Topological defects in string theory orbifolds with target spaces $\mathbb{C}/{\mathbb{Z}}_N$ and $S^1/{\mathbb{Z}}_2$

Abstract

We study conformal defects in two important examples of string theory orbifolds. First, we show that topological defects in the language of Landau-Ginzburg models carry information about the RG flow between the non-compact orbifolds $\mathbb{C}/{\mathbb{Z}}_d$. Such defects are shown to correctly implement the bulk-induced RG flow on the boundary. Secondly, we study what the possible conformal defects are between the $c=1$ bosonic 2D conformal field theories with target space $S^1/{\mathbb{Z}}_2$. The defects cataloged here are obtained from boundary states corresponding to D-branes in the $c=2$ free theory with target space $S^1/{\mathbb{Z}}_2\times S^1/{\mathbb{Z}}_2$. Via the unfolding procedure, such boundary states are later mapped to defects between the circle orbifolds. Furthermore, we compute the algebra of the topological class of defects at different radii.

PhD thesis

References in corpus (6)

• Topological defects for the free boson CFT
• Fusion of conformal interfaces
• Defects and Bulk Perturbations of Boundary Landau-Ginzburg Orbifolds
• Boundary RG Flows of N=2 Minimal Models
• Brane backreactions and the Fischler-Susskind mechanism in conformal field theory
• Bulk induced boundary perturbations for N=1 superconformal field theories