Misleading Anomaly Matchings?

Abstract

We investigate the low energy dynamics of N=1 supersymmetric SO(N) gauge theories with a single symmetric tensor matter field. These theories exhibit non-trivial matching of global 't Hooft anomalies at the origin of moduli space. We argue that their quantum moduli spaces possess distinct Higgs and confining branches which touch at the origin in an interacting non-Abelian Coulomb phase. The matching of anomalies between microscopic degrees of freedom and colorless moduli therefore appears to be coincidental. We discuss a formal mathematical relation between the SO(N) model and an analogous Sp(2N) theory with a single antisymmetric matter field which provides an explanation for the anomaly matching coincidence.