IR free or interacting? A proposed diagnostic

DOI10.1016/J.NUCLPHYSB.2005.10.005MaRDI QIDQ876289zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Kenneth Intriligator

Publication date 16 April 2007

Published in Nuclear Physics B (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0509085

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Two-dimensional field theories, conformal field theories, etc. in quantum mechanics (81T40)

Abstract: We present and discuss a conjectured criterion for determining whether a 4d quantum field theory is IR free, or flows to an interacting conformal field theory in the infrared: ``the correct infrared phase is that with the larger conformal anomaly $a$". A stronger conjecture is that ``an operator can become IR free only if that results in a larger conformal anomaly $a$". We test these conjectures in the context of N=1 supersymmetric theories. They are verified to indeed predict the correct IR phase in every tested case, for a plethora of examples for which the infrared phase could already be determined on other grounds. When applied to the still unsettled case of SU(2) with a chiral superfield in the isospin 3/2 representation, the conjecture suggest that the IR phase is conformal rather than confining.

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Cited in

(16)

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• Bounds on 4D conformal and superconformal field theories
• High-temperature asymptotics of supersymmetric partition functions
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