The extremal functional method determines approximate solutions to the constraints of crossing symmetry, which saturate bounds on the space of unitary CFTs. We show that such solutions are characterized by extremality conditions, which may be used to flow continuously along the boundaries of parameter space. Along the flow there is generically no further need for optimization, which dramatically reduces computational requirements, bringing calculations from the realm of computing clusters to laptops. Conceptually, extremality sheds light on possible ways to bootstrap without positivity, extending the method to non-unitary theories, and implies that theories saturating bounds, and especially those sitting at kinks, have unusually sparse spectra. We discuss several applications, including the first high-precision bootstrap of a non-unitary CFT.
Quantum extremal surfaces are central to the connection between quantum information theory and quantum gravity and they have played a prominent role in the recent progress on the information paradox. We initiate a program to systematically link these surfaces to the microscopic data of the dual conformal field theory, namely the scaling dimensions of local operators and their OPE coefficients. We consider CFT states obtained by acting on the vacuum with single-trace operators, which are dual to one-particle states of the bulk theory. Focusing on AdS$_3$/CFT$_2$, we compute the CFT entanglement…
We use the numerical conformal bootstrap to study six-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=(1,0)$ superconformal field theories with flavor symmetry $\mathfrak{so}_{4k}$. We present evidence that minimal $(D_k, D_k)$ conformal matter saturates the unitarity bounds for arbitrary $k$. Furthermore, using the extremal-functional method, we check that the chiral-ring relations are correctly reproduced, extract the anomalous dimensions of low-lying long superconformal multiplets, and find hints for novel OPE selection rules involving type-$\mathcal{B}$ multiplets.
The boundary correlation functions for a Quantum Field Theory (QFT) in an Anti-de Sitter (AdS) background can stay conformally covariant even if the bulk theory undergoes a renormalization group (RG) flow. Studying such correlation functions with the numerical conformal bootstrap leads to non-perturbative constraints that must hold along the entire flow. In this paper we carry out this analysis for the sine-Gordon RG flows in AdS$_2$, which start with a free (compact) scalar in the UV and end with well-known massive integrable theories that saturate many S-matrix bootstrap bounds. We numerical…
We perform a numerical bootstrap study of the mixed correlator system containing the half-BPS operators of dimension two and three in $\mathcal N = 4$ Super Yang-Mills. This setup improves on previous works in the literature that only considered single correlators of one or the other operator. We obtain upper bounds on the leading twist in a given representation of the R-symmetry by imposing gaps on the twist of all operators rather than the dimension of a single one. As a result we find a tension between the large $N$ supergravity predictions and the numerical finite $N$ results already at $N…
Ricci flow is a natural gradient flow of the Einstein-Hilbert action. Here we consider the analog for the Einstein-Maxwell action, which gives Ricci flow with a stress tensor contribution coupled to a Yang-Mills flow for the Maxwell field. We argue that this flow is well-posed for static spacetimes with pure electric or magnetic potentialsand show it preserves both non-extremal and extremal black hole horizons. In the latter case we find the flow of the near horizon geometry decouples from that of the exterior. The Schwarzschild black hole is an unstable fixed point of Ricci flow for static sp…
We study flows of non-supersymmetric attractor black holes in the context of gauge/gravity correspondence. As our bulk theory, we consider the Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton system with a single dilaton field coupled to two Maxwell fields and make a relevant deformation by adding a bare potential to the dilaton field. We find two types of extremal black hole solutions with attractor mechanism: The one smooth at the horizon and the other non-smooth. We show from both bulk and boundary theory perspective that the former is thermodynamically unstable, while the latter is stable.
Extremal black branes upon compactification in the near horizon throat region are known to give rise to $AdS_2$ dilaton-gravity-matter theories. Away from the throat region, the background has nontrivial profile. We interpret this as holographic renormalization group flow in the 2-dim dilaton-gravity-matter theories arising from dimensional reduction of the higher dimensional theories here. The null energy conditions allow us to formulate a holographic c-function in terms of the 2-dim dilaton for which we argue a c-theorem subject to appropriate boundary conditions which amount to restrictions…
According to the Ryu-Takayanagi prescription, the entanglement entropy of subsystems in the boundary conformal field theory (CFT) is proportional to the area of extremal surfaces in bulk asymptotically Anti-de Sitter (AdS) spacetimes. The flat-space limit of these surfaces is not well defined in the generic case. We introduce a new curve in the three-dimensional asymptotically AdS spacetimes with a well-defined flat-space limit. We find this curve by using a new vector, which is vanishing on it and is normal to the bulk modular flow of the original interval in the two-dimensional CFT. The flat…
In this note, we explore holographic attributes of four-dimensional near-extremal Reissner-Nordstrom black hole solutions in ungauged ${\cal N}=2$ supergravity theories at the two-derivative level by recasting them as a specific first-order deformation in solution space, associated with an infinitesimal Harrison transformation, of black holes in an $AdS_2$ space-time. Specifically, we use this link to exhibit how bulk properties, such as mass and entropy, of four-dimensional near-extremal black holes are holographically encoded in the one-dimensional boundary theory dual to gravity in an infin…
Using the large $D$ effective theory approach, we construct a static solution of non-extremal and squashed black holes with/without an electric charge, which describes a spherical black hole in a Kaluza-Klein spacetime with a compactified dimension. The asymptotic background with a compactified dimension and near-horizon geometry are analytically solved by the $1/D$ expansion. Particularly, our work demonstrates that the large $D$ limit can be applied to solve the non-trivial background with a compactified direction, which leads to a first-order flow equation. Moreover, we show that the extrem…
We report on an investigation of Ruppeiner curvature $R_U$ for $(d+1)$-dimensional hyperbolic black holes in anti-de Sitter spacetimes and its connection with Renormalization Group (RG) flows in the dual d-dimensional conformal field theories (CFTs) in Minkowski spacetimes. A repulsive type interaction among microstructures is found, which is weaker for positive mass black holes and grows stronger for negative mass black holes at low temperatures. In particular, we show that $R_U$ evaluated along a zero mass curve is a universal constant, depending only on the dimension of space-time. The extr…
We discuss general bosonic configurations of four-dimensional N=2 supergravity coupled to vector multiplets in (t,s) space-time. The supergravity theories with Euclidean and neutral signature are described by the so-called para-special Kähler geometry. For extremal solutions, we derive in a unified fashion, using the equations of motion, the flow equations for all space-time signatures. Demanding that the solutions with neutral and Euclidean signatures admit unbroken supersymmetry, we derive the constraints, known as the stabilisation equations, on the para-covariantly holomorphic sections exp…
