| Abstract: |
We study the implications of 't Hooft anomaly (i.e. obstruction to gauging) on conformal field theory, focusing on the case when the global symmetry is Z2. Using the modular bootstrap, universal bounds on (1+1)-dimensional bosonic conformal field theories with an internal Z2 global symmetry are derived. The bootstrap bounds depend dramatically on the 't Hooft anomaly. In particular, there is a universal upper bound on the lightest Z2 odd operator if the symmetry is anomalous, but there is no bound if the symmetry is non-anomalous. In the non-anomalous case, we find that the lightest Z2 odd state and the defect ground state cannot both be arbitrarily heavy. We also consider theories with a U(1) global symmetry, and comment that there is no bound on the lightest U(1) charged operator if the symmetry is non-anomalous. |
