Duality, generalized global symmetries and jet space isometries

TL;DR

This paper explores the role of generalized global symmetries and dualities in scalar and Abelian gauge theories, revealing their geometric interpretation as isometries in jet spaces and analyzing anomalies in various models.

Contribution

It introduces a geometric framework interpreting global symmetries as generalized Killing isometries and extends duality analysis to higher derivatives and multifield theories.

Findings

Global symmetries correspond to generalized Killing isometries.

Identified 't Hooft anomalies obstructing simultaneous gauging.

Demonstrated anomaly matching under duality in multiple models.

Abstract

We revisit universal features of duality in linear and nonlinear relativistic scalar and Abelian 1-form theories with single or multiple fields, which exhibit ordinary or generalized global symmetries. We show that such global symmetries can be interpreted as generalized Killing isometries on a suitable, possibly graded, target space of fields or its jet space when the theory contains higher derivatives. This is realized via a generalized sigma model perspective motivated from the fact that higher spin particles can be Nambu-Goldstone bosons of spontaneously broken generalized global symmetries. We work out in detail the 2D examples of a compact scalar and the massless Heisenberg pion fireball model and the 4D examples of Maxwell, Born-Infeld and ModMax electrodynamics. In all cases we identify the 't Hooft anomaly that obstructs the simultaneous gauging of both global symmetries and confirm the anomaly matching under duality. These results readily generalize to higher gauge theories for p-forms. For multifield theories we discuss the transformation of couplings under duality as two sets of Buscher rules for even or odd differential forms.