Speaker
Description
Abstract
I will describe a proposal for a Symmetry Topological Field Theory (SymTFT) for continuous spacetime symmetries. For a d-dimensional theory, this is formulated as a (d+1)-dimensional BF theory for the spacetime symmetry group, with Chern–Simons terms in even d that encode conformal and gravitational anomalies. Focusing in particular on conformal symmetry, I will discuss boundary conditions, how this framework captures symmetry breaking, and the resulting dilaton action. I will also show how topological defects in the SymTFT implement spacetime symmetry transformations on the boundary.Finally, I will comment on connections to gravity and holography, focusing on the truncation to the topological sector of four-dimensional gravity in the d = 3 case.