Philippe Lecheminant, Yuya Tanizaki, Keisuke Totsuka
SciPost Phys. 18, 183 (2025) ·
published 10 June 2025
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A general strategy is proposed to explore the low-energy properties of two-dimensional nonlinear $\sigma$ models with $\theta$ terms. We demonstrate its application to nonlinear $\sigma$ models with the target space $SU(N)/H$, which include $\mathbb{C}P^{N-1}$, complex Grassmannian manifolds as well as the flag $SU(N)/U(1)^{N-1}$ and $SU(N)/SO(N)$ manifolds. By analyzing the symmetry and its anomaly content, we realize these nonlinear $\sigma$ models by considering specific deformations of the $SU(N)_1$ conformal field theory. For the flag-manifold $SU(N)/U(1)^{N-1}$ and $SU(N)/SO(N)$ models, those deformations are shown to correspond to the marginal current-current operator with the specific sign which leads to a massless renormalization group flow to the $SU(N)_1$ fixed point. In contrast, a massive regime with a two-fold ground-state degeneracy is found for the $\mathbb{C}P^{N-1}$ ($N >2$) and the Grassmannian nonlinear $\sigma$ models at $\theta=\pi$.
