scholarly journals BMS field theories and Weyl anomaly

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arjun Bagchi ◽  
Sudipta Dutta ◽  
Kedar S. Kolekar ◽  
Punit Sharma

Abstract Two dimensional field theories with Bondi-Metzner-Sachs symmetry have been proposed as duals to asymptotically flat spacetimes in three dimensions. These field theories are naturally defined on null surfaces and hence are conformal cousins of Carrollian theories, where the speed of light goes to zero. In this paper, we initiate an investigation of anomalies in these field theories. Specifically, we focus on the BMS equivalent of Weyl invariance and its breakdown in these field theories and derive an expression for Weyl anomaly. Considering the transformation of partition functions under this symmetry, we derive a Carrollian Liouville action different from ones obtained in the literature earlier.

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arjun Bagchi ◽  
Poulami Nandi ◽  
Amartya Saha ◽  
Zodinmawia

Abstract Two dimensional field theories invariant under the Bondi-Metzner-Sachs (BMS) group are conjectured to be dual to asymptotically flat spacetimes in three dimensions. In this paper, we continue our investigations of the modular properties of these field theories. In particular, we focus on the BMS torus one-point function. We use two different methods to arrive at expressions for asymptotic structure constants for general states in the theory utilising modular properties of the torus one-point function. We then concentrate on the BMS highest weight representation, and derive a host of new results, the most important of which is the BMS torus block. In a particular limit of large weights, we derive the leading and sub-leading pieces of the BMS torus block, which we then use to rederive an expression for the asymptotic structure constants for BMS primaries. Finally, we perform a bulk computation of a probe scalar in the background of a flatspace cosmological solution based on the geodesic approximation to reproduce our field theoretic results.


2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (32) ◽  
pp. 6105-6121 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. TEOTONIO-SOBRINHO ◽  
C. MOLINA ◽  
N. YOKOMIZO

We study a class of lattice field theories in two dimensions that includes gauge theories. We show that in these theories it is possible to implement a broader notion of local symmetry, based on semisimple Hopf algebras. A character expansion is developed for the quasitopological field theories, and partition functions are calculated with this tool. Expected values of generalized Wilson loops are defined and studied with the character expansion.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Benjamin ◽  
Scott Collier ◽  
A. Liam Fitzpatrick ◽  
Alexander Maloney ◽  
Eric Perlmutter

Abstract We apply the theory of harmonic analysis on the fundamental domain of SL(2, ℤ) to partition functions of two-dimensional conformal field theories. We decompose the partition function of c free bosons on a Narain lattice into eigenfunctions of the Laplacian of worldsheet moduli space ℍ/SL(2, ℤ), and of target space moduli space O(c, c; ℤ)\O(c, c; ℝ)/O(c)×O(c). This decomposition manifests certain properties of Narain theories and ensemble averages thereof. We extend the application of spectral theory to partition functions of general two-dimensional conformal field theories, and explore its meaning in connection to AdS3 gravity. An implication of harmonic analysis is that the local operator spectrum is fully determined by a certain subset of degeneracies.


1998 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 3667-3689 ◽  
Author(s):  
BRUNO G. CARNEIRO DA CUNHA ◽  
PAULO TEOTONIO-SOBRINHO

We study a class of lattice field theories in two dimensions that includes Yang–Mills and generalized Yang–Mills theories as particular examples. Given a two-dimensional orientable surface of genus g, the partition function Z is defined for a triangulation consisting of n triangles of size ∊. The reason these models are called quasitopological is that Z depends on g, n and ∊ but not on the details of the triangulation. They are also soluble in the sense that the computation of their partition functions for a two-dimensional lattice can be reduced to a soluble one-dimensional problem. We show that the continuum limit is well defined if the model approaches a topological field theory in the zero area limit, i.e. ∊→0 with finite n. We also show that the universality classes of such quasitopological lattice field theories can be easily classified.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrico M. Brehm

Abstract We investigate perturbatively tractable deformations of topological defects in two-dimensional conformal field theories. We perturbatively compute the change in the g-factor, the reflectivity, and the entanglement entropy of the conformal defect at the end of these short RG flows. We also give instances of such flows in the diagonal Virasoro and Super-Virasoro Minimal Models.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nima Afkhami-Jeddi ◽  
Henry Cohn ◽  
Thomas Hartman ◽  
Amirhossein Tajdini

Abstract We study the torus partition functions of free bosonic CFTs in two dimensions. Integrating over Narain moduli defines an ensemble-averaged free CFT. We calculate the averaged partition function and show that it can be reinterpreted as a sum over topologies in three dimensions. This result leads us to conjecture that an averaged free CFT in two dimensions is holographically dual to an exotic theory of three-dimensional gravity with U(1)c×U(1)c symmetry and a composite boundary graviton. Additionally, for small central charge c, we obtain general constraints on the spectral gap of free CFTs using the spinning modular bootstrap, construct examples of Narain compactifications with a large gap, and find an analytic bootstrap functional corresponding to a single self-dual boson.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nabamita Banerjee ◽  
Karan Fernandes ◽  
Arpita Mitra

Abstract We study the effect of electromagnetic interactions on the classical soft theorems on an asymptotically AdS background in 4 spacetime dimensions, in the limit of a small cosmological constant or equivalently a large AdS radius l. This identifies 1/l2 perturbative corrections to the known asymptotically flat spacetime leading and subleading soft factors. Our analysis is only valid to leading order in 1/l2. The leading soft factor can be expected to be universal and holds beyond tree level. This allows us to derive a 1/l2 corrected Ward identity, following the known equivalence between large gauge Ward identities and soft theorems in asymptotically flat spacetimes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald Marolf ◽  
Henry Maxfield

AbstractWe reformulate recent insights into black hole information in a manner emphasizing operationally-defined notions of entropy, Lorentz-signature descriptions, and asymptotically flat spacetimes. With the help of replica wormholes, we find that experiments of asymptotic observers are consistent with black holes as unitary quantum systems, with density of states given by the Bekenstein-Hawking formula. However, this comes at the cost of superselection sectors associated with the state of baby universes. Spacetimes studied by Polchinski and Strominger in 1994 provide a simple illustration of the associated concepts and techniques, and we argue them to be a natural late-time extrapolation of replica wormholes. The work aims to be self-contained and, in particular, to be accessible to readers who have not yet mastered earlier formulations of the ideas above.


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