Bootstrap equations for conformal correlators that mimic the early theory of conformal bootstrap are written down in frames of the AdS/CFT approach. The simplified version of these equations, that may be justified if Schwinger-Keldysh formalism is used in AdS/CFT instead of conventional Feynman-Witten diagrams technique, permits to calculate values of conformal dimensions in the $O(N)$ symmetric model with conformal or composite Hubbard-Stratonovich field.
Based on the numerical conformal bootstrap bound, we show that the arbitrarily small Reissner-Nordström black hole in AdS space-time is inconsistent with holography unless the energy spectrum is modified quantum mechanically or it is unstable as indicated by the weak gravity conjecture.
The "old" conformal bootstrap was originally formulated by Migdal and Polyakov (MP) as a method for calculating conformal dimensions self-consistently. In this work we revisit the MP bootstrap and apply efficient multi-loop Feynman integral techniques in order to solve the corresponding equations. We obtain solutions at first order in the skeleton expansion for finite coupling and for integer values of the spacetime dimension. We focus in particular on the $ϕ^3$ theory in seven dimensions and the $O(N)$ vector models in three dimensions.
We formulate and close the boundary state bootstrap for factorizing K-matrices in AdS/CFT. We found that there are no boundary degrees of freedom in the boundary bound states, merely the boundary parameters are shifted. We use this family of boundary bound states to describe the D3-D5 system for higher dimensional matrix product states and provide their asymptotic overlap formulas. In doing so we generalize the nesting for overlaps of matrix product states and Bethe states.
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 an integrable bootstrap framework for the computation of correlation functions for superstrings in $AdS_3\times S^3\times T^4$ backgrounds supported by an arbitrary mixture or Ramond-Ramond and Neveu-Schwarz-Neveu-Schwarz fluxes. The framework extends the "hexagon tessellation" approach which was originally proposed for $AdS_5\times S^5$ and for the first time it demonstrates its applicability to other (less supersymmetric) setups. We work out the hexagon form factor for two-particle states, including its dressing factors which follow from those of the spectral problem, and we show …
We begin by explicating a recent proof of the cluster decomposition principle in AdS_{d+1} from the CFT_d bootstrap in d > 2. The CFT argument also computes the leading interactions between distant objects in AdS, and we confirm the universal agreement between the CFT bootstrap and AdS gravity in the semi-classical limit. We proceed to study the generalization to 2d CFTs, which requires knowledge of the Virasoro conformal blocks in a lightcone OPE limit. We compute these blocks in a semiclassical, large central charge approximation, and use them to prove a suitably modified theorem. In particu…
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 consider holographic CFTs and study their large $N$ expansion. We use Polyakov-Mellin bootstrap to extract the CFT data of all operators, including scalars, till $O(1/N^4)$. We add a contact term in Mellin space, which corresponds to an effective $ϕ^4$ theory in AdS and leads to anomalous dimensions for scalars at $O(1/N^2)$. Using this we fix $O(1/N^4)$ anomalous dimensions for double trace operators finding perfect agreement with \cite{loopal} (for $Δ_ϕ=2$). Our approach generalizes this to any dimensions and any value of conformal dimensions of external scalar field. In the second part o…
The double-trace from UV to IR flow subtraction of infinities used earlier for the UV-convergent calculations of the Witten tadpole diagrams being applied to the bubble self-energy diagrams gives for them the amazingly simple expressions in case of the four-dimensional boundary space. For every $N = 1... 4$ in the $O(N)$ symmetric scalar fields model with the conformal Hubbard-Stratonovich field there are three roots of the "old" conformal bootstrap spectral equations that obey unitarity bound demand.
