Abstract: |
I will discuss various aspects of non-relativistic field theories on a curved, background spacetime. First things first, we need to know what sort of geometry these theories couple to, as well as the symmetries we ought to impose. I will argue that Galilean-invariant theories should be coupled to a form of Newton-Cartan geometry in which one enforces a one-form shift symmetry, which amounts to a covariant version of invariance under Galilean boosts. I will focus on two main applications of this result, namely consequences of these symmetries at nonzero temperature and an introductory analysis of 't Hooft anomalies. |