Dynamics of QCD3 with rank-two quarks and duality

• Main Authors: Changha Choi, Diego Delmastro, Jaume Gomis, Zohar Komargodski
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SpringerOpen 2020-03-01
• Series: Journal of High Energy Physics
• Subjects: Duality in Gauge Field Theories; Field Theories in Lower Dimensions; Chern-Simons Theories; Topological States of Matter
• Online Access: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/JHEP03(2020)078

Abstract Three-dimensional gauge theories coupled to fermions can develop interesting nonperturbative dynamics. Here we study in detail the dynamics of SU(N ) gauge theories coupled to a Dirac fermion in the rank-two symmetric and antisymmetric representation. We argue that when the Chern-Simons level is sufficiently small the theory develops a quantum phase with an emergent topological field theory. When the Chern-Simons level vanishes, we further argue that a baryon condenses and hence baryon symmetry is spontaneously broken. The infrared theory then consists of a Nambu-Goldstone boson coupled to a topological field theory. Our proposals also lead to new fermion-fermion dualities involving fermions in two-index representations. We make contact between our proposals and some recently discussed aspects of four-dimensional gauge theories. This leads us to a proposal for the domain wall theories of non-supersymmetric gauge theories with fermions in two-index representations. Finally, we discuss some aspects of the time-reversal anomaly in theories with a one-form symmetry.