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arxiv: 1710.07299 · v2 · pith:MKRBESDQnew · submitted 2017-10-19 · ✦ hep-th

't Hooft anomalies and boundaries

classification ✦ hep-th
keywords anomaliesanomalyboundaryhoofttheoriesunderabelianargue
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We argue that there is an obstruction to placing theories with 't Hooft anomalies on manifolds with a boundary, unless the symmetry associated with the anomaly can be represented as a non-invariance under an Abelian transformation. For a two dimensional conformal field theory we further demonstrate that all anomalies except the usual trace anomaly are incompatible on a manifold with a boundary. Our findings extend a known result whereby, under mild assumptions, Lagrangian theories with chiral matter cannot be canonically quantized.

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