Provable properties of asymptotic safety in f(R) approximation

We study an f(R) approximation to asymptotic safety, using a family of non-adaptive cutoffs, kept general to test for universality. Matching solutions on the four-dimensional sphere and hyperboloid, we prove properties of any such global fixed point solution and its eigenoperators. For this family of cutoffs, the scaling dimension at large n of the nth eigenoperator, is λn ∝ b n ln n. The coefficient b is non-universal, a consequence of the single-metric approximation. The large R limit is universal on the hyperboloid, but not on the sphere where cutoff dependence results from certain zero modes. For right-sign conformal mode cutoff, the fixed points form at most a discrete set. The eigenoperator spectrum is quantised. They are square integrable under the Sturm-Liouville weight. For wrong sign cutoff, the fixed points form a continuum, and so do the eigenoperators unless we impose square-integrability. If we do this, we get a discrete tower of operators, infinitely many of which are relevant. These are f(R) analogues of novel operators in the conformal sector which were used recently to furnish an alternative quantisation of gravity.

1-form symmetry, isolated $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 SCFTs, and Calabi-Yau threefolds

We systematically study 4D $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 2 superconformal field theories (SCFTs) that can be constructed via type IIB string theory on isolated hypersurface singularities (IHSs) embedded in ℂ4. We show that if a theory in this class has no $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 2-preserving exactly marginal deformation (i.e., the theory is isolated as an $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 2 SCFT), then it has no 1-form symmetry. This situation is somewhat reminiscent of 1-form symmetry and decomposition in 2D quantum field theory. Moreover, our result suggests that, for theories arising from IHSs, 1-form symmetries originate from gauge groups (with vanishing beta functions). One corollary of our discussion is that there is no 1-form symmetry in IHS theories that have all Coulomb branch chiral ring generators of scaling dimension less than two. In terms of the a and c central charges, this condition implies that IHS theories satisfying $$ a<\frac{1}{24}\left(15r+2f\right) $$ a < 1 24 15 r + 2 f and $$ c<\frac{1}{6}\left(3r+f\right) $$ c < 1 6 3 r + f (where r is the complex dimension of the Coulomb branch, and f is the rank of the continuous 0-form flavor symmetry) have no 1-form symmetry. After reviewing the 1-form symmetries of other classes of theories, we are motivated to conjecture that general interacting 4D $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 2 SCFTs with all Coulomb branch chiral ring generators of dimension less than two have no 1-form symmetry.

Hexagonalization of Fishnet integrals. Part I. Mirror excitations

In this paper we consider a conformal invariant chain of L sites in the unitary irreducible representations of the group SO(1, 5). The k-th site of the chain is defined by a scaling dimension ∆k and spin numbers $$ \frac{\ell_k}{2},\frac{\ell_k}{2} $$ ℓ k 2 , ℓ k 2 The model with open and fixed boundaries is shown to be integrable at the quantum level and its spectrum and eigenfunctions are obtained by separation of variables. The transfer matrices of the chain are graph-builder operators for the spinning and inhomogeneous generalization of squared-lattice “fishnet” integrals on the disk. As such, their eigenfunctions are used to diagonalize the mirror channel of the Feynman diagrams of Fishnet conformal field theories. The separated variables are interpreted as momentum and bound-state index of the mirror excitations of the lattice: particles with SO(4) internal symmetry that scatter according to an integrable factorized $$ \mathcal{S} $$ S -matrix in (1 + 1) dimensions

Mellin amplitudes for 1d CFT

We define a Mellin amplitude for CFT1 four-point functions. Its analytical properties are inferred from physical requirements on the correlator. We discuss the analytic continuation that is necessary for a fully nonperturbative definition of the Mellin transform. The resulting bounded, meromorphic function of a single complex variable is used to derive an infinite set of nonperturbative sum rules for CFT data of exchanged operators, which we test on known examples. We then consider the perturbative setup produced by quartic interactions with an arbitrary number of derivatives in a bulk AdS2 field theory. With our formalism, we obtain a closed-form expression for the Mellin transform of tree-level contact interactions and for the first correction to the scaling dimension of “two-particle” operators exchanged in the generalized free field theory correlator.