In recent work we computed the path integral of three-dimensional gravity with negative cosmological constant on spaces which are topologically a torus times an interval. Here we employ a modular bootstrap to show that the amplitude is completely fixed by consistency conditions and a few basic inputs from gravity. This bootstrap is notably for an ensemble of CFTs, rather than for a single instance. We also compare the 3d gravity result with the Narain ensemble. The former is well-approximated at low temperature by a random matrix theory ansatz, and we conjecture that this behavior is generic f…
Attempts to resolve the longstanding Fermion mass hierarchy (FMH) problem in frames of the AdS/CFT correspondence demand the knowledge of bulk fermion masses. The approach of the "old" conformal bootstrap in AdS context permitted to calculate bulk masses of scalar fields [1], [2]. In the present paper this approach is extended to physically more interesting spin 1/2 bulk fields. Calculation of spinor-scalar vertices is performed in physical AdS space, and unexpectedly simple expressions for spinor-scalar bubbles (2-point one-loop self-energy Witten diagrams) are obtained. The "double-trace fro…
We propose a strategy to study massive Quantum Field Theory (QFT) using conformal bootstrap methods. The idea is to consider QFT in hyperbolic space and study correlation functions of its boundary operators. We show that these are solutions of the crossing equations in one lower dimension. By sending the curvature radius of the background hyperbolic space to infinity we expect to recover flat-space physics. We explain that this regime corresponds to large scaling dimensions of the boundary operators, and discuss how to obtain the flat-space scattering amplitudes from the corresponding limit of…
We initiate a conformal bootstrap program to study AdS3/BCFT2 with heavy excitations. We start by solving the bootstrap equations associated with two-point functions of scalar/non-scalar primaries under the assumption that one-point functions vanish. These correspond to gravity with a brane and a non-spinning/spinning particle where the brane and the particle do not intersect with each other. From the bootstrap equations, we obtain the energy spectrum and the modified black hole threshold. We then carefully analyze the gravity duals and find the results perfectly match the BCFT analysis. In pa…
We study analytically the constraints of the conformal bootstrap on the low-lying spectrum of operators in field theories with global conformal symmetry in one and two spacetime dimensions. We introduce a new class of linear functionals acting on the conformal bootstrap equation. In 1D, we use the new basis to construct extremal functionals leading to the optimal upper bound on the gap above identity in the OPE of two identical primary operators of integer or half-integer scaling dimension. We also prove an upper bound on the twist gap in 2D theories with global conformal symmetry. When the ex…
We take an analytic approach to the CFT bootstrap, studying the 4-pt correlators of d > 2 dimensional CFTs in an Eikonal-type limit, where the conformal cross ratios satisfy |u| << |v| < 1. We prove that every CFT with a scalar operator ϕmust contain infinite sequences of operators O_{τ,l} with twist approaching τ-> 2Δ_ϕ+ 2n for each integer n as l -> infinity. We show how the rate of approach is controlled by the twist and OPE coefficient of the leading twist operator in the ϕx ϕOPE, and we discuss SCFTs and the 3d Ising Model as examples. Additionally, we show that the OPE coefficients of ot…
We investigate the connection between spacetime wormholes and ensemble averaging in the context of higher spin AdS$_3$/CFT$_2$. Using techniques from modular bootstrap combined with some holographic inputs, we evaluate the partition function of a Euclidean wormhole in AdS$_3$ higher spin gravity. The fixed spin sectors of the dual CFT$_2$ exhibit features that starkly go beyond conventional random matrix ensembles: power-law ramps in the spectral form factor and potentials with a double-well/crest underlying the level statistics.
