Abstract
Gapless fracton phases are characterized by the conservation of certain charges and their higher moments. These charges generically couple to higher rank gauge fields. In this paper we study systems conserving charge and dipole moment, and construct the corresponding gauge fields propagating in arbitrary curved backgrounds. The relation between the symmetries of these class of systems and spacetime transformations is discussed. In fact, we argue that higher rank symmetric gauge theories are closer to gravitational fields than to a standard gauge theory.
- Received 9 August 2021
- Revised 10 August 2022
- Accepted 19 January 2023
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.013101
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. Open access publication funded by the Max Planck Society.
Published by the American Physical Society
