Geometric Categories for Continuous Gauging

Abstract

We develop a unified categorical framework for gauging both continuous and finite symmetries in arbitrary spacetime dimensions. Our construction applies to geometric categories i.e. categories internal to stacks. This generalizes the familiar setting of fusion categories, which describe finite group symmetries, to the case of Lie group symmetries. Within this framework, we obtain a functorial Symmetry Topological Field Theory together with its natural boundaries, allowing us to compute associated endomorphism categories and Drinfeld centers in a uniform way. For a given symmetry group $G$, our framework recovers the electric and magnetic higher-form symmetries expected in $G$-gauge theory. Moreover, it naturally encodes electric breaking symmetry in the presence of charged matter, reproducing known physical phenomena in a categorical setting.

33 pages. Version 3. Added references. Corrected the physical interpretation of the fiber of the bulk-boundary map. Comments welcome