Non-Lagrangian phases of matter from Wilsonian renormalization of 3D Wess-Zumino-Witten theory on Stiefel manifolds

Abstract

I study the renormalization of D-dimensional level-k Wess-Zumino-Witten theory with Stiefel-manifold target space $\mathrm{St}_{N,N-D-1} \cong \mathrm{SO}(N)/\mathrm{SO}(D+1)$, with a particular focus on $D = 3$. I investigate in particular whether such a theory admits IR-stable fixed points of the renormalization group flow. Such fixed points have been suggested to describe conformal phases of matter that do not have a known dual (super-)renormalizable Lagrangian for $N \geq 7$ in $D = 3$. They are hence of interest both from the point of view of quantum phases of matter as well as pure field theory. The $D$-dimensional expressions enable the computation, by analytic computation, of beta functions in $D = 2 + \epsilon$, at least to first non-trivial order. In $D = 2$, a stable fixed point is found, serving a generalization of the famed $\mathrm{SU}(2)_k$ Wess-Zumino-Witten conformal field theory; it annihilates in $D = 2 + \epsilon$ with an unstable fixed point which splits off from the Gaussian one for $\epsilon > 0$. Although the story is thus qualitatively similar to that of SO(5) deconfined (pseudo-)criticality, for $N \geqslant 6$, the annihilation appears to occur only for $\epsilon > 1$, suggesting the existence of a stable phase in $D = 3$. Comparisons of the scaling dimension of the lowest singlet operator are made with known results for $N = 6$, which is dual to QED$_3$ with $N_\mathrm{f} = 4$ fermion flavors. The predictions for the $N = 7$ Stiefel liquid represent to my knowledge the first computation of this kind for a Wess-Zumino-Witten theory without a known gauge theory dual.