Thermal conformal blocks

In this paper we discuss geodesic Witten diagrams in generic holographic conformal field theories with boundary or defect. Boundary CFTs allow two different de-compositions of two-point functions into conformal blocks: boundary channel and ambient channel. Building on earlier work, we derive a holographic dual of the boundary channel decomposition in terms of bulk-to-bulk propagators on lower dimensional AdS slices. In the situation in which we can treat the boundary or defect as a perturbation around pure AdS spacetime, we obtain the leading corrections to the two-point function both in boundary and ambient channel in terms of geodesic Witten diagrams which exactly reproduce the decomposition into corresponding conformal blocks on the field theory side.

In the study of conformal field theories, conformal blocks in the lightcone limit are fundamental to the analytic conformal bootstrap method. Here we consider the lightcone limit of 4-point functions of generic scalar primaries. Based on the nonperturbative pole structure in spin of Lorentzian inversion, we propose the natural basis functions for cross-channel conformal blocks. In this new basis, we find a closed-form expression for crossed conformal blocks in terms of the Kampé de Fériet function, which applies to intermediate operators of arbitrary spin in general dimensions. We derive the general Lorentzian inversion for the case of identical external scaling dimensions. Our results for the lightcone limit also shed light on the complete analytic structure of conformal blocks in the lightcone expansion.

We study the discrete part of spectrum of a singular non-self-adjoint second-order differential equation on a semiaxis with an operator coefficient. Its boundedness is proved. The result is applied to the Schrödinger boundary value problem −Δu+q(x)u=λ2u, u|∂D=0, with a complex potential q(x) in an angular domain.

In two dimensional conformal field theories the limit of large central charge plays the role of a semi-classical limit. Certain universal observables, such as conformal blocks involving the exchange of the identity operator, can be expanded around this classical limit in powers of the central charge c. This expansion is an asymptotic series, so — via the same resurgence analysis familiar from quantum mechanics — necessitates the existence of non-perturbative effects. In the case of identity conformal blocks, these new effects have a simple interpretation: the CFT must possess new primary operators with dimension of order the central charge. This constrains the data of CFTs with large central charge in a way that is similar to (but distinct from) the conformal bootstrap. We study this phenomenon in three ways: numerically, analytically using Zamolodchikov’s recursion relations, and by considering non-unitary minimal models with large (negative) central charge. In the holographic dual to a CFT2, the expansion in powers of c is the perturbative loop expansion in powers of ћ. So our results imply that the graviton loop expansion is an asymptotic series, whose cure requires the inclusion of new saddle points in the gravitational path integral. In certain cases these saddle points have a simple interpretation: they are conical excesses, particle-like states with negative mass which are not in the physical spectrum but nevertheless appear as non-manifold saddle points that control the asymptotic behaviour of the loop expansion. This phenomenon also has an interpretation in SL(2, ℝ) Chern-Simons theory, where the non-perturbative effects are associated with the non-Teichmüller component of the moduli space of flat connections.

A bstract We develop a resurgence analysis for large central charge (large C ) expansions in two-dimensional CFTs using the Coulomb gas formalism. Through the exact Borel-Laplace representations of the conformal blocks I 1 ( C, z ) and I 2 ( C, z ) associated with the four-point correlation function $$\langle {\phi }_{2,1}\left(0\right){\phi }_{2,1}\left(z, \overline{z }\right){\phi }_{2,1}\left(1\right){\phi }_{2,1}(\infty )\rangle $$ , we demonstrate that I 1 ( C, z ) participates in the Stokes phenomenon of I 2 ( C, z ) (and vice versa), and establish that monodromy in z arises from alien calculus in the Borel plane variable ζ (Borel dual to C ). From a given conformal block, resurgence theory thus enables us to discover other internal operators (conformal blocks). This approach establishes a non-perturbative connection between conformal blocks, shedding light on the resurgence phenomena in more general quantum field theories.

Let ${\mathcal B}^{\, p, \, p^{\prime}, \, {\mathcal H}}_{N, n}$ be a conformal block, with $n$ consecutive channels $\chi_{\i}$, $\i = 1, \cdots, n$, in the conformal field theory $\mathcal{M}^{\, p, \, p^{\prime}}_N \! \times \! \mathcal{M}^{\mathcal{H}}$, where $\mathcal{M}^{\, p, \, p^{\prime}}_N$ is a $\mathcal{W}_N$ minimal model, generated by chiral fields of spin $1, \cdots, N$, and labeled by two co-prime integers $p$ and $p^{\prime}$, $1 < p < p^{\prime}$, while $\mathcal{M}^{\mathcal{H}}$ is a free boson conformal field theory. $\mathcal{B}^{\, p, \, p^{\prime}, \mathcal{H}}_{N, n}$ is the expectation value of vertex operators between an initial and a final state. Each vertex operator is labelled by a charge vector that lives in the weight lattice of the Lie algebra $A_{N-1}$, spanned by weight vectors $\omega_1, \cdots, \omega_{N-1}$. We restrict our attention to conformal blocks with vertex operators whose charge vectors point along $\omega_1$. The charge vectors that label the initial and final states can point in any direction. Following the $\mathcal{W}_N$ AGT correspondence, and using Nekrasov's instanton partition functions without modification, to compute $\mathcal{B}^{\, p, \, p^{\prime}, \mathcal{H}}_{N, n}$, leads to ill-defined expressions. We show that restricting the states that flow in the channels $\chi_{\i}$, $\i = 1, \cdots, n$, to states labeled by $N$ partitions that satisfy conditions that we call $N$-Burge partitions, leads to well-defined expressions that we identify with $\mathcal{B}^{\, p, \, p^{\prime}, \, \mathcal{H}}_{N, n}$. We check our identification by showing that a specific non-trivial conformal block that we compute, using the $N$-Burge conditions satisfies the expected differential equation.

