracted scaling dimensions are in qualitative agreement with the DCFT with alternate/standard boundary conditions imposed on untwisted/twisted fields. The numerical results for defect scaling dimensions are summarized in Table II.

Renormalization group analysis

In this section we study the defect dynamics using the renormalization group analysis.

It is helpful to review the case of the free theory for our choice of monodromy. The fields can be decomposed according to the angular momentum around the defect in Eq. (1), with the spin ℓ\ell of each mode of the twisted complex fields being shifted by vv such that ψ(x⃗,r,θ)=∑ℓ∈Z+vψℓ(x⃗,r)eiℓθ\psi(\vec{x},r,\theta)=\sum_{\ell\in\mathbb{Z}+v}\psi_\ell(\vec{x},r)e^{i\ell\theta}, while for untwisted fields ϕ(x⃗,r,θ)=∑ℓ∈Zϕℓ(x⃗,r)eiℓθ\phi(\vec{x},r,\theta)=\sum_{\ell\in\mathbb{Z}}\phi_\ell(\vec{x},r)e^{i\ell\theta}.

Due to conformal invariance, each mode obeys a bulk-to-defect operator product expansion (OPE) in terms of defect primaries (denoted with a hat), as r→0r\to0

ψℓ(x⃗,r)∼rΔℓ−Δψ^ℓψ^ℓ(x⃗),ϕℓ(x⃗,r)∼rΔℓ−Δϕ^ℓϕ^ℓ(x⃗).(2)\psi_\ell(\vec{x},r)\sim r^{\Delta_\ell-\Delta_{\hat{\psi}_\ell}}\hat{\psi}_\ell(\vec{x}),\quad\phi_\ell(\vec{x},r)\sim r^{\Delta_\ell-\Delta_{\hat{\phi}_\ell}}\hat{\phi}_\ell(\vec{x}). \tag*{(2)}

The bulk scaling dimension for these fields is the usual value, Δ=d2−1\Delta=\frac{d}{2}-1, while defect operators ψ^ℓ\hat{\psi}_\ell and ϕ^ℓ\hat{\phi}_\ell have defect scaling dimensions Δℓ=d2−1+∣ℓ∣\Delta_\ell=\frac{d}{2}-1+|\ell|. For the twisted fields, since ℓ∈Z+v\ell\in\mathbb{Z}+v, the defect operator with lowest dimension is ψ^ℓ=v\hat{\psi}_{\ell=v} with Δℓ=v=d2−1+v\Delta_{\ell=v}=\frac{d}{2}-1+v. For the untwisted fields, there is instead a zero mode defect operator ϕ^ℓ=0\hat{\phi}_{\ell=0} with Δℓ=0=d2−1\Delta_{\ell=0}=\frac{d}{2}-1. The mass operator ϕ^ℓ=02\hat{\phi}_{\ell=0}^2 has dimension 2Δℓ=0=d−22\Delta_{\ell=0}=d-2 and is classically marginal on the defect. The lowest spin modes will dominate the long-distance behavior of the defect two-point correlation of ψ\psi and ϕ\phi respectively.

In d≥3d\ge3, there is another DCFT with Δℓ=v=d2−1−v\Delta_{\ell=v}=\frac{d}{2}-1-v. Following AdS/CFT terminology, for Δℓ>Δ\Delta_\ell>\Delta, we refer to the mode as having standard boundary conditions; if Δℓ<Δ\Delta_\ell<\Delta instead, the mode has alternate boundary conditions. In the free theory, only the former is stable in the IR. We focus on the physics when ψℓ=v\psi_{\ell=v} has standard boundary conditions and defer discussion of alternate boundary conditions for this mode to the Supplemental Material (SM).

We now turn to the interacting theory. The action of the Wilson-Fisher theory in dd space-time dimensions is given by

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