The classical Minkowski formula is extended to spacelike codimension-two submanifolds in spacetimes which admit "hidden symmetry" from conformal Killing-Yano two-forms. As an application, we obtain an Alexandrov type theorem for spacelike codimension-two submanifolds in a static spherically symmetric spacetime: a codimension-two submanifold with constant normalized null expansion (null mean curvature) must lie in a shear-free (umbilical) null hypersurface. These results are generalized for higher order curvature invariants. In particular, the notion of mixed higher order mean curvature is introduced to highlight the special null geometry of the submanifold. Finally, Alexandrov type theorems are established for spacelike submanifolds with constant mixed higher order mean curvature, which are generalizations of hypersurfaces of constant Weingarten curvature in the Euclidean space.

Graph theory is important in information theory. We introduce a quantization process on graphs and apply the quantized graphs in quantum information. The quon language provides a mathematical theory to study such quantized graphs in a general framework. We give a new method to construct graphical quantum error correcting codes on quantized graphs and characterize all optimal ones. We establish a further connection to geometric group theory and construct quantum low-density parity-check stabilizer codes on the Cayley graphs of groups. Their logical qubits can be encoded by the ground states of newly constructed exactly solvable models with translation-invariant local Hamiltonians. Moreover, the Hamiltonian is gapped in the large limit when the underlying group is infinite.

The classical de Finetti theorem in probability theory relates symmetry under the permutation group with the independence of random variables. This result has application in quantum information. Here we study states that are invariant with respect to a natural action of the braid group, and we emphasize the pictorial formulation and interpretation of our results. We prove a new type of de Finetti theorem for the four-string, double-braid group acting on the parafermion algebra to braid qudits, a natural symmetry in the quon language for quantum information. We prove that a braid-invariant state is extremal if and only if it is a product state. Furthermore, we provide an explicit characterization of braid-invariant states on the parafermion algebra, including finding a distinction that depends on whether the order of the parafermion algebra is square free. We characterize the extremal nature of product states (an inverse de Finetti theorem).

A familiar anomaly affects SU(2) gauge theory in four dimensions: a theory with an odd number of fermion multiplets in the spin 1/2 representation of the gauge group, and more generally in representations of spin 2r+1/2, is inconsistent. We describe here a more subtle anomaly that can affect SU(2) gauge theory in four dimensions under the condition that fermions transform with half-integer spin under SU(2) and bosons with integer spin. Such a theory, formulated in a way that requires no choice of spin structure, and with an odd number of fermion multiplets in representations of spin 4r+3/2, is inconsistent. The theory is consistent if one picks a spin or spin_c structure. Under Higgsing to U(1), the new SU(2) anomaly reduces to a known anomaly of "all-fermion electrodynamics." Like that theory, an SU(2) theory with an odd number of fermion multiplets in representations of spin 4r+3/2 can provide a boundary state for a five-dimensional gapped theory whose partition function on a closed five-manifold Y is (−1)^{∫_Y w2w3}. All statements have analogs with SU(2) replaced by Sp(2N). There is also an analog in five dimensions.

Recent work explores the candidate phases of the 4d adjoint quantum chromodynamics (QCD$_4$) with an SU(2) gauge group and two massless adjoint Weyl fermions. Both Cordova-Dumitrescu and Bi-Senthil propose possible low energy 4d topological quantum field theories (TQFTs) to saturate the higher 't Hooft anomalies of adjoint QCD$_4$ under a renormalization-group (RG) flow from high energy. In this work, we generalize the symmetry-extension method [arXiv:1705.06728] to higher symmetries, and formulate higher group cohomology and cobordism theory approach to construct higher-symmetric TQFTs. We prove that the symmetry-extension method saturates certain anomalies, but also prove that neither $A \mathcal{P}_2(B_2)$ nor $\mathcal{P}_2(B_2)$ can be fully trivialized, with the background 1-form field $A$, Pontryagin square $\mathcal{P}_2$ and 2-form field $B_2$. Surprisingly, this indicates an obstruction to constructing a fully 1-form center and 0-form chiral symmetry (full discrete axial symmetry) preserving 4d TQFT with confinement, a no-go scenario via symmetry-extension for specific higher anomalies. We comment on the implications and constraints on deconfined quantum critical points (dQCP), quantum spin liquids (QSL) or quantum fermionic liquids in condensed matter, and ultraviolet-infrared (UV-IR) duality in 3+1 spacetime dimensions.