A classical result from analytic number theory by Rademacher gives an exact formula for the Fourier coefficients of modular forms of non-positive weight. We apply similar techniques to study the spectrum of two-dimensional unitary conformal field theories, with no extended chiral algebra and $c>1$. By exploiting the full modular constraints of the partition function we propose an expression for the spectral density in terms of the light spectrum of the theory. The expression is given in terms of a Rademacher expansion, which converges for spin $j \neq 0$. For a finite number of light operators the expression agrees with a variant of the Poincare construction developed by Maloney, Witten and Keller. With this framework we study the presence of negative density of states in the partition function dual to pure gravity, and propose a scenario to cure this negativity.
The elliptic genera of the K3 surfaces, both compact and non-compact cases, are studied by using the theory of mock theta functions. We decompose the elliptic genus in terms of the N=4 superconformal characters at level-1, and present an exact formula for the coefficients of the massive (non-BPS) representations using the Poincare-Maass series.
The microscopic spectrum of half-BPS excitations in toroidally compactified heterotic string theory has been computed exactly through the use of results from analytic number theory. Recently, similar quantities have been understood macroscopically by evaluating the gravitational path integral on the M-theory lift of the AdS2 near-horizon geometry of the corresponding black hole. In this paper, we generalize these results to a subset of the CHL models, which include the standard compactification of IIA on $K3\times T^2$ as a special case. We begin by developing a Rademacher-like expansion for t…
Moduli spaces of stable coherent sheaves on a surface are of much interest for both mathematics and physics. Yoshioka computed generating functions of Poincare polynomials of such moduli spaces if the surface is the projective plane P2 and the rank of the sheaves is 2. Motivated by physical arguments, this paper investigates the modular properties of these generating functions. It is shown that these functions can be written in terms of the Lerch sum and theta function. Based on this, we prove a conjecture by Vafa and Witten, which expresses the generating functions of Euler numbers as a mixed…
The scaling dimensions of charged operators in conformal field theory were recently computed in a large charge expansion. We verify this expansion in a dual AdS model. Specifically, we numerically construct solitonic boson star solutions of Einstein-Maxwell-Scalar theory in AdS$_4$ and find that its mass at large charge reproduces the universal form of the lowest operator dimension in the large U(1) charge sector of the dual 2+1 dimensional CFT.
The AdS/dCFT correspondence is used to show that a planar q-dimensional superconformal CFT defect expands, under the addition of electric charge and angular momentum, to a supersymmetric higher-dimensional defect of geometry R^q x C, where C is an arbitrary curve. The dual string theory process is the expansion of D-branes and fundamental strings into a supertube in an AdS background.
We use the recently developed CFT techniques of Rychkov and Tan to compute anomalous dimensions in the $O(N)$ Gross-Neveu model in $d=2+ε$ dimensions. To do this, we extend the "cowpie contraction" algorithm of arXiv:1506.06616 to theories with fermions. Our results match perfectly with Feynman diagram computations.
We compute finite coupling correction to a nonlinear second order hydrodynamic coefficient in the boost invariant expansion of the N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills plasma. The result is universal for a large class of strongly coupled four dimensional conformal gauge theories.
Global conformal invariance determines the form of two and three-point functions of quasi-primary operators in a conformal field theory, and generates nontrivial relations between terms in the operator product expansion. These ideas are generalized to the principal and complementary series representations, which play an important role in the conjectured dS/CFT correspondence. The conformal partial wave expansions are constructed for these representations which in turn determine the operator product expansion. This leads us to conclude that conformal field theories containing such representatio…
The generic structure of 1-, 2- and 3-point functions of fields residing in indecomposable representations of arbitrary rank are given. These in turn determine the structure of the operator product expansion in logarithmic conformal field theory. The crucial role of zero modes is discussed in some detail.
We present a detailed analysis of a scalar conformal four-point function obtained from AdS/CFT correspondence. We study the scalar exchange graphs in AdS and discuss their analytic properties. Using methods of conformal partial wave analysis, we present a general procedure to study conformal four-point functions in terms of exchanges of scalar and tensor fields. The logarithmic terms in the four-point functions are connected to the anomalous dimensions of the exchanged fields. Comparison of the results from AdS graphs with the conformal partial wave analysis, suggests a possible general form f…
We construct the operator product expansions (OPE) of the chiral primary operators in the worldsheet theory for strings on AdS_3 x S^3 x T^4. As an interesting application, we will use the worldsheet OPEs to derive a recursion relation for a particular class of extremal p-point correlators on the sphere. We compare our result with the corresponding recursion relation previously found in the symmetric orbifold theory on the boundary of AdS_3.
