Mixed anomalies, two-groups, non-invertible symmetries, and 3d superconformal indices

Abstract

Abstract Mixed anomalies, higher form symmetries, two-group symmetries and non-invertible symmetries have proved to be useful in providing non-trivial constraints on the dynamics of quantum field theories. We study mixed anomalies involving discrete zero-form global symmetries, and possibly a one-form symmetry, in 3d $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N ≥ 3 gauge theories using the superconformal index. The effectiveness of this method is demonstrated via several classes of theories, including Chern-Simons-matter theories, such as the U(1)k gauge theory with hypermultiplets of diverse charges, the T (SU(N)) theory of Gaiotto-Witten, the theories with 𝔰𝔬(2N)2k gauge algebra and hypermultiplets in the vector representation, and variants of the Aharony-Bergman-Jafferis (ABJ) theory with the orthosymplectic gauge algebra. Gauging appropriate global symmetries of some of these models, we obtain various interesting theories with non-invertible symmetries or two-group structures.