arXiv subjects

Diego Rodriguez-Gomez

Publications and source records attributed to Diego Rodriguez-Gomez.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Iterative Gauging is Deconstruction

A recent construction showed that iteratively gauging symmetries of a quantum field theory can generate an emergent extra spatial dimension. Here we identify the precise mechanism underlying this phenomenon: it is dimensional deconstruction, the procedure by which an extra dimension is encoded in the structure of a quiver gauge theory. We demonstrate this by showing that the standard deconstruction action, upon dualizing the Goldstone fields on the Higgs branch, is exactly equivalent to the action produced by iterative gauging. The dictionary is transparent: quiver nodes correspond to gauge fields, and quiver links correspond to the gauge fields introduced to couple to magnetic symmetries. We further show that starting by gauging the electric rather than the magnetic symmetry produces the deconstructed theory written in the dual variables, with all coupling constants inverted.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Boundary Layers and One-point Functions in the Presence of Monodromy Defects

We study one-point functions of composites of charge $e$ operators in the presence of a monodromy defect for a $U(1)$ global symmetry with monodromy $β$. We first compute these in free massless and massive theories, recovering in the former case the known $\sin(eπβ)$ dependence and obtaining in the latter a $\sin^2(eπβ)$ dependence. We then turn to holography and compute 1-point functions for operators $O$ of charge $J=Δ$ in $\mathfrak{su}(N)$ $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM in the presence of a monodromy defect for a $U(1)\in SO(6)_R$. From a WKB analysis in large $Δ$ we recover the structure of standard and anchored saddles previously found in the literature, finding that, to subleading order in $1/Δ$, the anchored regime is resolved by a boundary layer effect. Finally, using heat kernel methods, we determine the monodromy dependence of the induced 1-point function for the composite $O^{\dagger}O$, finding a smooth $\sin^2(Jπβ)$ behavior.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

RG Dynamics of Irrelevant Fermion Operators and the Drag Coupling Mechanism

We study the renormalization-group flow of higher-dimensional fermionic interactions $(ψ^\dagger ψ)^{2n}$ in the presence of a Fermi surface. We show that the growth of the BCS four-fermion coupling induces a drag mechanism whereby higher-order fermionic couplings are driven to strong coupling in the infrared. We derive the corresponding beta functions and show that the drag effect applies generically to the whole tower of fermionic operators. Remarkably, although all couplings are driven toward the same strong-coupling scale, the renormalization-group flow preserves a hierarchy in which higher-dimensional operators remain parametrically suppressed relative to the BCS interaction. We then investigate this mechanism in a $2+1$-dimensional non-Fermi liquid coupled to a critical boson. While higher-order fermionic interactions are similarly enhanced along the flow, we show that they do not destabilize the IR stable non-Fermi-liquid fixed point, present for sufficiently large $N$. We briefly discuss possible implications for multicomponent superconductors and other strongly correlated metallic systems.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Higher-Order Fermion Interactions in Effective Field Theories for Phase Transitions

We investigate the impact of higher-order fermionic deformations in phase transitions analogous to those described by the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory. Focusing specifically on the 8-fermion interaction, we show that this term can have significant consequences. In certain regions of parameter space, the theory continues to exhibit second-order phase transitions with mean-field critical exponents and the same critical temperature; however, the temperature dependence of the superconducting gap can deviate markedly from conventional BCS behavior. In other regions, the theory exhibits first-order phase transitions. We conclude by discussing potential phenomenological applications of these theories.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2026

Non-Abelian R-symmetry and dielectric branes

We study the holographic realization of the $SO(6)_R$ R-symmetry of $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills with unitary gauge group. Focusing on 1/2 BPS states in the $[0,J,0]$ representation of $SO(6)_R$, it is known that depending on the scaling of $J$ with $N$, these are best described holographically in terms of gravitational waves ($J\ll N$) or D3 brane giant gravitons ($J\sim N$). These two descriptions are bridged by the dielectric effect, as the D3 giant can be regarded as a puffed-up configuration of gravitational waves. The natural non-BPS branes for symmetry operators are either 4-branes or non-BPS Kaluza-Klein monopoles. We show that the former can be regarded as a dielectric expansion of the latter, in parallel to the charged operators. We also propose symTh and symTFT candidates for the $SO(6)_R$ symmetry, whose operators at the boundary must correspond to the non-BPS branes.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Holographic Correlators of Giant Gravitons in Monodromy Defects

