Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2025/iii/paper-342/1/a/solution

At a boundary parallel to lattice links, define each star as the product over links of the retained lattice incident on the vertex,
A boundary vertex has three rather than four retained incident links. For a plaquette adjacent to the boundary, retain
including its boundary link. A boundary link belongs to only one bulk plaquette, so applying on that link flips one rather than two. A magnetic string made from operators can therefore terminate at the boundary and its endpoint can be created or removed by a local boundary operator. This is precisely an -condensing, or magnetic, boundary. By contrast, the same local operation does not permit an isolated electric endpoint.

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