Conformality or confinement (II): One-flavor CFTs and mixed-representation QCD

Abstract

We study QCD-like four dimensional theories in the theoretically controlled framework of deformation theory and/or twisted partition function on S*1 x R*3. By using duality, we show that a class of one-flavor theories exhibit new physical phenomena: discrete chiral symmetry breaking induced by the condensation of topological disorder operators, and confinement and the generation of mass gap due to new non-selfdual topological excitations. In the R*4 limit, we argue that the mass gap disappears, the chiral symmetry breaking vacua are of runaway type, and the theory flows to a CFT. We also study mixed-representation theories and find abelian chiral symmetry breaking by topological operators charged under abelian chiral symmetries. These are reminiscent to, but distinct, from Seiberg-Witten theory with matter, where 4d monopoles have non-abelian chiral charge. This examination also helps us refine our recent bounds on the conformal window. In an Addendum, we also discuss mixed vectorlike/chiral representation theories, obtain bounds on their conformal windows, and compare with the all-order beta function results of arXiv:0911.0931.

30 pages, 2 figures; added new references and an addendum on mixed vectorlike/chiral representations, including comparison with all-order beta function results of arXiv:0911.0931; version to be published

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• New Methods in QFT and QCD: From Large-N Orbifold Equivalence to Bions and Resurgence
• Seiberg-Witten and "Polyakov-like" magnetic bion confinements are continuously connected
• Conformal Window of Gauge Theories with Four-Fermion Interactions and Ideal Walking
• Large-N volume independence in conformal and confining gauge theories
• Microscopic Structure of Magnetic Bions
• Chiral Lagrangian from Duality and Monopole Operators in Compactified QCD
• WIMPless Dark Matter from Non-Abelian Hidden Sectors with Anomaly-Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking
• Scaling laws near the conformal window of many-flavor QCD
• Confinement in Anti-de Sitter Space
• Mass Deformed Exact S-parameter in Conformal Theories
• Chiral models of composite axions and accidental Peccei-Quinn symmetry
• Resizing the Conformal Window: A beta function Ansatz
• Holographic Conformal Window - A Bottom Up Approach
• Notes on Confinement on ${\mathbf{R}}^3\times {\mathbf{S}}^1$: From Yang-Mills, super-Yang-Mills, and QCD(adj) to QCD(F)
• Flavor Dependence of the S-parameter
• Magnetic monopole plasma phase in (2+1)d compact quantum electrodynamics with fermionic matter
• Bose-Fermi cancellations without supersymmetry
• The SU(3)/Z_3 QCD(adj) deconfinement transition via the gauge theory/"affine" XY-model duality
• N=1 SQCD-like theories with N_f massive flavors from AdS/CFT and beta functions
• Self-conjugate QCD
• Classification of compactified $su(N_c)$ gauge theories with fermions in all representations
• Conformal window in QCD for large numbers of colours and flavours
• Strongly Interacting Dynamics beyond the Standard Model on a Spacetime Lattice
• On the Global Structure of Deformed Yang-Mills Theory and QCD(adj) on ${\mathbb{R}}^3\times {\mathbb{S}}^1$
• Quasiconformality and mass
• Consistency of $\chi$SB in chiral Yang-Mills theory with adiabatic continuity
• Topological terms and anomaly matching in effective field theories on ${\mathbb{R}}^3\times S^1$: I. Abelian symmetries and intermediate scales
• Axion Quality Straight from the GUT