We use the conformal bootstrap program to derive the necessary conditions for emergent symmetry enhancement from discrete symmetry (e.g., Z_{n}) to continuous symmetry [e.g., U(1)] under the renormalization group flow. In three dimensions, in order for Z_{2} symmetry to be enhanced to U(1) symmetry, the conformal bootstrap program predicts that the scaling dimension of the order parameter field at the infrared conformal fixed point must satisfy Δ_{1}>1.08. We also obtain the similar necessary conditions for Z_{3} symmetry with Δ_{1}>0.580 and Z_{4} symmetry with Δ_{1}>0.504 from the simultaneous conformal bootstrap analysis of multiple four-point functions. As applications, we show that our necessary conditions impose severe constraints on the nature of the chiral phase transition in QCD, the deconfinement criticality in Néel valence bond solid transitions, and anisotropic deformations in critical O(n) models. We prove that some fixed points proposed in the literature are unstable under the perturbation that cannot be forbidden by the discrete symmetry. In these situations, the second-order phase transition with enhanced symmetry cannot happen.
We explain when and why symmetries enhance in fermionic rational conformal field theories. In order to achieve the goal, we first clarify invariants under renormalization group flows. In particular, we find the Ocneanu rigidity is not enough to protect some quantities. Concretely, while (double) braidings are subject to the rigidity, they jump at conformal fixed points. The jump happens in a specific way, so the double braiding relation further constrains renormalization group flows. The new constraints enable us three things; 1) to predict infrared conformal dimensions in massless flow, 2) to reveal some structures of the theory space, and 3) to obtain a necessary condition for a flow to be massless. We also find scaling dimensions ``monotonically'' decrease along massless flows. Combining the discovery with predictions, sometimes, we can uniquely fix infrared conformal dimensions.
We explain how the axioms of Conformal Field Theory are used to make predictions about critical exponents of continuous phase transitions in three dimensions, via a procedure called the conformal bootstrap. The method assumes conformal invariance of correlation functions, and imposes some relations between correlation functions of different orders. Numerical analysis shows that these conditions are incompatible unless the critical exponents take particular values, or more precisely that they must belong to a small island in the parameter space.
We show numerically that the "deconfined" quantum critical point between the Néel antiferromagnet and the columnar valence-bond solid, for a square lattice of spin 1/2, has an emergent SO(5) symmetry. This symmetry allows the Néel vector and the valence-bond solid order parameter to be rotated into each other. It is a remarkable (2+1)-dimensional analogue of the SO(4)=[SU(2)×SU(2)]/Z(2) symmetry that appears in the scaling limit for the spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain. The emergent SO(5) symmetry is strong evidence that the phase transition in the (2+1)-dimensional system is truly continuous, despite the violations of finite-size scaling observed previously in this problem. It also implies surprising relations between correlation functions at the transition. The symmetry enhancement is expected to apply generally to the critical two-component Abelian Higgs model (noncompact CP(1) model). The result indicates that in three dimensions there is an SO(5)-symmetric conformal field theory that has no relevant singlet operators, so is radically different from conventional Wilson-Fisher-type conformal field theories.
The paradigmatic example of deconfined quantum criticality is the Neel to valence bond solid phase transition. The continuum description of this transition is the N=2 case of the CP^{N-1} model, which is a field theory of N complex scalars in 3D coupled to an Abelian gauge field with SU(N)×U(1) global symmetry. Lattice studies and duality arguments suggest the global symmetry of the CP^{1} model is enhanced to SO(5). We perform a conformal bootstrap study of SO(5) invariant fixed points with one relevant SO(5) singlet operator, which would correspond to two relevant SU(2)×U(1) singlets, i.e., a tricritical point. We find that the bootstrap bounds are saturated by four different predictions from the large N computation of monopole operator scaling dimensions, which were recently shown to be very accurate even for small N. This suggests that the Neel to valence bond solid phase transition is described by this bootstrap bound, which predicts that the second relevant singlet has dimension ≈2.36.
Supersymmetry, originally proposed in high-energy physics, can emerge as a remarkable low-energy structure in condensed matter systems. While emergent supersymmetry at quantum critical points is widely discussed in models with continuous symmetries, real materials are constrained by microscopic discrete symmetries. To address this, we investigate (2+1)-dimensional Gross-Neveu-Yukawa theories coupling Dirac fermions to a complex order parameter with discrete
Zn anisotropy. Using the functional renormalization group, we find that for
n>3, the anisotropic perturbations are irrelevant at the fixed point, yielding a
N=2 Wess-Zumino supersymmetric critical point. In the ordered phase, this dangerously irrelevant anisotropy gives rise to a second characteristic length scale,
ξ′, alongside the usual correlation length,
ξ. By tracking mass thresholds along symmetry-broken renormalization group trajectories, we extract the exponents
ν′ and
ν without imposing prior scaling assumptions. For the
Z4,
Z5, and
Z6 models, our results support the scaling relation
ν′/ν=1+∣yn∣/p with
p=2 in the isotropic framework used here.
Multifractals arise in various systems across nature whose scaling behavior is characterized by a continuous spectrum of multifractal exponents Δ_{q}. In the context of Anderson transitions, the multifractality of critical wave functions is described by operators O_{q} with scaling dimensions Δ_{q} in a field-theory description of the transitions. The operators O_{q} satisfy the so-called Abelian fusion expressed as a simple operator product expansion. Assuming conformal invariance and Abelian fusion, we use the conformal bootstrap framework to derive a constraint that implies that the multifractal spectrum Δ_{q} (and its generalized form) must be quadratic in its arguments in any dimension d≥2.