We calculate the leading contributions to the connected two-point functions of protected scalar operators in the defect version of N=4 SYM theory which is dual to the D5-D3 probe-brane system with k units of background gauge field flux. This involves several types of two-point functions which are vanishing in the theory without the defect, such as two-point functions of operators of unequal conformal dimension. We furthermore exploit the operator product expansion (OPE) and the boundary operator expansion (BOE), which form the basis of the boundary conformal bootstrap equations, to extract con…
We study local operator insertions on 1/2-BPS line defects in ABJM theory. Specifically, we consider a class of four-point correlators in the CFT$_1$ with SU$(1, 1|3)$ superconformal symmetry defined on the 1/2-BPS Wilson line. The relevant insertions belong to the short supermultiplet containing the displacement operator and correspond to fluctuations of the dual fundamental string in AdS$_4 \times \mathbb{C}\textrm{P}^3$ ending on the line at the boundary. We use superspace techniques to represent the displacement supermultiplet and we show that superconformal symmetry determines the four-po…
We consider graviton scattering in maximal supergravity on Anti-de Sitter space (AdS) in $d+1$ dimensions for $d=3,4,\text{and $6$}$ with no extra compact spacetime factor. Holography suggests that this theory is dual to an exotic maximally supersymmetric conformal field theory (CFT) in $d$ dimensions whose only light single trace operator is the stress tensor. This contrasts with more standard cases like Type IIB string theory on $AdS_5\times S^5$ dual to $\mathcal{N}=4$ Super-Yang-Mills, where the CFT has light single trace operators for each Kaluza-Klein mode on $S^5$. We compute the 1-loop…
Highly energetic particles traveling in the background of an asymptotically AdS black hole experience a Shapiro time delay and an angle deflection. These quantities are related to the Regge limit of a heavy-heavy-light-light four-point function of scalar operators in the dual CFT. The Schwarzschild radius of the black hole in AdS units is proportional to the ratio of the conformal dimension of the heavy operator and the central charge. This ratio serves as a useful expansion parameter; its power counts the number of stress tensors in the multi-stress tensor operators which contribute to the fo…
We study a general class of functionals providing an analytic handle on the conformal bootstrap equations in one dimension. We explicitly identify the extremal functionals, corresponding to theories saturating conformal bootstrap bounds, in two regimes. The first corresponds to functionals that annihilate the generalized free fermion spectrum. In this case, we analytically find both OPE and gap maximization functionals proving the extremality of the generalized free fermion solution to crossing. Secondly, we consider a scaling limit where all conformal dimensions become large, equivalent to th…
We clarify the relationships between different approaches to the conformal bootstrap. A central role is played by the so-called extremal functionals. They are linear functionals acting on the crossing equation which are directly responsible for the optimal bounds of the numerical bootstrap. We explain in detail that the extremal functionals probe the Regge limit. We construct two complete sets of extremal functionals for the crossing equation specialized to $z=\bar{z}$, associated to the generalized free boson and fermion theories. These functionals lead to non-perturbative sum rules on the CF…
We propose a procedure to derive quantum spectral curves of AdS/CFT type by requiring that a specially designed analytic continuation around the branch point results in an automorphism of the underlying algebraic structure. In this way we derive four new curves. Two are based on SU(2|2) symmetry, and we show that one of them, under the assumption of square root branch points, describes Hubbard model. Two more are based on SU(2|2) x SU(2|2). In the special subcase of zero central charge, they both reduce to the unique nontrivial curve which furthermore has analytic properties compatible with PS…
We analytically study the lightcone limit of the conformal bootstrap equations for 4-point functions containing global symmetry currents and the stress tensor in 3d CFTs. We show that the contribution of the stress tensor to the anomalous dimensions of large spin double-twist states is negative if and only if the conformal collider physics bounds are satisfied. In the context of AdS/CFT these results indicate a relation between the attractiveness of AdS gravity and positivity of the CFT energy flux. We also study the contribution of non-Abelian conserved currents to the anomalous dimensions of…
We consider the 1d CFT defined by the half-BPS Wilson line in planar $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills. Using analytic bootstrap methods we derive the four-point function of the super-displacement operator at fourth order in a strong coupling expansion. Via AdS/CFT, this corresponds to the first three-loop correlator in AdS ever computed. To do so we address the operator mixing problem by considering a family of auxiliary correlators. We further extract the anomalous dimension of the lightest non-protected operator and find agreement with the integrability-based numerical result of Grabner, Gro…
