The Importance of Being Disconnected, A Principal Extension for Serious Groups
We introduce gauge theories based on a class of disconnected gauge groups, called principal extensions. These groups implement in a consistent way the discrete gauging of charge conjugation, for arbitrary rank. Focusing on the principal extension of SU(N), we explain how many of the exact methods for theories with 8 supercharges can be put into practice in that context. We then explore the physical consequences of having a disconnected gauge group: we find that the Coulomb branch is generically non-freely generated, and the global symmetry of the Higgs branch is modified in a non-trivial way.
Tuesday, 5 June 2018, 15:30, Aula Wataghin