Purely transmitting defect field theories Original Research Article

We define an infinite class of integrable theories with a defect which are formulated as chiral defect perturbations of a conformal field theory. Such theories are massless in the bulk and are purely transmitting through the defect. The integrability of these theories requires the introduction of defect degrees of freedom. Such degrees of freedom lead to a novel set of Yang-Baxter equations. The defect degrees of freedom are identified through folding the chiral defect theories onto massless boundary field theories. The examples of the sine-Gordon theory and Ising model are worked out in some detail.