Spontaneously broken boosts in CFTs

Conformal Field Theories (CFTs) have rich dynamics in heavy states. We describe the constraints due to spontaneously broken boost and dilatation symmetries in such states. The spontaneously broken boost symmetries require the existence of new low-lying primaries whose scaling dimension gap, we argue, scales as O(1). We demonstrate these ideas in various states, including fluid, superfluid, mean field theory, and Fermi surface states. We end with some remarks about the large charge limit in 2d and discuss a theory of a single compact boson with an arbitrary conformal anomaly.

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.

Holographic BCFTs and communicating black holes

We study the AdS/BCFT duality between two-dimensional conformal field theories with two boundaries and three-dimensional anti-de Sitter space with two Karch-Randall branes. We compute the entanglement entropy of a bipartition of the BCFT, on both the gravity side and the field theory side. At finite temperature this entanglement entropy characterizes the communication between two braneworld black holes, coupled to each other through a common bath. We find a Page curve consistent with unitarity. The gravitational result, computed using double-holographically realized quantum extremal surfaces, matches the conformal field theory calculation.At zero temperature, we obtain an interesting extension of the AdS3/BCFT2 correspondence. For a central charge c, we find a gap $$ \left(\frac{c}{16},\frac{c}{12}\right) $$ c 16 c 12 in the spectrum of the scaling dimension ∆bcc of the boundary condition changing operator (which interpolates mismatched boundary conditions on the two boundaries of the BCFT). Depending on the value of ∆bcc, the gravitational dual is either a defect global AdS3 geometry or a single sided black hole, and in both cases there are two Karch-Randall branes.

Anomalous dimensions of monopole operators in scalar QED3 with Chern-Simons term

We study monopole operators with the lowest possible topological charge q = 1/2 at the infrared fixed point of scalar electrodynamics in 2 + 1 dimension (scalar QED3) with N complex scalars and Chern-Simons coupling |k| = N. In the large N expansion, monopole operators in this theory with spins $$ \mathrm{\ell}<O\left(\sqrt{N}\right) $$ ℓ < O N and associated flavor representations are expected to have the same scaling dimension to sub-leading order in 1/N. We use the state-operator correspondence to calculate the scaling dimension to sub-leading order with the result N − 0.2743 + O(1/N), which improves on existing leading order results. We also compute the ℓ2/N term that breaks the degeneracy to sub-leading order for monopoles with spins $$ \mathrm{\ell}=O\left(\sqrt{N}\right) $$ ℓ = O N .

Correlation functions in finite temperature CFT and black hole singularities

We compute thermal 2-point correlation functions in the black brane AdS5 background dual to 4d CFT’s at finite temperature for operators of large scaling dimension. We find a formula that matches the expected structure of the OPE. It exhibits an exponentiation property, whose origin we explain. We also compute the first correction to the two-point function due to graviton emission, which encodes the proper time from the event horizon to the black hole singularity.

Bootstrapping the $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 1 Wess-Zumino models in three dimensions

Using numerical bootstrap method, we determine the critical exponents of the minimal three-dimensional $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 1 Wess-Zumino models with cubic superpotetential $$ \mathcal{W}\sim {d}_{ijk}{\Phi}^i{\Phi}^j{\Phi}^k $$ W ∼ d ijk Φ i Φ j Φ k . The tensor dijk is taken to be the invariant tensor of either permutation group SN, special unitary group SU(N), or a series of groups called F4 family of Lie groups. Due to the equation of motion, at the Wess-Zumino fixed point, the operator dijkΦjΦk is a (super)descendant of Φi. We observe such super-multiplet recombination in numerical bootstrap, which allows us to determine the scaling dimension of the super-field ∆Φ.