Recently a conjecture has been proposed which attaches (mock) modular forms to the largest Mathieu group. This may be compared to monstrous moonshine, in which modular functions are attached to elements of the Monster group. One of the most remarkable aspects of monstrous moonshine is the following genus zero property: the modular functions turn out to be the generators for the function fields of their invariance groups. In particular, these invariance groups define genus zero quotients of the upper half plane. It is therefore natural to ask if there is an analogue of this property in the Math…
A conformally invariant theory of Majorana fermions in 2<d<4 with O(N) symmetry is studied using Operator Product Expansions and consistency relations based on the cancellation of shadow singularities. The critical coupling G_{*} of the theory is calculated to leading order in 1/N. This value is then used to reproduce the O(1/N) correction for the anomalous dimension of the fermion field as evidence for the validity of our approach to conformal field theory in d>2.
The 4D 4-point scattering amplitude of massless scalars via a massive exchange is expressed in a basis of conformal primary particle wavefunctions. This celestial amplitude is expanded in a basis of 2D conformal partial waves on the unitary principal series, and then rewritten as a sum over 2D conformal blocks via contour deformation. The conformal blocks include intermediate exchanges of spinning light-ray states, as well as scalar states with positive integer conformal weights. The conformal block prefactors are found as expected to be quadratic in the celestial OPE coefficients.
Dyonic 1/4-BPS states in Type IIB string theory compactified on $\mathrm{K}3 \times T^2$ are counted by meromorphic Jacobi forms. The finite parts of these functions, which are mixed mock Jacobi forms, account for the degeneracy of states stable throughout the moduli space of the compactification. In this paper, we obtain an exact asymptotic expansion for their Fourier coefficients, refining the Hardy-Ramanujan-Littlewood circle method to deal with their mixed-mock character. The result is compared to a low-energy supergravity computation of the exact entropy of extremal dyonic 1/4-BPS single-…
We show that a Rademacher expansion can be used to establish an exact bound for the entropy of black holes within a conformal field theory framework. This convergent expansion includes all subleading corrections to the Bekenstein-Hawking term.
We derive an eikonal approximation to high energy interactions in Anti-de Sitter spacetime, by generalizing a position space derivation of the eikonal amplitude in flat space. We are able to resum, in terms of a generalized phase shift, ladder and cross ladder graphs associated to the exchange of a spin j field, to all orders in the coupling constant. Using the AdS/CFT correspondence, the resulting amplitude determines the behavior of the dual conformal field theory four point function < O_1 O_2 O_1 O_2 > for small values of the cross ratios, in a Lorentzian regime. Finally we show that the ph…
We clarify and further explore the CFT dual of shockwave geometries in Anti-de Sitter. The shockwave is dual to a CFT state produced by a heavy local operator inserted at a complex point. It can also be created by light operators, smeared over complex positions. We describe the dictionary in both cases, and compare to various calculations, old and new. In CFT, we analyze the operator product expansion in the Regge limit, and find that the leading contribution is exactly the shockwave operator, $\int du h_{uu}$, localized on a bulk geodesic. For heavy sources this is a simple consequence of con…
We study the Fareytail expansion of the topological partition function of N=4 SU(N) super Yang-Mills theory on K3. We argue that this expansion corresponds to a sum over geometries in asymptotically AdS_3 spacetime, which is holographically dual to a large number of coincident fundamental heterotic strings.
