PIRSA:26010089 Scientific Series Quantum Fields and Strings

DOI10.48660/26010089

Series: Quantum Fields and Strings

Antunes, A. (2026). Irrational CFTs from coupled anyon chains?. Perimeter Institute. https://pirsa.org/26010089

Antunes, Antonio. Irrational CFTs from coupled anyon chains?. Perimeter Institute, Jan. 27, 2026, https://pirsa.org/26010089 

@misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:26010089,
  doi = {10.48660/26010089},
  url = {https://pirsa.org/26010089},
  author = {Antunes, Antonio},
  keywords = {Quantum Fields and Strings},
  language = {en},
  title = {Irrational CFTs from coupled anyon chains?},
  publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
  year = {2026},
  month = {jan},
  note = {PIRSA:26010089 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
}

Abstract

Irrational CFTs in 1+1d with a discrete spectrum and no conserved currents other than the stress-tensor are expected to be generic, unsolvable by standard methods, and hard to construct explicitly. In this talk, I will discuss a lattice model that realizes a candidate for such a CFT as a conformal phase of matter without fine-tuning. The model is constructed by coupling N ≥ 3 golden anyon chains together, preserving N copies of the Fibonacci non-invertible symmetry. I will briefly describe the N=2 case, where a weakly first-order phase transition (previously misidentified as an irrational CFT) occurs and some non-trivial (but rational) CFTs appear as unstable fixed points. For N = 3 we will show that a short RG flow occurs towards a stable CFT in the infrared with c~2.09. We indirectly argue that the CFT is irrational by comparing with a list of known rational CFTs with similar central charge. We will end with a discussion of other approaches that could be used to confirm/disprove our claim.

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