Rationality in Four Dimensions

Abstract

By leveraging the physics of the Higgs branch, we argue that the conformal central charges $a$ and $c$ of an arbitrary 4d $N=2$ superconformal field theory (SCFT) are rational numbers. Our proof of the rationality of $c$ is conditioned on a well-supported conjecture about how the Higgs branch of an SCFT is encoded in its protected chiral algebra. To establish the rationality of $a$, we further rely on a widely-believed technical assumption on the high-temperature limit of the superconformal index.