Abstract

Symmetry is a key tool for constraining possible end-points of strongly-coupled RG flows. While continuous symmetries have brought forth a great deal of applications to gapless systems, discrete symmetries have been most successful in constraining gapped (topological) phases of matter. In this talk I will review the concept, borrowed from condensed matter, of intrinsically gapless Symmetry Protected Topological phases (igSPTs): phases of matter in which an anomaly-free UV symmetry can be realized in an anomalous fashion on gapless IR degrees of freedom and explain how conformal gauge theories in such phases cannot confine under any symmetry-preserving deformation. I will also briefly discuss some interesting generalizations involving non-invertible symmetries.

The talk is based on a recent work https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.05585 with Andrea Antinucci and Sakura Schafer-Nameki.