In this paper we consider Witten diagrams at one loop in AdS space for scalar $ϕ^3+ϕ^4$ theory. After using Schwinger parametrization to trivialize the space-time loop integration, we extract the Mellin-Barnes representation for the one-loop corrections to the four-particle scattering up to an integration over the Schwinger parameters corresponding to the propagators of the internal particles running into the loop. We then discuss an approach to deal with those integrals.
The computation of CFT correlation functions via Witten diagrams in AdS space can be simplified via the Mellin transform. Recently a set of Feynman rules for tree-level Mellin space amplitudes has been proposed for scalar theories. In this note we derive these rules by explicitly evaluating all of the relevant Witten diagram integrals for the scalar phi^n theory. We also check that the rules reduce to the usual Feynman rules in the flat space limit.
We generalize the Mellin representation for a generic co-dimension flat defect CFT. We study the analytic structure of the Mellin amplitudes. We also compute Witten diagrams for a generic co-dimension flat defect CFT.
We extend the Mellin representation of conformal field theory (CFT) to allow for conformal boundaries and interfaces. We consider the simplest holographic setup dual to an interface CFT - a brane filling an $AdS_{d}$ subspace of $AdS_{d+1}$ - and perform a systematic study of Witten diagrams in this setup. As a byproduct of our analysis, we show that geodesic Witten diagrams in this geometry reproduce interface CFT$_d$ conformal blocks, generalizing the analogous statement for CFTs with no defects.
The Witten-Veneziano relation between the topological susceptibility of pure gauge theories without fermions and the main contribution of the complete theory and the corresponding formula of Seiler and Stamatescu with the so-called contact term are discussed for the Schwinger model on a circle. Using the (Euclidean) path integral and the canonical (Hamiltonian) approaches at finite temperatures we demonstrate that both formulae give the same result in the limit of infinite volume and (or) zero temperature.
We elaborate on some general aspects of the crossing symmetric approach of Polyakov to the conformal bootstrap, as recently formulated in Mellin space. This approach uses, as building blocks, Witten diagrams in AdS. We show the necessity for having contact Witten diagrams, in addition to the exchange ones, in two different contexts: a) the large $c$ expansion of the holographic bootstrap b) in the $ε$ expansion at subleading orders to the ones studied already. In doing so, we use alternate simplified representations of the Witten diagrams in Mellin space. This enables us to also obtain compact…
In this note, we derive a Mellin space version of the Lorentzian inversion formula for CFTs by explicitly integrating over the cross-ratios in $d=2$ and $d=4$ spacetime dimensions. We use the simplicity of the Mellin representation of Witten diagrams and the double discontinuity to find the OPE coefficients and anomalous dimensions of double-trace primaries in large $N$ CFTs to order $\frac{1}{N^4}$. We find that our results match analytically at order $\frac{1}{N^2}$, and numerically at order $\frac{1}{N^4}$ with existing literature.
We provide dramatic evidence that `Mellin space' is the natural home for correlation functions in CFTs with weakly coupled bulk duals. In Mellin space, CFT correlators have poles corresponding to an OPE decomposition into `left' and `right' sub-correlators, in direct analogy with the factorization channels of scattering amplitudes. In the regime where these correlators can be computed by tree level Witten diagrams in AdS, we derive an explicit formula for the residues of Mellin amplitudes at the corresponding factorization poles, and we use the conformal Casimir to show that these amplitudes o…
We consider manifestly crossing symmetric dispersion relations for Mellin amplitudes of scalar four point correlators in conformal field theories (CFTs). This allows us to set up the non-perturbative Polyakov bootstrap for CFTs in Mellin space on a firm foundation, thereby fixing the contact term ambiguities in the crossing symmetric blocks. Our new approach employs certain "locality" constraints replacing the requirement of crossing symmetry in the usual fixed-$t$ dispersion relation. Using these constraints we show that the sum rules based on the two channel dispersion relations and the pres…
We set up the conventional conformal bootstrap equations in Mellin space and analyse the anomalous dimensions and OPE coefficients of large spin double trace operators. By decomposing the equations in terms of continuous Hahn polynomials, we derive explicit expressions as an asymptotic expansion in inverse conformal spin to any order, reproducing the contribution of any primary operator and its descendants in the crossed channel. The expressions are in terms of known mathematical functions and involve generalized Bernoulli (Norlund) polynomials and the Mack polynomials and enable us to derive …
We present a simple general relation between tree-level exchanges in AdS and dS. This relation allows to directly import techniques and results for AdS Witten diagrams, both in position and momentum space, to boundary correlation functions in dS. In this work we apply this relation to define Mellin amplitudes and a spectral representation for exchanges in dS. We also derive the conformal block decomposition of a dS exchange, both in the direct and crossed channels, from their AdS counterparts. The relation between AdS and dS exchanges itself is derived using a recently introduced Mellin-Barnes…
We initiate the study of bound state scattering in AdS space at the level of Witten diagrams. For concreteness, we focus on the case with only scalar fields and analyze several basic diagrams which more general diagrams reduce to. We obtain closed form expressions for their Mellin amplitudes with arbitrary conformal dimensions, which exhibit interesting behavior. In particular, we observe that certain tree-level bound state Witten diagrams have the same structure as loop diagrams in AdS.
