Gauged 2-form Symmetries in 6D SCFTs Coupled to Gravity

Abstract

We study six dimensional supergravity theories with superconformal sectors (SCFTs). Instances of such theories can be engineered using type IIB strings, or more generally F-Theory, which translates field theoretic constraints to geometry. Specifically, we study the fate of the discrete 2-form global symmetries of the SCFT sectors. For both $(2,0)$ and $(1,0)$ theories we show that whenever the charge lattice of the SCFT sectors is non-primitively embedded into the charge lattice of the supergravity theory, there is a subgroup of these 2-form symmetries that remains unbroken by BPS strings. By the absence of global symmetries in quantum gravity, this subgroup much be gauged. Using the embedding of the charge lattices also allows us to determine how the gauged 2-form symmetry embeds into the 2-form global symmetries of the SCFT sectors, and we present several concrete examples, as well as some general observations. As an alternative derivation, we recover our results for a large class of models from a dual perspective upon reduction to five dimensions.

35 pages plus appendices; v2: typos fixed, references added

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• Symmetry TFTs for 3d QFTs from M-theory
• 2-Group Symmetries and M-Theory
• Higher Symmetries of 5d Orbifold SCFTs
• 0-Form, 1-Form and 2-Group Symmetries via Cutting and Gluing of Orbifolds
• Higher Form Symmetries TFT in 6d
• Relative Defects in Relative Theories: Trapped Higher-Form Symmetries and Irregular Punctures in Class S
• Generalized Symmetries in F-theory and the Topology of Elliptic Fibrations
• Anomalies of Generalized Symmetries from Solitonic Defects
• Disconnected 0-Form and 2-Group Symmetries