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Fracton gauge theories in curved spacetimes

Evangelos Afxonidis1,*, Alessio Caddeo2,†, Carlos Hoyos1,‡, and Daniele Musso1,§

  • *Contact author: afxonidisevangelos@uniovi.es
  • †Contact author: alessio.caddeo@uni-wuerzburg.de
  • ‡Contact author: hoyoscarlos@uniovi.es
  • §Contact author: mussodaniele@uniovi.es
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Phys. Rev. D 111, 105023 – Published 27 May, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/34bs-q3l2

Abstract

Fractonic matter with dipole symmetry can be coupled to a two-index symmetric tensor gauge field. In this work, we show that this symmetric tensor field, along with other related generalized Maxwell theories, can be consistently coupled to curved backgrounds in a covariant and gauge-invariant way by reformulating dipole symmetry using conventional vector gauge fields. We identify a family of curved geometries where global dipole symmetry is preserved and derive energy-momentum conservation laws as Ward identities associated with background diffeomorphisms. Our results pave the way for future extensions, including generalizations to higher-order multipole theories.

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Phys. Rev. D 111, 105023– Published 27 May, 2025
  • Received 28 March 2025
  • Accepted 15 May 2025
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