Using the Witten-Sakai-Sugimoto model in the D0-D4 background, we holographically compute the vacuum decay rate of the Schwinger effect in this model. Our calculation contains the influence of the D0-brane density which could be identified as the $θ$ angle or chiral potential in QCD. Under the strong electromagnetic fields, the instability appears due to the creation of quark-antiquark pairs and the associated decay rate can be obtained by evaluating the imaginary part of the effective Euler-Heisenberg action which is identified as the action of the probe brane with a constant electromagnetic …
We present a formula for the holographic 4-point correlators in AdS$_3 \times S^3$ involving four single-trace operators of dimension $k, k, l, l$. As an input we use the supergravity results for the Heavy-Heavy-Light-Light correlators that can be derived by studying the linear fluctuations around known asymptotically AdS$_3 \times S^3$ geometries. When the operators of dimension $k$ and $l$ are in the same multiplet there are contributions due to the exchange of single-trace operators in the $t$ and $u$ channels, which are not captured by the approach mentioned above. However by rewriting the…
We investigate the possibility of generalizing Gopakumar's microscopic derivation [1] of Witten diagrams in large N free quantum field theory to interacting theories. For simplicity we consider a massless, matrix valued real scalar field with $Φ^h$ interaction in d-dimensions. Using Schwinger's proper time formulation and organizing the sum over Feynman graphs by the number of loops $\ell$, we show that the two-point function can be expressed as a sum over boundary-to-boundary propagators of bulk scalars in $AdS_{d+1}$ with mass determined by $\ell$.
We derive a simple relation between the Mellin amplitude for AdS/CFT correlation functions and the bulk S-Matrix in the flat spacetime limit, proving a conjecture of Penedones. As a consequence of the Operator Product Expansion, the Mellin amplitude for any unitary CFT must be a meromorphic function with simple poles on the real axis. This provides a powerful and suggestive handle on the locality vis-a-vis analyticity properties of the S-Matrix. We begin to explore analyticity by showing how the familiar poles and branch cuts of scattering amplitudes arise from the holographic description. For…
We propose a Mellin space approach to the evaluation of late-time momentum-space correlation functions of quantum fields in $\left(d+1\right)$-dimensional de Sitter space. The Mellin-Barnes representation makes manifest the analytic structure of late-time correlators and, more generally, provides a convenient general $d$ framework for the study of conformal correlators in momentum space. In this work we focus on tree-level correlation functions of general scalars as a prototype, including $n$-point contact diagrams and $4$-point exchanges. For generic scalars, both the contact and exchange dia…
We initiate a systematic investigation of Mellin amplitudes of Witten diagrams to all loop levels, by introducing integral recursion relations among them. Focusing on the scalar effective theories in AdS with the simplest type of interactions, the integral kernel that triggers the recursion obeys universal rules. As a first application, analytic properties of a 4-point triangle diagram is analyzed with this method.
We derive a Mellin-Barnes integral representation for solution to generalized (parabolic) quantum Toda lattice introduced in \cite{GLO}, which presumably describes the $(S^1\times U_N)$-equivariant Gromov-Witten invariants of Grassmann variety.
