No Arabic abstract
We consider general fermionic quantum field theories with a global finite group symmetry $G$, focusing on the case of 2-dimensions and torus spacetime. The modular transformation properties of the family of partition functions with different backgrounds is determined by the t Hooft anomaly of $G$ and fermion parity. For a general possibly non-abelian $G$ we provide a method to determine the modular transformations directly from the bulk 3d invertible topological quantum field theory (iTQFT) corresponding to the anomaly by inflow. We also describe a method of evaluating the character map from the real representation ring of $G$ to the group which classifies anomalies. Physically the value of the map is given by the anomaly of free fermions in a given representation. We assume classification of the anomalies/iTQFTs by spin-cobordisms. As a byproduct, for all abelian symmetry groups $G$, we provide explicit combinatorial expressions for corresponding spin-bordism invariants in terms of surgery representation of arbitrary closed spin 3-manifolds. We work out the case of $G=mathbb{Z}_2$ in detail, and, as an application, we consider the constraints that t Hooft anomaly puts on the spectrum of the infrared conformal field theory.
We formulate a family of spin Topological Quantum Filed Theories (spin-TQFTs) as fermionic generalization of bosonic Dijkgraaf-Witten TQFTs. They are obtained by gauging $G$-equivariant invertible spin-TQFTs, or, in physics language, gauging the interacting fermionic Symmetry Protected Topological states (SPTs) with a finite group $G$ symmetry. We use the fact that the latter are classified by Pontryagin duals to spin-bordism groups of the classifying space $BG$. We also consider unoriented analogues, that is $G$-equivariant invertible pin$^pm$-TQFTs (fermionic time-reversal-SPTs) and their gauging. We compute these groups for various examples of abelian $G$ using Adams spectral sequence and describe all corresponding TQFTs via certain bordism invariants in dimensions 3, 4, and other. This gives explicit formulas for the partition functions of spin-TQFTs on closed manifolds with possible extended operators inserted. The results also provide explicit classification of t Hooft anomalies of fermionic QFTs with finite abelian group symmetries in one dimension lower. We construct new anomalous boundary deconfined spin-TQFTs (surface fermionic topological orders). We explore SPT and SET (symmetry enriched topologically ordered) states, and crystalline SPTs protected by space-group (e.g. translation $mathbb{Z}$) or point-group (e.g. reflection, inversion or rotation $C_m$) symmetries, via the layer-stacking construction.
We constrain the spectrum of two-dimensional unitary, compact conformal field theories with central charge c > 1 using modular bootstrap. Upper bounds on the gap in the dimension of primary operators of any spin, as well as in the dimension of scalar primaries, are computed numerically as functions of the central charge using semi-definite programming. Our bounds refine those of Hellerman and Friedan-Keller, and are in some cases saturated by known CFTs. In particular, we show that unitary CFTs with c < 8 must admit relevant deformations, and that a nontrivial bound on the gap of scalar primaries exists for c < 25. We also study bounds on the dimension gap in the presence of twist gaps, bounds on the degeneracy of operators, and demonstrate how extremal spectra which maximize the degeneracy at the gap can be determined numerically.
We set up the conventional conformal bootstrap equations in Mellin space and analyse the anomalous dimensions and OPE coefficients of large spin double trace operators. By decomposing the equations in terms of continuous Hahn polynomials, we derive explicit expressions as an asymptotic expansion in inverse conformal spin to any order, reproducing the contribution of any primary operator and its descendants in the crossed channel. The expressions are in terms of known mathematical functions and involve generalized Bernoulli (Norlund) polynomials and the Mack polynomials and enable us to derive certain universal properties. Comparing with the recently introduced reformulated equations in terms of crossing symmetric tree level exchange Witten diagrams, we show that to leading order in anomalous dimension but to all orders in inverse conformal spin, the equations are the same as in the conventional formulation. At the next order, the polynomial ambiguity in the Witten diagram basis is needed for the equivalence and we derive the necessary constraints for the same.
We study the Virasoro conformal block decomposition of the genus two partition function of a two-dimensional CFT by expanding around a Z3-invariant Riemann surface that is a three-fold cover of the Riemann sphere branched at four points, and explore constraints from genus two modular invariance and unitarity. In particular, we find critical surfaces that constrain the structure constants of a CFT beyond what is accessible via the crossing equation on the sphere.
We explore the large spin spectrum in two-dimensional conformal field theories with a finite twist gap, using the modular bootstrap in the lightcone limit. By recursively solving the modular crossing equations associated to different $PSL(2,mathbb{Z})$ elements, we identify the universal contribution to the density of large spin states from the vacuum in the dual channel. Our result takes the form of a sum over $PSL(2,mathbb{Z})$ elements, whose leading term generalizes the usual Cardy formula to a wider regime. Rather curiously, the contribution to the density of states from the vacuum becomes negative in a specific limit, which can be canceled by that from a non-vacuum Virasoro primary whose twist is no bigger than $c-1over16$. This suggests a new upper bound of $c-1over 16$ on the twist gap in any $c>1$ compact, unitary conformal field theory with a vacuum, which would in particular imply that pure AdS$_3$ gravity does not exist. We confirm this negative density of states in the pure gravity partition function by Maloney, Witten, and Keller. We generalize our discussion to theories with $mathcal{N}=(1,1)$ supersymmetry, and find similar results.