Exotic $\mathbb{Z}_N$ symmetries, duality, and fractons in 3+1-dimensional quantum field theory

• DOI: 10.21468/scipostphys.10.1.003
• Publication Date: 2021-01-08T07:35:12Z
• Authors: Nathan Seiberg; Shu-Heng Shao
• Keywords: High Energy Physics - Theory; Condensed Matter - Strongly Correlated Electrons; Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el); High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th); Physics; QC1-999; 0103 physical sciences; FOS: Physical sciences; 01 natural sciences

Following our earlier analyses of nonstandard continuum quantum field theories, we study here gapped systems in 3+1 dimensions, which exhibit fractonic behavior. In particular, we present three dual field theory descriptions of the low-energy physics of the X-cube model. A key aspect of our constructions is the use of discontinuous fields in the continuum field theory. Spacetime is continuous, but the fields are not.