Temperature-Resistant Order in 2+1 DimensionsConfirmed

by Fedor Popov (Stony Brook University)

Tuesday May 13, 2025, 2:00 p.m. → 3:30 p.m. America/Toronto

PI/4-405 - Bob Room (Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics)

High temperatures are typically thought to increase disorder. Here we examine this idea in Quantum Field Theory in 2+1 dimensions. For this sake we explore a novel class of tractable models, consisting of nearly-mean-field scalars interacting with critical scalars. We identify UV-complete, local, unitary models in this class and show that symmetry breaking $\mathbb{Z}_2 \to \emptyset$ occurs at any temperature in some regions of the phase diagram. This phenomenon, previously observed in models with fractional dimensions, or in the strict planar limits, or with non-local interactions, is now exhibited in a local, unitary 2+1 dimensional model with a finite number of fields.