Bosonization with a background $U(1)$ gauge field

Abstract: Bosonization is one of the most significant frameworks to analyze fermionic systems. In this work, we propose a new bosonization of Dirac fermion coupled with $U(1)$ background gauge field consistent with gauge invariance, global chiral anomaly matching and fermion-boson operator correspondence, either of which is not satisfied by previously developed bosonizations. The bilinear Dirac-mass term condensation paradox and its generalized form are resolved by our bosonization. This new bosonization approach to interacting systems also correctly captures the conformal characters of a significant class of critical lattice models, such as conformal dimensions and conformal anomaly of XXZ spin chain with twisted boundary condition. Our work clarifies the equivalence of fermionic flux insertion and bosonic background charge insertion for two-dimensional conformal field theory.