IR free or interacting? A proposed diagnostic

DOI10.1016/J.NUCLPHYSB.2005.10.005zbMATH Open1276.81108arXivhep-th/0509085OpenAlexW2054489707MaRDI QIDQ876289FDOQ876289

Authors: Kenneth Intriligator 

Publication date: 16 April 2007

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

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.

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

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Mathematics Subject Classification ID

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

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Cited In (16)

• Classification of large N superconformal gauge theories with a dense spectrum
• From exact results to gauge dynamics on \(\mathbb{R}^3 \times S^1\)
• High-temperature asymptotics of supersymmetric partition functions
• Bounds on 4D conformal and superconformal field theories
• A 4d \(\mathcal{N} = 1\) Cardy formula
• The \(F\)-theorem and \(F\)-maximization
• Argyres-Douglas theories, the Macdonald index, and an RG inequality
• Aspects of supersymmetric field theories
• An \(\mathcal{N} = 1\) Lagrangian for an \(\mathcal{N} = 3\) SCFT
• Pouliot type duality via \(a\)-maximization
• Superconformal flavor simplified
• \(a\)-maximization in \(\mathcal N=1\) supersymmetric Spin (10) gauge theories
• A test for emergent dynamics
• Chiral lattice gauge theories via mirror-fermion decoupling: a mission (im)possible?
• Supersymmetric asymptotic safety is not guaranteed
• Cardy formula for 4d SUSY theories and localization

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