No Arabic abstract
We consider the four-point correlator of the stress tensor multiplet in ${cal N}=4$ SYM in the limit of large central charge $c sim N^2$. For finite values of $g^2N$ single-trace intermediate operators arise at order $1/c$ and this leads to specific poles in the Mellin representation of the correlator. The sign of the residue at these poles is fixed by unitarity. We consider solutions consistent with crossing symmetry and this pole structure. We show that in a certain regime all solutions result in a negative contribution to the anomalous dimension of twist four operators. The reason behind this is a positivity property of Mack polynomials that leads to a positivity condition for the Mellin amplitude. This positivity condition can also be proven by assuming the correct Regge behaviour for the Mellin amplitude. For large $g^2N$ we recover a tower of solutions in one to one correspondence with local interactions in a effective field theory in the $AdS$ bulk, with the appropriate suppression factors, and with definite overall signs. These signs agree with the signs that would follow from causality constraints on the effective field theory. The positivity constraints arising from CFT for the Mellin amplitude take a very similar form to the causality constraint for the forward limit of the S-matrix.
In the high-energy domain, gluon transverse-momentum dependent distributions in nuclei obey constraints coming from positivity and unitarity of the colorless QCD dipole distributions through Fourier-Bessel transformations. Using mathematical properties of Fourier-positive functions, we investigate the nature of these constraints which apply to dipole model building and formulation
We consider entanglement negativity for two disjoint intervals in 1+1 dimensional CFT in the limit of large central charge. As the two intervals get close, the leading behavior of negativity is given by the logarithm of the conformal block where a set of approximately null descendants appears in the intermediate channel. We compute this quantity numerically and compare with existing analytic methods which provide perturbative expansion in powers of the cross-ratio.
We develop a systematic unitarity method for loop-level AdS scattering amplitudes, dual to non-planar CFT correlators, from both bulk and boundary perspectives. We identify cut operators acting on bulk amplitudes that put virtual lines on shell, and show how the conformal partial wave decomposition of the amplitudes may be efficiently computed by gluing lower-loop amplitudes. A central role is played by the double discontinuity of the amplitude, which has a direct relation to these cuts. We then exhibit a precise, intuitive map between the diagrammatic approach in the bulk using cutting and gluing, and the algebraic, holographic unitarity method of arXiv:1612.03891 that constructs the non-planar correlator from planar CFT data. Our analysis focuses mostly on four-point, one-loop diagrams -- we compute cuts of the scalar bubble, triangle and box, as well as some one-particle reducible diagrams -- in addition to the five-point tree and four-point double-ladder. Analogies with S-matrix unitarity methods are drawn throughout.
In this letter, we discuss certain universal predictions of the large charge expansion in conformal field theories with $U(1)$ symmetry, mainly focusing on four-dimensional theories. We show that, while in three dimensions quantum fluctuations are responsible for the existence of a theory-independent $Q^0$ term in the scaling dimension $Delta_Q$ of the lightest operator with fixed charge $Qgg 1$, in four dimensions the same mechanism provides a universal $Q^0log Q$ correction to $Delta_Q$. Previous works discussing four-dimensional theories failed in identifying this term. We also compute the first subleading correction to the OPE coefficient corresponding to the insertion of an arbitrary primary operator with small charge $qll Q$ in between the minimal energy states with charge $Q$ and $Q+q$, both in three and four dimensions. This contribution does not depend on the operator insertion and, similarly to the quantum effects in $Delta_Q$, in four dimensions it scales logarithmically with $Q$.
We study the spectrum of local operators living on a defect in a generic conformal field theory, and their coupling to the local bulk operators. We establish the existence of universal accumulation points in the spectrum at large $s$, $s$ being the charge of the operators under rotations in the space transverse to the defect. Our tools include a formula that inverts the bulk to defect OPE, analogous to the Caron-Huot formula for the four-point function. Analyticity of the formula in $s$ implies that the scaling dimensions of the defect operators are aligned in Regge trajectories $widehat{Delta}(s)$. These results require the correlator of two local operators and the defect to be bounded in a certain region, a condition that we do not prove in general. We check our conclusions against examples in perturbation theory and holography, and we make specific predictions concerning the spectrum of defect operators on Wilson lines. We also give an interpretation of the large $s$ spectrum in the spirit of the work of Alday and Maldacena.