On the large charge sector in the critical O(N) model at large N

We study operators in the rank-j totally symmetric representation of O(N) in the critical O(N) model in arbitrary dimension d, in the limit of large N and large charge j with j/N ≡ $$ \hat{j} $$ j ̂ fixed. The scaling dimensions of the operators in this limit may be obtained by a semiclassical saddle point calculation. Using the standard Hubbard-Stratonovich description of the critical O(N) model at large N, we solve the relevant saddle point equation and determine the scaling dimensions as a function of d and $$ \hat{j} $$ j ̂ , finding agreement with all existing results in various limits. In 4 < d < 6, we observe that the scaling dimension of the large charge operators becomes complex above a critical value of the ratio j/N, signaling an instability of the theory in that range of d. Finally, we also derive results for the correlation functions involving two “heavy” and one or two “light” operators. In particular, we determine the form of the “heavy-heavy-light” OPE coefficients as a function of the charges and d.

Large charge sector of 3d parity-violating CFTs

Certain CFTs with a global U(1) symmetry become superfluids when coupled to a chemical potential. When this happens, a Goldstone effective field theory controls the spectrum and correlators of the lightest large charge operators. We show that in 3d, this EFT contains a single parity-violating 1-derivative term with quantized coefficient. This term forces the superfluid ground state to have vortices on the sphere, leading to a spectrum of large charge operators that is remarkably richer than in parity-invariant CFTs. We test our predictions in a weakly coupled Chern-Simons matter theory.

Gapped Goldstones at the cut-off scale: a non-relativistic EFT

At finite density, the spontaneous breakdown of an internal non-Abelian symmetry dictates, along with gapless modes, modes whose gap is fixed by the algebra and proportional to the chemical potential: the gapped Goldstones. Generically the gap of these states is comparable to that of other non-universal excitations or to the energy scale where the dynamics is strongly coupled. This makes it non-straightforward to derive a universal effective field theory (EFT) description realizing all the symmetries. Focusing on the illustrative example of a fully broken SU(2) group, we demonstrate that such an EFT can be constructed by carving out around the Goldstones, gapless and gapped, at small 3-momentum. The rules governing the EFT, where the gapless Goldstones are soft while the gapped ones are slow, are those of standard nonrelativistic EFTs, like for instance nonrelativistic QED. In particular, the EFT Lagrangian formally preserves gapped Goldstone number, and processes where such number is not conserved are described inclusively by allowing for imaginary parts in the Wilson coefficients. Thus, while the symmetry is manifestly realized in the EFT, unitarity is not. We comment on the application of our construction to the study of the large charge sector of conformal field theories with non-Abelian symmetries.

Complex Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model in the double scaling limit

We solve for the exact energy spectrum, 2-point and 4-point functions of the complex SYK model, in the double scaling limit at all energy scales. This model has a U(1) global symmetry. The analysis shows how to incorporate a chemical potential in the chord diagram picture, and we present results for the various observables also at a given fixed charge sector. In addition to matching to the spectral asymmetry, we consider an analogous asymmetry measure of the 2-point function obeying a non-trivial dependence on the operator’s dimension. We also provide the chord diagram structure for an SYK-like model that has a U(M) global symmetry at any disorder realization. We then show how to exactly compute the effect of inserting very heavy operators, with formally infinite conformal dimension. The latter separate the gravitational spacetime into several parts connected by an interface, whose properties are exactly computable at all scales. In particular, light enough states can still go between the spaces. This behavior has a simple description in the chord diagram picture.

Cutoff AdS3 versus $$ T\overline{T} $$ CFT2 in the large central charge sector: correlators of energy-momentum tensor

In this article we probe the proposed holographic duality between $$ T\overline{T} $$ T T ¯ deformed two dimensional conformal field theory and the gravity theory of AdS3 with a Dirichlet cutoff by computing correlators of energy-momentum tensor. We focus on the large central charge sector of the $$ T\overline{T} $$ T T ¯ CFT in a Euclidean plane and a sphere, and compute the correlators of energy-momentum tensor using an operator identity promoted from the classical trace relation. The result agrees with a computation of classical pure gravity in Euclidean AdS3 with the corresponding cutoff surface, given a holographic dictionary which identifies gravity parameters with $$ T\overline{T} $$ T T ¯ CFT parameters.

The double scaled limit of super-symmetric SYK models

We compute the exact density of states and 2-point function of the $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 2 super-symmetric SYK model in the large N double-scaled limit, by using combinatorial tools that relate the moments of the distribution to sums over oriented chord diagrams. In particular we show how SUSY is realized on the (highly degenerate) Hilbert space of chords. We further calculate analytically the number of ground states of the model in each charge sector at finite N, and compare it to the results from the double-scaled limit. Our results reduce to the super-Schwarzian action in the low energy short interaction length limit. They imply that the conformal ansatz of the 2-point function is inconsistent due to the large number of ground states, and we show how to add this contribution. We also discuss the relation of the model to SLq(2|1). For completeness we present an overview of the $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 1 super-symmetric SYK model in the large N double-scaled limit.

On the UV completion of the O(N) model in 6 − ϵ dimensions: a stable large-charge sector

We study large charge sectors in the O(N) model in 6 − ϵ dimensions. For 4 < d < 6, in perturbation theory, the quartic O(N) theory has a UV stable fixed point at large N . It was recently argued that this fixed point can be described in terms of an IR fixed point of a cubic O(N) model. By considering a double scaling limit of large charge and weak couplings, we compute two-point and all “extremal” higher-point correlation functions for large charge operators and find a precise equivalence between both pictures. Instanton instabilities are found to be exponentially suppressed at large charge. We also consider correlation function of U(1)-invariant meson operators in the O(2N) ⊃ U(1) × SU(N) theory, as a first step towards tests of (higher spin) AdS/CFT.

Multisoliton configurations in Skyrme-like models

We explore the higher topological charge sector for generalized SU(2) Skyrme models in search of the static-field configuration with the lowest energy that would better reproduce what is expected for nuclei. Indeed the Skyrme model leads, for example, to toroidal, tetrahedral, and cubic symmetries for B = 2, 3, and 4 configurations, respectively, whereas nucleons in nuclei are presumably preserving their individuality. It turns out that the symmetries of the soliton solutions for the extended Skyrme models presented in this work are the same as for the Skyrme model at least for topological charges B < 5, which suggest that the Skyrme model has to be modified significantly to preserve the individual nature of the nucleons in nuclei. PACS Nos.: 12.39.Dc, 10.11.Lm