GP Seminar: Higher representation theory for excitations and quark confinement

Abstract: In this talk, I will introduce a framework for understanding the representation theory of excitations in gapped phases of quantum field theories, based on both their microscopic symmetries and IR phases. Central to this is the use of the (higher) strip algebra construction, an extension of the (higher) tube algebra.

Applying this framework to gauge theories, we recover expected results: in a deconfined phase, quark excitations appear, whereas in a confined phase, only baryons remain. Moreover, I will show how, due to its tractability, the technique reveals how IR bound states decompose in terms of UV-charged operators, as illustrated by baryons in confined QCD.

This is a seminar in the Centre of Geometry and Physics seminar series.