We illustrate the stochastic method for solving the Schwinger-Dyson equations in large-N quantum field theories described in ArXiv:1009.4033 on the example of the Gross-Witten unitary matrix model. In the strong-coupling limit, this method can be applied directly, while in the weak-coupling limit we change the variables from compact to noncompact ones in order to cast the Schwinger-Dyson equations in the stochastic form. This leads to a new action with an infinite number of higher-order interaction terms. Nevertheless, such an action can be efficiently handled. This suggests the way to apply t…
By using AdS/CFT, we study the critical electric field, the Schwinger pair creation rate and the potential phase diagram for the quark and anti quark in four confining supergravity backgrounds which are the Witten QCD, the Maldacena-Nunez, the Klebanov-Tseytlin and the Klebanov-Strassler models. We compare the rate of phase transition in these models and compare it also with the conformal case. We then present the phase diagrams of the entanglement entropy of a strip in these geometries and find the predicted butterfly shape in the diagrams. We find that the phase transitions have higher rate …
The Schwinger-Dyson equations for Green functions and 3-vertexes in planar approximation used 50 years ago in the earlier theory of conformal bootstrap are written in frames of the AdS/CFT correspondence. The technique of "Wightman-Witten" diagrams is used in calculations of the bubble bulk diagrams that permitted to obtain the values of conformal dimensions of primary operators in two models of the interacting bulk scalar fields which conformal dimensions obey "extremal" relation. Simple expressions for the four-point tree "Wightman-Witten" correlators of these primary operators are obtained …
We propose a new approach towards analytically solving for the dynamical content of Conformal Field Theories (CFTs) using the bootstrap philosophy. This combines the original bootstrap idea of Polyakov with the modern technology of the Mellin representation of CFT amplitudes. We employ exchange Witten diagrams with built in crossing symmetry as our basic building blocks rather than the conventional conformal blocks in a particular channel. Demanding consistency with the operator product expansion (OPE) implies an infinite set of constraints on operator dimensions and OPE coefficients. We illus…
We study the large $N$ expansion of winding Wilson loops in the off-critical regime of the Gross-Witten-Wadia (GWW) unitary matrix model. These have been recently considered in arXiv:1705.06542 and computed by numerical methods. We present various analytical algorithms for the precise computation of both the perturbative and instanton corrections to the Wilson loops. In the gapped phase of the GWW model we present the genus five expansion of the one-cut resolvent that captures all winding loops. Then, as a complementary tool, we apply the Periwal-Shevitz orthogonal polynomial recursion to the …
We develop a Mellin space approach to boundary correlation functions in anti-de Sitter (AdS) and de Sitter (dS) spaces. Using the Mellin-Barnes representation of correlators in Fourier space, we show that the analytic continuation between AdS$_{d+1}$ and dS$_{d+1}$ is encoded in a collection of simple relative phases. This allows us to determine the late-time tree-level three-point correlators of spinning fields in dS$_{d+1}$ from known results for Witten diagrams in AdS$_{d+1}$ by multiplication with a simple trigonometric factor. At four point level, we show that Conformal symmetry fixes exc…
We develop a systematic perturbative expansion and compute the one-loop two-points, three-points and four-points correlation functions in a non-commutative version of the U(N) Wess-Zumino-Witten model in different regimes of the $θ$-parameter showing in the first case a kind of phase transition around the value $θ_c = \frac{\sqrt{p^2 + 4 m^2}}{Λ^2 p}$, where $Λ$ is a ultraviolet cut-off in a Schwinger regularization scheme. As a by-product we obtain the functions of the renormalization group, showing they are essentially the same as in the commutative case but applied to the whole U(N) fields;…
Anomalies are one essential concept for the renormalization of noncommutative (NC) gauge theories. A NC space can be visualized as a deformation of the usual spacetime with the $\star$-product and can be constructed after the quantization of a given space with its symplectic structure. The Seiberg-Witten (SW) map connects NC fields, transformations parameters and gauge potential to their commutative analogs. In this work we used the SW map to calculate the NC version of the anomaly of the BV quantized chiral Schwinger model with nonlocal regularization.