We compute numerically the dimensions and OPE coefficients of several operators in the 3d Ising CFT, and then try to reverse-engineer the solution to crossing symmetry analytically. Our key tool is a set of new techniques for computing infinite sums of SL(2, mathrm{mathbb{R}} ) conformal blocks. Using these techniques, we solve the lightcone bootstrap to all orders in an asymptotic expansion in large spin, and suggest a strategy for going beyond the large spin limit. We carry out the first steps of this strategy for the 3d Ising CFT, deriving analytic approximations for the dimensions and OPE coefficients of several infinite families of operators in terms of the initial data {Δσ, Δϵ, fσσϵ, fϵϵϵ, cT}. The analytic results agree with numerics to high precision for about 100 low-twist operators (correctly accounting for O(1) mixing effects between large-spin families). Plugging these results back into the crossing equations, we obtain approximate analytic constraints on the initial data.

We consider 5-point functions in conformal field theories in d > 2 dimensions. Using weight-shifting operators, we derive recursion relations which allow for the computation of arbitrary conformal blocks appearing in 5-point functions of scalar operators, reducing them to a linear combination of blocks with scalars exchanged. We additionally derive recursion relations for the conformal blocks which appear when one of the external operators in the 5-point function has spin 1 or 2. Our results allow us to formulate positivity constraints using 5-point functions which describe the expectation value of the energy operator in bilocal states created by two scalars.

It is shown how to obtain conformal blocks from embedding space with the help\nof the operator product expansion. The minimal conformal block originates from\nscalar exchange in a four-point correlation functions of four scalars. All\nremaining conformal blocks are simple derivatives of the minimal conformal\nblock. With the help of the orthogonality properties of the conformal blocks,\nthe analytic conformal bootstrap can be implemented directly in embedding\nspace, leading to a Jacobi-like definition of conformal field theories.\n

The idea of fuzzy systems as models for the complex or incomplete processes is not a new idea. The determination of a satisfactory model for an imprecise, complex or incomplete process is basically a matter of approximation. Namely, determining an admissible model best deserving the particular physical phenomena. We suggest that one of the ways to represent imprecise or complex dynamical processes in a fuzzy environment is via fuzzy differential equations and some analysis of their typical solution. In particular, total differential equations of first and second order and partial differential equations of second order are considered. They are unusual in that the coefficients appearing in the equation are "fuzzy".

In the context of conformal field theories in general space-time dimension, we find all the possible singularities of the conformal blocks as functions of the scaling dimension $\Delta$ of the exchanged operator. In particular, we argue, using representation theory of parabolic Verma modules, that in odd spacetime dimension the singularities are only simple poles. We discuss how to use this information to write recursion relations that determine the conformal blocks. We first recover the recursion relation introduced in 1307.6856 for conformal blocks of external scalar operators. We then generalize this recursion relation for the conformal blocks associated to the four point function of three scalar and one vector operator. Finally we specialize to the case in which the vector operator is a conserved current.

59 - Exact Second Order Equations

We study two novel approaches to efficiently encoding universal constraints imposed by conformal symmetry, and describe applications to quantum chaos in higher dimensional CFTs. The first approach consists of a reformulation of the shadow operator formalism and kinematic space techniques. We observe that the shadow operator associated with the stress tensor (or other conserved currents) can be written as the descendant of a field ε with negative dimension. Computations of stress tensor contributions to conformal blocks can be systematically organized in terms of the “soft mode” ε, turning them into a simple diagrammatic perturbation theory at large central charge.Our second (equivalent) approach concerns a theory of reparametrization modes, generalizing previous studies in the context of the Schwarzian theory and two-dimensional CFTs. Due to the conformal anomaly in even dimensions, gauge modes of the conformal group acquire an action and are shown to exhibit the same dynamics as the soft mode ε that encodes the physics of the stress tensor shadow. We discuss the calculation of the conformal partial waves or the conformal blocks using our effective field theory. The separation of conformal blocks from shadow blocks is related to gauging of certain symmetries in our effective field theory of the soft mode.These connections explain and generalize various relations between conformal blocks, shadow operators, kinematic space, and reparametrization modes. As an application we study thermal physics in higher dimensions and argue that the theory of reparametrization modes captures the physics of quantum chaos in Rindler space. This is also supported by the observation of the pole skipping phenomenon in the conformal energy-energy two-point function on Rindler space.

Topological representations of quantum groups and conformal field theory

We study the relation of irregular conformal blocks with the Painlevé III3 equation. The functional representation for the quasiclassical irregular block is shown to be consistent with the BPZ equations of conformal field theory and the Hamilton-Jacobi approach to Painlevé III3. It leads immediately to a limiting case of the blow-up equations for dual Nekrasov partition function of 4d pure supersymmetric gauge theory, which can be even treated as a defining system of equations for both c = 1 and c → ∞ conformal blocks. We extend this analysis to the domain of strong-coupling regime where original definition of conformal blocks and Nekrasov functions is not known and apply the results to spectral problem of the Mathieu equations. Finally, we propose a construction of irregular conformal blocks in the strong coupling region by quantization of Painlevé III3 equation, and obtain in this way a general expression, reproducing c = 1 and quasiclassical c → ∞ results as its particular cases. We have also found explicit integral representations for c = 1 and c = −2 irregular blocks at infinity for some special points.