1:30 pm MCP 201
From QED3 to the Fradkin-Shenker Multicritical Point.
A long time ago, Fradkin and Shenker used lattice gauge to demonstrate the equivalence of the Higgs and confining phases of gauge theories. On the other hand, modern numerical study has revealed that the phase transitions from the Coulomb phase into the Higgs or confining phases in related models are distinct: they are separated by a multicritical point which has no explanation from the usual Landau theory of phase transitions. In this talk I will describe an approach to studying this multicritical point, which displays simultaneously massless charges, fluxes, and dyons, and also displays an emergent continuous gauge symmetry. Doing so, we will uncover some new features of deconfined quantum criticality in Neel-VBS type systems and the 2+1d duality web.
This is based on upcoming work with Thomas Dumitrescu (UCLA) and Pierluigi Niro (UCLA -> SISSA).