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Abstract:We propose a shifted-symplectic formulation of a classical continuous analogue of the symmetry TFT paradigm. Let $G$ be an algebraic or Lie group acting by topological defects on an $n$-dimensional classical topological sigma model with target an $(n-1)$-shifted symplectic derived stack $(X,\omega)$ via the AKSZ construction. We argue that the corresponding $(n+1)$-dimensional bulk theory should be the AKSZ theory with target the shifted cotangent stack $T^*[n] (\mathrm B G)$, equivalently the $(n+1)$-dimensional BF theory for $G$. We characterize the Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions, and more general topological boundaries, in terms of shifted Lagrangians in $T^*[n] (\mathrm B G)$. We realize the gauging of the $G$-symmetry in the original theory as inserting a topological domain wall between the corresponding topological boundaries in the BF bulk, and introduce the notion of Hamiltonian reduction, syplectic reduction, and Lagrangian reduction in the shifted symplectic setting. We also discuss prequantum refinements of continuous SymTFTs. In this refinement, higher gerbes on $\mathrm B G$ encode classical analogues of 't Hooft anomaly data by decorating the shifted cotangent bulk and its Lagrangian boundary conditions. Finally, in dimension three we compare the infinitesimal BF model $\mathrm B(\mathfrak g\ltimes\mathfrak g^\vee)$ with the factorizable double $\mathrm B(\mathfrak g\oplus \mathfrak g)$. The resulting topological boundaries are described by Lagrangian Lie subalgebras, and the factorizable case relates the SymTFT dictionary to $r$-matrices and Belavin--Drinfeld data.

Submission history

From: Hao Xu [view email]
[v1] Tue, 2 Jun 2026 09:15:25 UTC (29 KB)