Physics (Internal)

Non-supersymmetric duality from mirror symmetry

This event is part of the HET Seminar Series.

There has been a flurry of recent progress in expanding the list of conjectured bosonization dualities in 2+1 dimensions. For example, the critical theory of a boson coupled to a SU(N) gauge theory with level-k Chern-Simons term is thought to be dual to the theory of a fermion that is coupled to a U(k) gauge theory with Chern-Simons term at level N-1/2. Initial evidence and motivation for these dualities have come from the study of such theories at large N and k. In this talk, I'll show how the simplest example of mirror symmetry -- a supersymmetric duality between a free N=2 chiral multiplet and N=2 QED3 -- supports the conjectured duals at N=k=1. Upon general perturbation, I'll argue that mirror symmetry implies dual phase diagrams that contain four massive phases. Equivalence at the intervening critical points yields the non-supersymmertric dualities: a Wilson-Fisher boson is dual to both scalar and fermionic QED3, while a free fermion is dual to scalar QED3. Thus, mirror symmetry can be viewed as a parent duality from which these non-supersymmetric dualities descend. In addition, I'll discuss a few applications of these dualities to condensed matter systems.