The large $N$ expansion of giant graviton correlators is considered. Giant gravitons are described using operators with a bare dimension of order $N$. In this case the usual $1/N$ expansion is not applicable and there are contributions to the correlator that are non-perturbative in character. By writing the (square of the) correlators in terms of the hypergeometric function ${}_2F_1(a,b;c;1)$, we are able to rephrase the $1/N$ expansion of the correlator as a semi-classical expansion for a Schrödinger equation. In this way we are able to argue that the $1/N$ expansion of the correlator is Bore…
We continue the effort to optimise and generalise the solution of the spectral problem of AdS$_5$/CFT$_4$ in the planar limit via integrability. We present a simple strategy to solve the quantum spectral curve perturbatively for general states by focusing on the $\mathbf{P}μ$-system. A Mathematica notebook with an implementation of this algorithm is provided, as well as an extensive database with a user-friendly interface containing more than 8.000 solutions of the QSC. When investigating the solution space, we observe a curious phenomenon: existence of solutions for which the Q-system degener…
We consider four dimensional $U(N)$ $\mathcal N=4$ SYM theory interacting with a 3d $\mathcal N=4$ theory living on a codimension-one interface and holographically dual to the D3-D5 system without flux. Localization captures several observables in this dCFT, including its free energy, related to the defect expectation value, and single trace $\frac{1}{2}$-BPS composite scalars. These quantities may be computed in a hermitian one-matrix model with non-polynomial single-trace potential. We exploit the integrable Volterra hierarchy underlying the matrix model and systematically study its $1/N$ ex…
The locality of bulk physics at distances below the AdS length is one of the remarkable aspects of AdS/CFT duality, and one of the least tested. It requires that the AdS radius be large compared to the Planck length and the string length. In the CFT this implies a large-N expansion and a gap in the spectum of anomalous dimensions. We conjecture that the implication also runs in the other direction, so that any CFT with a planar expansion and a large gap has a local bulk dual. For an abstract CFT we formulate the consistency conditions, most notably crossing symmetry, and show that the conjectu…
We study various aspects of the M-theory uplift of the $A_{N-1}$ series of $(2,0)$ CFTs in 6d, which describe the worldvolume theory of $N$ M5 branes in flat space. We show how knowledge of OPE coefficients and scaling dimensions for this CFT can be directly translated into features of the momentum expansion of M-theory. In particular, we develop the expansion of the four-graviton S-matrix in M-theory via the flat space limit of four-point Mellin amplitudes. This includes correctly reproducing the known contribution of the $R^4$ term from 6d CFT data. Central to the calculation are the OPE coe…
Hellerman et al. (arXiv:1505.01537) have shown that in a generic CFT the spectrum of operators carrying a large U(1) charge can be analyzed semiclassically in an expansion in inverse powers of the charge. The key is the operator state correspondence by which such operators are associated with a finite density superfluid phase for the theory quantized on the cylinder. The dynamics is dominated by the corresponding Goldstone hydrodynamic mode and the derivative expansion coincides with the inverse charge expansion. We illustrate and further clarify this situation by first considering simple quan…
We present a non-perturbative resummation of the asymptotic strong-coupling expansion for the dressing phase factor of the AdS_5xS^5 string S-matrix. The non-perturbative resummation provides a general form for the coefficients in the weak-coupling expansion, in agreement with crossing symmetry and transcendentality. The ambiguities of the non-perturbative prescription are discussed together with the similarities with the non-perturbative definition of the c=1 matrix model.
The Gross-Neveu model defines a unitary CFT of interacting fermions in $2<d<4$ which has perturbative descriptions in the $1/N$ expansion and in the epsilon-expansion near two and four dimensions. In each of these descriptions, the CFT has an infinite tower of nearly conserved currents of all spins. We determine the structure of the non-conservation equations both at large $N$ and in the epsilon-expansion, and use it to find the leading order anomalous dimensions of the broken currents. Similarly, we use the fact that the CFT spectrum includes a nearly free fermion to fix the leading anomalous…
The loop expansion of the effective action is used to evaluate quantum corrections to a scalar field theory (massive phi^4 model) on AdS. We evaluate one loop corrections and show that they preserve conformal invariance of the boundary theory as conjectured by AdS/CFT correspondence.
We investigate the behaviour of the mutual information $\mathcal{I}_{AB}$ between two "small" and wide separated spherical regions $A$ and $B$ in the $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM gauge theory dual to Type IIB string theory in $AdS_5 \times S^5$. To this end, the mutual information is recasted in terms of correlators of surface operators $\mathcal{W}\left( Σ\right)$ defined along a surface $Σ$ within the boundary gauge theory. This construction relies on the strong analogies between the twist field operators appearing in the replica trick method used for the computation of the entanglement entropy, and …
The series of perturbative fluctuations around a multi-instanton contribution to a specific class of correlation functions of supercurrents in $\cal N=4$ supersymmetric SU(N) Yang-Mills theory is examined in the light of the AdS/CFT correspondence. Subject to certain plausible assumptions, we argue that a given term in the 1/N expansion in such a background receives only a finite number of perturbative corrections in the 't Hooft limit. Such instanton non-renormalisation theorems would explain, for example, the exact agreement of certain weak coupling Yang-Mills instanton calculations with the…
The ratio of shear viscosity to entropy density in a strongly coupled CFT plasma can be computed using the AdS/CFT correspondence either from equilibrium correlation functions or from the Janik-Peschanski dual of the boost invariant plasma expansion. We point out that the previously found disagreement for eta/s at finite t' Hooft coupling is resolved once the incoming-wave boundary condition for metric fluctuations at the horizon of the dual geometry is properly imposed.