Every conformal field theory (CFT) above two dimensions contains an infinite set of Regge trajectories of local operators which, at large spin, asymptote to "double-twist" composites with vanishing anomalous dimension. In two dimensions, due to the existence of local conformal symmetry, this and other central results of the conformal bootstrap do not apply. We incorporate exact stress tensor dynamics into the CFT$_2$ analytic bootstrap, and extract several implications for AdS$_3$ quantum gravity. Our main tool is the Virasoro fusion kernel, which we newly analyze and interpret in the bootstra…
We construct an algorithm to determine all stationary axi-symmetric solutions of 3-dimensional Einstein gravity with a minimally coupled self-interacting scalar field. We holographically renormalize the theory and evaluate then the on-shell action as well as the stress tensor and scalar one-point functions. We study thermodynamics, derive two universal formulas for the entropy and prove that global AdS provides a lower bound for the mass of certain solitons. Several examples are given in detail, including the first instance of locally asymptotically flat hairy black holes and novel asymptotica…
The study of conformal boundary conditions for two-dimensional conformal field theories (CFTs) has a long history, ranging from the description of impurities in one-dimensional quantum chains to the formulation of D-branes in string theory. Nevertheless, the landscape of conformal boundaries is largely unknown, including in rational CFTs, where the local operator data is completely determined. We initiate a systematic bootstrap study of conformal boundaries in 2d CFTs by investigating the bootstrap equation that arises from the open-closed consistency condition of the annulus partition functio…
The swampland program of delineating the space of effective field theories consistent with quantum gravity appears similar to the bootstrap program of delineating the space of quantum field theories consistent with conformal symmetry. With this in mind we rewrite the effective field theory of the Large Volume Scenario in AdS space solely in terms of $R_{AdS}$, in a form suitable for holographic analysis. This rewritten EFT takes a remarkably universal (and previously unnoticed) form, which is uniquely determined in the large-volume limit up to terms suppressed by $\mathcal{O} \left( 1/\ln R_{A…
We explore the Mellin representation of conformal correlation functions recently proposed by Mack. Examples in the AdS/CFT context reinforce the analogy between Mellin amplitudes and scattering amplitudes. We conjecture a simple formula relating the bulk scattering amplitudes to the asymptotic behavior of Mellin amplitudes and show that previous results on the flat space limit of AdS follow from our new formula. We find that the Mellin amplitudes are particularly useful in the case of conformal gauge theories in the planar limit. In this case, the four point Mellin amplitudes are meromorphic f…
We use the conformal bootstrap equations to study the non-perturbative gravitational scattering between infalling and outgoing particles in the vicinity of a black hole horizon in AdS. We focus on irrational 2D CFTs with large $c$ and only Virasoro symmetry. The scattering process is described by the matrix element of two light operators (particles) between two heavy states (BTZ black holes). We find that the operator algebra in this regime is (i) universal and identical to that of Liouville CFT, and (ii) takes the form of an exchange algebra, specified by an R-matrix that exactly matches with…
We propose a new approach to solve conformal field theories and apply it to Chern-Simons Matter theories and three-dimensional bosonization duality. All three-point correlation functions of single-trace operators are obtained in the large-$N$ as a simple application. The idea is to construct, as an effective weakly-coupled theory, a nonlinear realization of the conformal algebra in terms of physical, gauge-invariant, operators. The efficiency of the method is also in the use of an analog of the light-cone gauge and of the momentum-space on the CFT side. AdS/CFT is used as a convenient regulato…
We use analytic conformal bootstrap methods to determine the anomalous dimensions and OPE coefficients for large spin operators in general conformal field theories in four dimensions containing a scalar operator of conformal dimension $Δ_ϕ$. It is known that such theories will contain an infinite sequence of large spin operators with twists approaching $2Δ_ϕ+2n$ for each integer $n$. By considering the case where such operators are separated by a twist gap from other operators at large spin, we analytically determine the $n$, $Δ_ϕ$ dependence of the anomalous dimensions. We find that for all $…
We continue to explore the bootstrap approach to five-point correlation functions for IIB supergravity on $AdS_5\times S^5$. Building on the result of [1], we develop an improved algorithm that allows us to more efficiently compute correlators of higher Kaluza-Klein modes. The new method uses only factorization and a superconformal twist, and is entirely within Mellin space where the analytic structure of holographic correlators is simpler. Using this method, we obtain in a closed form all five-point functions of the form $\langle pp222\rangle$, extending the earlier result for $p=2$. As a byp…