We describe in more detail our approach to the conformal bootstrap which uses the Mellin representation of $CFT_d$ four point functions and expands them in terms of crossing symmetric combinations of $AdS_{d+1}$ Witten exchange functions. We consider arbitrary external scalar operators and set up the conditions for consistency with the operator product expansion. Namely, we demand cancellation of spurious powers (of the cross ratios, in position space) which translate into spurious poles in Mellin space. We discuss two contexts in which we can immediately apply this method by imposing the simp…
We develop the embedding formalism to describe symmetric traceless tensors in Anti-de Sitter space. We use this formalism to construct the bulk-to-bulk propagator of massive spin J fields and check that it has the expected short distance and massless limits. We also and a split representation for the bulk-to-bulk propagator, by writing it as an integral over the boundary of the product of two bulk-to-boundary propagators. We exemplify the use of this representation with the computation of the conformal partial wave decomposition of Witten diagrams. In particular, we determine the Mellin amplit…
We give a detailed account of the methods introduced in [1] to calculate holographic four-point correlators in IIB supergravity on $AdS_5 \times S^5$. Our approach relies entirely on general consistency conditions and maximal supersymmetry. We discuss two related methods, one in position space and the other in Mellin space. The position space method is based on the observation that the holographic four-point correlators of one-half BPS single-trace operators can be written as finite sums of contact Witten diagrams. We demonstrate in several examples that imposing the superconformal Ward identi…
We illustrate the power and efficiency of a recently uncovered Mellin-space approach to AdS/CFT correlation functions by providing a universal formula for the 4-scalar graviton-exchange Witten diagram, for arbitrary CFT-dual scaling dimensions. Our result keeps the space-time dimension generic as well, and is expressed as a combination of just 11 hypergeometric functions. Such hypergeometric functions are related to scalar-exchange diagrams. In particular, if reverse-engineered in terms of D-functions, this might be viewed as a first-step towards proving a long-standing conjecture by Dolan, Ni…
We describe in more detail the general relation uncovered in our previous work between boundary correlators in de Sitter (dS) and in Euclidean anti-de Sitter (EAdS) space, at any order in perturbation theory. Assuming the Bunch-Davies vacuum at early times, any given diagram contributing to a boundary correlator in dS can be expressed as a linear combination of Witten diagrams for the corresponding process in EAdS, where the relative coefficients are fixed by consistent on-shell factorisation in dS. These coefficients are given by certain sinusoidal factors which account for the change in coef…
Using the Schwinger-Keldysh-formalism, reformulated in arXiv:2108.01695 as an effective field theory in Euclidean anti-de Sitter, we evaluate the one-loop cosmological four-point function of a conformally coupled interacting scalar field in de Sitter. Recasting the Witten cosmological correlator as flat space Feynman integrals, we evaluate the one-loop cosmological four-point functions in de Sitter space in terms of single-valued multiple polylogarithms. From it we derive anomalous dimensions and OPE coefficients of the dual conformal field theory at space-like, future infinity. In particular,…
Quantum field theories in AdS generate conformal correlation functions on the boundary, and in the limit where AdS is nearly flat one should be able to extract an S-matrix from such correlators. We discuss a particularly simple position-space procedure to do so. It features a direct map from boundary positions to (on-shell) momenta and thereby relates cross ratios to Mandelstam invariants. This recipe succeeds in several examples, includes the momentum-conserving delta functions, and can be shown to imply the two proposals in arXiv:1607.06109 based on Mellin space and on the OPE data. Interest…
We find the general solution of the conformal Ward identities for scalar $n$-point functions in momentum space and in general dimension. The solution is given in terms of integrals over $(n-1)$-simplices in momentum space. The $n$ operators are inserted at the $n$ vertices of the simplex, and the momenta running between any two vertices of the simplex are the integration variables. The integrand involves an arbitrary function of momentum-space cross ratios constructed from the integration variables, while the external momenta enter only via momentum conservation at each vertex. Correlators whe…
On the Numerical Integration of One-Loop Cosmological Collider Signals
Institute for Advanced Study（高等研究院）；MIT Center for Theoretical Physics - a Leinweber Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院理论物理中心-莱因韦伯研究所）；Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, New York University（纽约大学宇宙学与粒子物理中心）；Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics（围道理论物理研究所）
In $26+1$ space-time dimensions, we introduce a gravity theory whose massless spectrum can be acted upon by the Monster group when reduced to $25+1$ dimensions. This theory generalizes M-theory in many respects and we name it Monstrous M-theory, or M$^{2}$-theory. Upon Kaluza-Klein reduction to $25+1$ dimensions, the M$^{2}$-theory spectrum irreducibly splits as $\mathbf{1}\oplus\mathbf{196,883}$, where $\mathbf{1}$ is identified with the dilaton, and $\mathbf{196,883}$ is the dimension of the smallest non-trivial representation of the Monster. This provides a field theory explanation of the l…
