Monodromy pinning defects in the critical O(2N) model

A bstract We investigate a novel class of defects in the critical O(2 N ) model that preserve conformal symmetry along the defect, but not the symmetry under rotations transverse to the defect. Instead, they only preserve a combination of transverse rotations and a global symmetry. These defects are constructed as IR fixed points of RG flows originating at monodromy defects, triggered by a relevant operator with non-zero transverse spin. Using large- N and 4 – ε expansions, we compute leading-order scaling dimensions of defect operators and the one-point functions of the bulk fields. In various limits this theory coincides with the monodromy defect or the pinning field defect, and we compare our results to existing results for these defects.