Boundary Scattering and Non-invertible Symmetries in 1+1 Dimensions

Abstract

Recent studies by Copetti, C\'ordova and Komatsu have revealed that when non-invertible symmetries are spontaneously broken, the conventional crossing relation of the S-matrix is modified by the effects of the corresponding topological quantum field theory (TQFT). In this paper, we extend these considerations to $(1+1)$-dimensional quantum field theories (QFTs) with boundaries. In the presence of a boundary, one can define not only the bulk S-matrix but also the boundary S-matrix, which is subject to a consistency condition known as the boundary crossing relation. We show that when the boundary is weakly-symmetric under the non-invertible symmetry, the conventional boundary crossing relation also receives a modification due to the TQFT effects. As a concrete example of the boundary scattering, we analyze kink scattering in the gapped theory obtained from the $\Phi_{(1,3)}$-deformation of a minimal model. We explicitly construct the boundary S-matrix that satisfies the Ward-Takahashi identities associated with non-invertible symmetries.