We compute holographically correlation functions for giant gravitons in $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM in the presence of monodromy defects through probe branes. The computation boils down to the study of charged geodesics in certain five-dimensional gauged supergravity backgrounds. In addition to the standard U-shaped geodesic, in the presence of the defect, we find an extra, novel, contribution from a geodesic anchored at the defect which captures the one-point function of the square of the giant graviton.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

A Proposal for symTFTs and symThs from Holography

We propose an embedding of the symTFT construction in (finite cut-off) holography. The proposal passes several non-trivial consistency checks reproducing the expected symTFTs in various cases, including the recently discussed symTFT for the 1-form symmetry of 4d $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM. Moreover, we comment on the possibility of unifying the symTFT and the symTh descriptions via the democratic formulation of Supergravity, using the 4d $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM theory as an example.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

The SymTFT of $u(N)$ Yang-Mills Theory and Holography

We propose a SymTFT for 4d $U(N)$ Yang-Mills theory and its variants. We show that the SymTFT reproduces the structure of the global one-form symmetry in these theories. We consider the holographic embedding of this SymTFT, and observe that SymTFT's containing continuous symmetries are not always obtained as a near boundary limit of the supergravity action.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

R-symmetries, anomalies and non-invertible defects from non-BPS branes

We propose a holographic realization of symmetry operators for symmetries associated to isometries in terms of non-BPS Kaluza-Klein monopoles. Their existence is supported by dualities, and their action can be inferred by consistency with well-known String Theory constructions. We use our proposal to describe the $U(1)$ superconformal R-symmetry of the Klebanov-Witten 4d $\mathcal{N}=1$ theory dual to Type IIB String Theory on $AdS_5\times T^{1,1}$. We precisely reproduce the expectations from field theory, including the 't Hooft self-anomaly of the R-symmetry and the mixed 't Hooft anomaly with the baryonic symmetry. For a choice of boundary conditions, the R-symmetry becomes non-invertible and the worldvolume action for the non-BPS Kaluza-Klein monopole precisely accounts for this.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Continuous symmetry defects and brane/anti-brane systems

We explicitly compute correlation functions with the insertion of a continuous symmetry defect in bosonic field theories. To recover the expected action, the definition of the defect must be modified to include a specific contact term. This can be regarded as a singular background gauge field for the global symmetry. It can be traced to the definition of the generating functional for current correlators, where the source is akin to a background gauge field for the symmetry. For holographic theories, it has been proposed that continuous symmetry defects are realized in terms of non-BPS $D(q-1)$ branes. We argue that these can be regarded as $Dq/\overline{Dq}$ system and show its application to the case of the baryonic symmetry in the Klebanov-Witten theory. The $Dq/\overline{Dq}$ can be regarded as a particular regularization of the defect, holographically realizing the field theory discussion.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

Non-BPS branes and continuous symmetries

We propose a holographic description of the operators implementing $U(1)$ global symmetries that are dual to superstring gauge fields in terms of non-BPS D-branes. We check the consistency of our proposal in a number of examples.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Quiver Tails and Brane Webs

A new type of quiver theories, denoted twin quivers, was recently introduced for studying $5d$ SCFTs engineered by webs of 5-branes ending on 7-branes. Twin quivers provide an alternative perspective on various aspects of such webs, including Hanany-Witten moves and the $s$-rule. More ambitiously, they can be regarded as a first step towards the construction of combinatorial objects, generalizing brane tilings, encoding the corresponding BPS quivers. This paper continues the investigation of twin quivers, focusing on their non-uniqueness, which stems from the multiplicity of toric phases for a given toric Calabi-Yau 3-fold. We find that the different twin quivers are necessary for describing what we call quiver tails, which in turn correspond to certain sub-configurations in the webs. More generally, the multiplicity of twin quivers captures the roots of the Higgs branch in the extended Coulomb branch of $5d$ theories.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Defects, Rigid Holography and $C$-theorems