Large-$N$, $ε$-expansion or the conformal bootstrap allow one to make sense of some of conformal field theories in non-integer dimension, which suggests that AdS/CFT may also extend to fractional dimensions. It was shown recently that the sphere free energy and the $a$-anomaly coefficient of the free scalar field can be reproduced as a one-loop effect in the dual higher-spin theory in a number of integer dimensions. We extend this result to all integer and also to fractional dimensions. Upon changing the boundary conditions in the higher-spin theory the sphere free energy of the large-$N$ Wils…
We consider the four-point function of the lowest scalar in the stress-energy tensor multiplet in $\mathcal{N}=8$ ABJ(M) theory \cite{Aharony:2008ug, Aharony:2008gk}. At large central charge $c_T\sim N^{3/2}$, this correlator is given by the corresponding holographic correlation function in 11d supergravity on $AdS_4\times S^7$. We use Mellin space techniques to compute the leading $1/c_T$ correction to anomalous dimensions and OPE coefficients of operators that appear in this holographic correlator. For half and quarter-BPS operators, we find exact agreement with previously computed localizat…
We analytically solve the conformal bootstrap equations in the Regge limit for large N conformal field theories. For theories with a parametrically large gap, the amplitude is dominated by spin-2 exchanges and we show how the crossing equations naturally lead to the construction of AdS exchange Witten diagrams. We also show how this is encoded in the anomalous dimensions of double-trace operators of large spin and large twist. We use the chaos bound to prove that the anomalous dimensions are negative. Extending these results to correlators containing two scalars and two conserved currents, we …
We study string propagation on $AdS_3$ times a compact space from an ``old fashioned'' worldsheet point of view of perturbative string theory. We derive the spacetime CFT and its Virasoro and current algebras, thus establishing the conjectured $AdS$/CFT correspondence for this case in the full string theory. Our results have implications for the extreme IR limit of the $D1-D5$ system, as well as to 2+1 dimensional BTZ black holes and their Bekenstein-Hawking entropy.
We introduce analytic functionals which act on the crossing equation for CFTs in arbitrary spacetime dimension. The functionals fully probe the constraints of crossing symmetry on the first sheet, and are in particular sensitive to the OPE, (double) lightcone and Regge limits. Compatibility with the crossing equation imposes constraints on the functional kernels which we study in detail. We then introduce two simple classes of functionals. The first class has a simple action on generalized free fields and their deformations and can be used to bootstrap AdS contact interactions in general dimen…
Planar N=4 SYM theory and QCD share the gluon sector, suggesting the investigation of Gribov-Lipatov reciprocity in the supersymmetric theory. Since the AdS/CFT correspondence links N=4 SYM and superstring dynamics on AdS5xS5, reciprocity is also expected to show up in the quantum corrected energies of certain classical string configurations dual to gauge theory twist-operators. We review recent results confirming this picture and revisiting the old idea of Gribov-Lipatov reciprocity as a modern theoretical tool useful for the study of open problems in AdS/CFT.
We bootstrap the all-loop dynamic S-matrix for the homogeneous psu(1,1|2)^2 spin-chain believed to correspond to the discretization of the massive modes of string theory on AdS_3 x S^3 x T^4. The S-matrix is the tensor product of two copies of the su(1|1)^2 invariant S-matrix constructed recently for the d(2,1;alpha)^2 chain, and depends on two antisymmetric dressing phases. We write down the crossing equations that these phases have to satisfy. Furthermore, we present the corresponding Bethe Ansatz, which differs from the one previously conjectured, and discuss how our construction matches se…
We study AdS/CFT correspondence in the case of AdS3. We obtain the statistical entropy of the BTZ black hole in terms of the correct central charge and the conformal dimensions for the states corresponding to the BTZ black hole. We point out the difference between our method and the old fashioned approaches based on SL(2,R) Wess-Zumino-Witten model or Liouville theory.
It is a long-standing conjecture that any CFT with a large central charge and a large gap $Δ_{\text{gap}}$ in the spectrum of higher-spin single-trace operators must be dual to a local effective field theory in AdS. We prove a sharp form of this conjecture by deriving numerical bounds on bulk Wilson coefficients in terms of $Δ_{\text{gap}}$ using the conformal bootstrap. Our bounds exhibit the scaling in $Δ_{\text{gap}}$ expected from dimensional analysis in the bulk. Our main tools are dispersive sum rules that provide a dictionary between CFT dispersion relations and S-matrix dispersion rela…
We present a new formalism, alternative to the old TBA-like approach, for solution of the spectral problem of planar N = 4 SYM. It takes a concise form of a non-linear matrix Riemann-Hilbert problem in terms of a few Q-functions. We demonstrate the formalism for two types of observables - local operators at weak coupling and cusped Wilson lines in a near BPS limit.