We develop a formalism to evaluate generic scalar exchange diagrams in AdS_{d+1} relevant for the calculation of four-point functions in AdS/CFT correspondence. The result may be written as an infinite power series of functions of cross-ratios. Logarithmic singularities appear in all orders whenever the dimensions of involved operators satisfy certain relations. We show that the AdS_{d+1} amplitude can be written in a form recognisable as the conformal partial wave expansion of a four-point function in CFT_{d} and identify the spectrum of intermediate operators. We find that, in addition to th…
We write an integral equation that incorporates finite corrections to the large spin asymptotics of N=4 SYM twist operators from the non-linear integral equation. We show that these corrections are an all-loop result, not affected by wrapping effects, and agree, after determining the strong coupling expansion, with string theory predictions.
We show how the use of standard perturbative RG in dimensional regularization allows for a renormalization group based computation of both the spectrum and a family of coefficients of the operator product expansion (OPE) for a given universality class. The task is greatly simplified by a straightforward generalization of perturbation theory to a functional perturbative RG approach. We illustrate our procedure in the $ε$-expansion by obtaining the next-to-leading corrections for the spectrum and the leading corrections for the OPE coefficients of Ising and Lee-Yang universality classes and then…
In two remarkable recent papers, hep-th/0610248 and hep-th/0610251, the complete planar perturbative expansion was proposed for the universal function of the coupling, f(g), appearing in the dimensions of high-spin operators of the N=4 SYM theory. We study numerically the integral equation derived in hep-th/0610251, which implements a resummation of the perturbative expansion, and find a smooth function that approaches the asymptotic form predicted by string theory. In fact, the two leading terms at strong coupling match with high accuracy the results obtained for the semiclassical folded stri…
We formally extend the CFT techniques introduced in arXiv:1505.00963, to $ϕ^{\frac{2d_0}{d_0-2}}$ theory in $d=d_0-ε$ dimensions and use it to compute anomalous dimensions near $d_0=3, 4$ in a unified manner. We also do a similar analysis of the $O(N)$ model in three dimensions by developing a recursive combinatorial approach for OPE contractions. Our results match precisely with low loop perturbative computations. Finally, using 3-point correlators in the CFT, we comment on why the $ϕ^3$ theory in $d_0=6$ is qualitatively different.
We consider the AdS_2/CFT_1 holographic correspondence near the horizon of big four-dimensional black holes preserving four supersymmetries in toroidally compactified Type-II string theory. The boundary partition function of CFT_1 is given by the known quantum degeneracies of these black holes. The bulk partition function is given by a functional integral over string fields in AdS_2. Using recent results on localization we reduce the infinite-dimensional functional integral to a finite number of ordinary integrals over a space of localizing instantons. Under reasonable assumptions about the re…
We investigate sub-AdS scale locality in a weakly coupled toy model of the AdS$_3$/CFT$_2$ correspondence. We find that this simple model has the correct density of states at low and high energies to be dual to Einstein gravity coupled to matter in AdS$_3$. Bulk correlation functions also have the correct behavior at leading order in the large $N$ expansion, but non-local effects emerge at order $1/N$. Our analysis leads to the conjecture that any large $N$ CFT$_2$ that is modular invariant and has the right low-energy density of states is dual to a gravitational theory with sub-AdS scale loca…
We give a unified treatment of dispersive sum rules for four-point correlators in conformal field theory. We call a sum rule dispersive if it has double zeros at all double-twist operators above a fixed twist gap. Dispersive sum rules have their conceptual origin in Lorentzian kinematics and absorptive physics (the notion of double discontinuity). They have been discussed using three seemingly different methods: analytic functionals dual to double-twist operators, dispersion relations in position space, and dispersion relations in Mellin space. We show that these three approaches can be mapped…
The generating functional of correlation functions of the currents corresponding to general massless $p$-form potential is calculated in $AdS/CFT$ correspondence of Maldacena. For this we construct the boundary-to-bulk Green's functions of $p$-form potentials. The proportional constant of the current-current correlation function, which is related to the central charge of the operator product expansion, is shown to be $c=(d-p\over 2π^{d/2}) (Γ(d-p) \over Γ({d\over 2}-p)).$ The result agrees with the known cases such as $p=1$ or 2.
