Paper detail

Discrete torsion defects

Orbifolding two-dimensional quantum field theories by a symmetry group can involve a choice of discrete torsion. We apply the general formalism of `orbifolding defects' to study and elucidate discrete torsion for topological field theories. In the case of Landau-Ginzburg models only the bulk sector had been studied previously, and we re-derive all known results. We also introduce the notion of `projective matrix factorisations', show how they naturally describe boundary and defect sectors, and we further illustrate the efficiency of the defect-based approach by explicitly computing RR charges. Roughly half of our results are not restricted to Landau-Ginzburg models but hold more generally, for any topological field theory. In particular we prove that for a pivotal bicategory, any two objects of its orbifold completion that have the same base are orbifold equivalent. Equivalently, from any orbifold theory (including those based on nonabelian groups) the original unorbifolded theory can be obtained by orbifolding via the `quantum symmetry defect'.