Regge trajectories for the (2, 0) theories

We investigate the structure of conformal Regge trajectories for the maximally supersymmetric (2, 0) theories in six dimensions. The different conformal multiplets in a single superconformal multiplet must all have similarly-shaped Regge trajectories. We show that these super-descendant trajectories interact in interesting ways, leading to new constraints on their shape. For the four-point function of the stress tensor multiplet supersymmetry also softens the Regge behavior in some channels, and consequently we observe that ‘analyticity in spin’ holds for all spins greater than −3. All the physical operators in this correlator therefore lie on Regge trajectories and we describe an iterative scheme where the Lorentzian inversion formula can be used to bootstrap the four-point function. Some numerical experiments yield promising results, with OPE data approaching the numerical bootstrap results for all theories with rank greater than one.

Dispersive CFT sum rules

We give a unified treatment of dispersive sum rules for four-point correlators in conformal field theory. We call a sum rule “dispersive” if it has double zeros at all double-twist operators above a fixed twist gap. Dispersive sum rules have their conceptual origin in Lorentzian kinematics and absorptive physics (the notion of double discontinuity). They have been discussed using three seemingly different methods: analytic functionals dual to double-twist operators, dispersion relations in position space, and dispersion relations in Mellin space. We show that these three approaches can be mapped into one another and lead to completely equivalent sum rules. A central idea of our discussion is a fully nonperturbative expansion of the correlator as a sum over Polyakov-Regge blocks. Unlike the usual OPE sum, the Polyakov-Regge expansion utilizes the data of two separate channels, while having (term by term) good Regge behavior in the third channel. We construct sum rules which are non-negative above the double-twist gap; they have the physical interpretation of a subtracted version of “superconvergence” sum rules. We expect dispersive sum rules to be a very useful tool to study expansions around mean-field theory, and to constrain the low-energy description of holographic CFTs with a large gap. We give examples of the first kind of applications, notably we exhibit a candidate extremal functional for the spin-two gap problem.

A generalized Nachtmann theorem in CFT

Correlators of unitary quantum field theories in Lorentzian signature obey certain analyticity and positivity properties. For interacting unitary CFTs in more than two dimensions, we show that these properties impose general constraints on families of minimal twist operators that appear in the OPEs of primary operators. In particular, we rederive and extend the convexity theorem which states that for the family of minimal twist operators with even spins appearing in the reflection-symmetric OPE of any scalar primary, twist must be a monotonically increasing convex function of the spin. Our argument is completely non-perturbative and it also applies to the OPE of nonidentical scalar primaries in unitary CFTs, constraining the twist of spinning operators appearing in the OPE. Finally, we argue that the same methods also impose constraints on the Regge behavior of certain CFT correlators.

Gravitational positivity bounds

We study the validity of positivity bounds in the presence of a massless graviton, assuming the Regge behavior of the amplitude. Under this assumption, the problematic t-channel pole is canceled with the UV integral of the imaginary part of the amplitude in the dispersion relation, which gives rise to finite corrections to the positivity bounds. We find that low-energy effective field theories (EFT) with “wrong” sign are generically allowed. The allowed amount of the positivity violation is determined by the Regge behavior. This violation is suppressed by $$ {M}_{\mathrm{pl}}^{-2}\alpha^{\prime } $$ M pl − 2 α ′ where α′ is the scale of Reggeization. This implies that the positivity bounds can be applied only when the cutoff scale of EFT is much lower than the scale of Reggeization. We then obtain the positivity bounds on scalar-tensor EFT at one-loop level. Implications of our results on the degenerate higher-order scalar-tensor (DHOST) theory are also discussed.

Regge OPE blocks and light-ray operators

We consider the structure of the operator product expansion (OPE) in conformal field theory by employing the OPE block formalism. The OPE block acted on the vacuum is promoted to an operator and its implications are examined on a non-vacuum state. We demonstrate that the OPE block is dominated by a light-ray operator in the Regge limit, which reproduces precisely the Regge behavior of conformal blocks when used inside scalar four-point functions. Motivated by this observation, we propose a new form of the OPE block, called the light-ray channel OPE block that has a well-behaved expansion dominated by a light-ray operator in the Regge limit. We also show that the two OPE blocks have the same asymptotic form in the Regge limit and confirm the assertion that the Regge limit of a pair of spacelike-separated operators in a Minkowski patch is equivalent to the OPE limit of a pair of timelike-separated operators associated with the original pair in a different Minkowski patch.

More on heavy-light bootstrap up to double-stress-tensor

We investigate the heavy-light four-point function up to double-stress-tensor, supplementing 1910.06357. By using the OPE coefficients of lowest-twist double-stress- tensor in the literature, we find the Regge behavior for lowest-twist double-stress-tensor in general even dimension within the large impact parameter regime. In the next, we perform the Lorentzian inversion formula to obtain both the OPE coefficients and anomalous dimensions of double-twist operators [$$ \mathcal{O} $$ O H$$ \mathcal{O} $$ O L]n,J with finite spin J in d = 4. We also extract the anomalous dimensions of double-twist operators with finite spin in general dimension, which allows us to address the cases that ∆L is specified to the poles in lowest-twist double-stress-tensors where certain double-trace operators [$$ \mathcal{O} $$ O L$$ \mathcal{O} $$ O L]n,J mix with lowest-twist double-stress-tensors. In particular, we verify and discuss the Residue relation that deter- mines the product of the mixed anomalous dimension and the mixed OPE. We also present the double-trace and mixed OPE coefficients associated with ∆L poles in d = 6, 8. In the end, we turn to discuss CFT2, we verify the uniqueness of double-stress-tensor that is consistent with Virasoso symmetry.