Following Polchinski and Sully (arXiv:1104.5077), we consider a generalized Wilson loop operator containing a constant parameter $ζ$ in front of the scalar coupling term, so that $ζ=0$ corresponds to the standard Wilson loop, while $ζ=1$ to the locally supersymmetric one. We compute the expectation value of this operator for circular loop as a function of $ζ$ to second order in the planar weak coupling expansion in N=4 SYM theory. We then explain the relation of the expansion near the two conformal points $ζ=0$ and $ζ=1$ to the correlators of scalar operators inserted on the loop. We also disc…
This paper investigates scalar perturbations in the top-down supersymmetric Janus solutions dual to conformal interfaces in the $D1/D5$ CFT, finding analytic closed-form solutions. We obtain an explicit representation of the bulk-to-bulk propagator and extract the two-point correlation function of the dual operator with itself, whose form is not fixed by symmetry alone. We give an expression involving the sum of conformal blocks associated with the bulk-defect operator product expansion and briefly discuss finite-temperature extensions. To our knowledge, this is the first two-point function co…
We study the quasiclassical expansion associated with a complex curve. In a more specific context this is the 1/N expansion in U(N)-invariant matrix integrals. We compare two approaches, the CFT approach and the topological recursion, and show their equivalence. The CFT approach reformulates the problem in terms of a conformal field theory on a Riemann surface, while the topological recursion is based on a recurrence equation for the observables representing symplectic invariants on the complex curve. The two approaches lead to two different graph expansions, one of which can be obtained as a …
We propose and demonstrate a new use for conformal field theory (CFT) crossing equations in the context of AdS/CFT: the computation of loop amplitudes in AdS, dual to non-planar correlators in holographic CFTs. Loops in AdS are largely unexplored, mostly due to technical difficulties in direct calculations. We revisit this problem, and the dual $1/N$ expansion of CFTs, in two independent ways. The first is to show how to explicitly solve the crossing equations to the first subleading order in $1/N^2$, given a leading order solution. This is done as a systematic expansion in inverse powers of t…
We develop an analytic approach to the four-point crossing equation in CFT, for general spacetime dimension. In a unitary CFT, the crossing equation (for, say, the s- and t-channel expansions) can be thought of as a vector equation in an infinite-dimensional space of complex analytic functions in two variables, which satisfy a boundedness condition in the u-channel Regge limit. We identify a useful basis for this space of functions, consisting of the set of s- and t-channel conformal blocks of double-twist operators in mean field theory. We describe two independent algorithms to construct the …
We calculate, for the first time, three-point correlation functions involving "heavy" operators in the Schrodinger/null-dipole CFT correspondence at strong coupling. In particular, we focus on the three-point functions of the dilaton modes and two "heavy" operators. The heavy states are dual to the single spin and dyonic magnon, the single spin and dyonic spike solutions or to two novel string solutions which do not have an undeformed counterpart. Our results provide the leading term of the correlators in the large $λ$ expansion and are in perfect agreement with the form of the correlator dict…
Using conformal field theory (CFT) arguments we derive an infinite number of constraints on the large spin expansion of the anomalous dimensions and structure constants of higher spin operators. These arguments rely only on analiticity, unitarity, crossing-symmetry and the structure of the conformal partial wave expansion. We obtain results for both, perturbative CFT to all order in the perturbation parameter, as well as non-perturbatively. For the case of conformal gauge theories this provides a proof of the reciprocity principle to all orders in perturbation theory and provides a new "recipr…
We compute the phase shift of a highly energetic particle traveling in the background of an asymptotically AdS black hole. In the dual CFT, the phase shift is related to a four point function in the Regge limit. The black hole mass is translated to the ratio between the conformal dimension of a heavy operator and the central charge. This ratio serves as a useful expansion parameter; its power measures the number of stress tensors appearing in the intermediate channel. We compute the leading term in the phase shift in a holographic CFT of arbitrary dimensionality using Conformal Regge Theory an…
We count the number of independent solutions to crossing constraints of four point functions involving charged scalars and charged fermions in a CFT with large gap in the spectrum. To find the CFT data we employ recently developed analytical functionals to charged fields. We compute the corresponding higher dimensional flat space S matrices in an independent group theoretic manner and obtain agreement with our CFT counting of ambiguities. We also write down the local lagrangians explicitly. Our work lends further evidence to \cite{Heemskerk:2009pn} that any CFT with a large charge expansion an…
For holographic CFT states near the vacuum, entanglement entropies for spatial subsystems can be expressed perturbatively as an expansion in the one-point functions of local operators dual to light bulk fields. Using the connection between quantum Fisher information for CFT states and canonical energy for the dual spacetimes, we describe a general formula for this expansion up to second-order in the one-point functions, for an arbitrary ball-shaped region, extending the first-order result given by the entanglement first law. For two-dimensional CFTs, we use this to derive a completely explicit…