We consider a general scalar QFT with a linear defect in $D=4-ε$ and a surface defect in $D=6-ε$. Using holography and the Hamilton-Jacobi formalism, we show that the $β$ functions controlling the defect RG flow are the gradient of the entropy function. In the case of conformal field theories, this allows the proof that the relevant $C$-functions decrease monotonically along the RG flow. We provide evidence that this property also holds in the full quantum theory for general scalar field theories. An obstruction to the gradient property seems to appear at two loop order when fermions are added.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

Infrared phases of 3d massless CS-QCD and large $N_f$

We compute anomalous dimensions of quartic operators which are singlets under the $\mathrm{U}(N_f)$ global symmetry in Yang-Mills theories with Chern-Simons level $k$ in three dimensions coupled to $N_f$ Dirac fermions. In order to have analytic control, we consider the regime $N_f\gg N_c\gg 1$, where the problem is reduced to the study of a flavor-adjoint and a flavor-singlet bilinears whose square give the quartic operators of interest. We provide evidence that these operators hit marginality, signaling instabilities which, for $\frac{2k}{N_f}<1$ suggest the spontaneous breaking of the global symmetry, and no symmetry breaking otherwise. For $k=N_f/2-1$ (the value corresponding to the domain walls of 4d QCD at $θ=π$), the critical value $N_f^*$ is tantalizingly close to the lower end of the conformal window of QCD$_4$, suggesting a connection between conformal and global symmetry breaking in the 4d theory and in its domain walls. We also study, at $k=0$, other quartic operators containing a singlet when branched under $\mathrm{U}\left(\frac{N_f}{2}\right)\times \mathrm{U}\left(\frac{N_f}{2}\right)$, finding that they hit marginality precisely at the same point as their flavor-neutral cousins. Using the same technology we study bosonic CS-QCD$_3$, finding no hint of symmetry breaking where our analysis is applicable.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

Brain Webs for Brane Webs

We propose a new technique for classifying 5d Superconformal Field Theories arising from brane webs in Type IIB String Theory, using technology from Machine Learning to identify different webs giving rise to the same theory. We concentrate on webs with three external legs, for which the problem is analogous to that of classifying sets of 7-branes. Training a Siamese Neural Network to determine equivalence between any two brane webs shows an improved performance when webs are considered equivalent under a weaker set of conditions. Thus, Machine Learning teaches us that the conjectured classification of 7-brane sets is not complete, which we confirm with explicit examples.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

A Scaling Limit for Line and Surface Defects

We study symmetry-breaking line defects in the Wilson-Fisher theory with $O(2N+1)$ global symmetry near four dimensions and symmetry-preserving surface defects in a cubic model with $O(2N)$ global symmetry near six dimensions. We introduce a scaling limit inspired by the large charge expansion in Conformal Field Theory. Using this, we compute the beta function for the defect coupling which allows to identify the corresponding Defect Conformal Field Theories. We also compute the correlation function of two parallel defects as well as correlation functions of certain defect operators with large charge under the surviving symmetry.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

Non-Invertible Symmetries from Discrete Gauging and Completeness of the Spectrum

We study global 1- and $(d-2)$-form symmetries for gauge theories based on disconnected gauge groups which include charge conjugation. For pure gauge theories, the 1-form symmetries are shown to be non-invertible. In addition, being the gauge groups disconnected, the theories automatically have a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ global $(d-2)$-form symmetry. We propose String Theory embeddings for gauge theories based on these groups. Remarkably, they all automatically come with twist vortices which break the $(d-2)$-form global symmetry. This is consistent with the conjectured absence of global symmetries in Quantum Gravity.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

Quivers, Lattice Gauge Theories and Fractons

We argue that quiver gauge theories with $SU(N)$ gauge groups give rise to lattice gauge theories with matter possessing fractonic properties, where the lattice is the quiver itself. This idea extends a recent proposal by Razamat. This class of theories exhibit a $\mathbb{Z}_N$ 1-form global symmetry that can be used to classify their phases. The order parameter of this transition is the expectation value of Wilson loops, which correspond to mesonic operators in the underlying quiver gauge theory. We discuss how this perspective naturally fits with the deconstruction of a higher dimensional theory.

hep-th↗