No Arabic abstract
We introduce a new numerical algorithm based on semidefinite programming to efficiently compute bounds on operator dimensions, central charges, and OPE coefficients in 4D conformal and N=1 superconformal field theories. Using our algorithm, we dramatically improve previous bounds on a number of CFT quantities, particularly for theories with global symmetries. In the case of SO(4) or SU(2) symmetry, our bounds severely constrain models of conformal technicolor. In N=1 superconformal theories, we place strong bounds on dim(Phi*Phi), where Phi is a chiral operator. These bounds asymptote to the line dim(Phi*Phi) <= 2 dim(Phi) near dim(Phi) ~ 1, forbidding positive anomalous dimensions in this region. We also place novel upper and lower bounds on OPE coefficients of protected operators in the Phi x Phi OPE. Finally, we find examples of lower bounds on central charges and flavor current two-point functions that scale with the size of global symmetry representations. In the case of N=1 theories with an SU(N) flavor symmetry, our bounds on current two-point functions lie within an O(1) factor of the values realized in supersymmetric QCD in the conformal window.
We develop new tools for isolating CFTs using the numerical bootstrap. A cutting surface algorithm for scanning OPE coefficients makes it possible to find islands in high-dimensional spaces. Together with recent progress in large-scale semidefinite programming, this enables bootstrap studies of much larger systems of correlation functions than was previously practical. We apply these methods to correlation functions of charge-0, 1, and 2 scalars in the 3d $O(2)$ model, computing new precise values for scaling dimensions and OPE coefficients in this theory. Our new determinations of scaling dimensions are consistent with and improve upon existing Monte Carlo simulations, sharpening the existing decades-old $8sigma$ discrepancy between theory and experiment.
We study some aspects of conformal field theories at finite temperature in momentum space. We provide a formula for the Fourier transform of a thermal conformal block and study its analytic properties. In particular we show that the Fourier transform vanishes when the conformal dimension and spin are those of a double twist operator $Delta = 2Delta_phi + ell + 2n$. By analytically continuing to Lorentzian signature we show that the spectral density at high spatial momenta has support on the spectrum condition $|omega| > |k|$. This leads to a series of sum rules. Finally, we explicitly match the thermal block expansion with the momentum space Greens function at finite temperature in several examples.
We present an analytic study of conformal field theories on the real projective space $mathbb{RP}^d$, focusing on the two-point functions of scalar operators. Due to the partially broken conformal symmetry, these are non-trivial functions of a conformal cross ratio and are constrained to obey a crossing equation. After reviewing basic facts about the structure of correlators on $mathbb{RP}^d$, we study a simple holographic setup which captures the essential features of boundary correlators on $mathbb{RP}^d$. The analysis is based on calculations of Witten diagrams on the quotient space $AdS_{d+1}/mathbb{Z}_2$, and leads to an analytic approach to two-point functions. In particular, we argue that the structure of the conformal block decomposition of the exchange Witten diagrams suggests a natural basis of analytic functionals, whose action on the conformal blocks turns the crossing equation into certain sum rules. We test this approach in the canonical example of $phi^4$ theory in dimension $d=4-epsilon$, extracting the CFT data to order $epsilon^2$. We also check our results by standard field theory methods, both in the large $N$ and $epsilon$ expansions. Finally, we briefly discuss the relation of our analysis to the problem of construction of local bulk operators in AdS/CFT.
We construct classical theories for scalar fields in arbitrary Carroll spacetimes that are invariant under Carrollian diffeomorphisms and Weyl transformations. When the local symmetries are gauge fixed these theories become Carrollian conformal field theories. We show that generically there are at least two types of such theories: one in which only time derivatives of the fields appear and the other in which both space and time derivatives appear. A classification of such scalar field theories in three (and higher) dimensions up to two derivative order is provided. We show that only a special case of our theories arises in the ultra-relativistic limit of a covariant parent theory.
An S-fold has played an important role in constructing supersymmetric field theories with interesting features. It can be viewed as a type of AdS_4 solutions of Type IIB string theory where the fields in overlapping patches are glued by elements of SL(2,Z). This paper examines three dimensional quiver theories that arise from brane configurations with an inclusion of the S-fold. An important feature of such a quiver is that it contains a link, which is the T(U(N)) theory, between two U(N) groups, along with bifundamental and fundamental hypermultiplets. We systematically study the moduli spaces of those quiver theories, including the cases in which the non-zero Chern-Simons levels are turned on. A number of such moduli spaces turns out to have a very rich structure and tells us about the brane dynamics in the presence of an S-fold.