Classification of Convergent OPE Channels for Lorentzian CFT Four-Point Functions
Jiaxin Qiao
备注：
v1:50+23 pages, 14 figures, 16 tables v2:a few typos corrected, figure 5,7,9,10 improved, bibliography improved v3: a quick summary added at the beginning, bibliography updated, Mathematica code added in the ancillary folder v4 template replaced v5: minor revision, a few more examples/footnotes added v6 Mathematica code added in the ancillary folder
We analyze the convergence properties of operator product expansions (OPE) for Lorentzian CFT four-point functions of scalar operators. We give a complete classification of Lorentzian four-point configurations. All configurations in each class have the same OPE convergence properties in s-, t- and u-channels. We give tables including the information of OPE convergence for all classes. Our work justifies that in a subset of the configuration space, Lorentzian CFT four-point functions are genuine analytic functions. Our results are valid for unitary CFTs in $d\geq2$. Our work also provides some Lorentzian regions where one can do bootstrap analysis in the sense of functions.
We argue that the Lorentzian path integral is a better starting point for quantum cosmology than the Euclidean version. In particular, we revisit the mini-superspace calculation of the Feynman path integral for quantum gravity with a positive cosmological constant. Instead of rotating to Euclidean time, we deform the contour of integration over metrics into the complex plane, exploiting Picard-Lefschetz theory to transform the path integral from a conditionally convergent integral into an absolutely convergent one. We show that this procedure unambiguously determines which semiclassical saddle…
Conformal field theories (CFTs) in Euclidean signature satisfy well-accepted rules, such as conformal invariance and the convergent Euclidean operator product expansion (OPE). Nowadays, it is common to assume that CFT correlators exist and have various properties in the Lorentzian signature. Some of these properties may represent extra assumptions, and it is an open question if they hold for familiar statistical-physics CFTs such as the critical 3d Ising model. In this thesis, we clarify that at the level of four-point functions, the Euclidean CFT axioms imply the standard quantum field theory…
Caron-Huot has recently given an interesting formula that determines OPE data in a conformal field theory in terms of a weighted integral of the four-point function over a Lorentzian region of cross-ratio space. We give a new derivation of this formula based on Wick rotation in spacetime rather than cross-ratio space. The derivation is simple in two dimensions but more involved in higher dimensions. We also derive a Lorentzian inversion formula in one dimension that sheds light on previous observations about the chaos regime in the SYK model.
The gravitational path-integral of Gauss-Bonnet gravity is investigated and the transition from one spacelike boundary configuration to another is analyzed. Of particular interest is the case of Neumann and Robin boundary conditions which is known to lead to a stable Universe in Einstein-Hilbert gravity in four spacetime dimensions. After setting up the variational problem and computing the necessary boundary terms, the transition amplitude is computed \emph{exactly} in the mini-superspace approximation. The $\hbar\to0$ limit brings out the dominant pieces in the path-integral which is traced …
In conformal field theory in Minkowski momentum space, the 3-point correlation functions of local operators are completely fixed by symmetry. Using Ward identities together with the existence of a Lorentzian operator product expansion (OPE), we show that the Wightman function of three scalar operators is a double hypergeometric series of the Appell $F_4$ type. We extend this simple closed-form expression to the case of two scalar operators and one traceless symmetric tensor with arbitrary spin. Time-ordered and partially-time-ordered products are constructed in a similar fashion and their rela…
We consider the operator product expansion (OPE) structure of scalar primary operators in a generic Lorentzian CFT and its dual description in a gravitational theory with one extra dimension. The OPE can be decomposed into certain bi-local operators transforming as the irreducible representations under conformal group, called the OPE blocks. We show the OPE block is given by integrating a higher spin field along a geodesic in the Lorentzian AdS space-time when the two operators are space-like separated. When the two operators are time-like separated however, we find the OPE block has a peculia…
We study two kinematical limits, the Regge limit and the Lorentzian OPE limit, of the four-point function of the stress-tensor multiplet in Super Yang-Mills at weak coupling. We explain how both kinematical limits are controlled by the leading twist operators. We use the known expression of the four-point function up to three loops, to extract the pomeron residue at next-to-leading order. Using this data and the known form of pomeron spin up to next-to-leading order, we predict the behaviour of the four-point function in the Regge limit at higher loops. Specifically, we determine the leading l…
We study heavy-light four-point function by employing Lorentzian inversion formula, where the conformal dimension of heavy operator is as large as central charge $C_T\rightarrow\infty$. We implement the Lorentzian inversion formula back and forth to reveal the universality of the lowest-twist multi-stress-tensor $T^k$ as well as large spin double-twist operators $[\mathcal{O}_H\mathcal{O}_L]_{n',J'}$. In this way, we also propose an algorithm to bootstrap the heavy-light four-point function by extracting relevant OPE coefficients and anomalous dimensions. By following the algorithm, we exhibit…
The main properties of indefinite Kac-Moody and Borcherds algebras, considered in a unified way as Lorentzian algebras, are reviewed. The connection with the conformal field theory of the vertex operator construction is discussed. By the folding procedure a class of subalgebras is obtained.
In a conformal field theory, two and three-point functions of scalar operators and conserved currents are completely determined, up to constants, by conformal invariance. The expressions for these correlators in Euclidean signature are long known in position space, and were fully worked out in recent years in momentum space. In Lorentzian signature, the position-space correlators simply follow from the Euclidean ones by means of the i-epsilon prescription. In this paper, we compute the Lorentzian correlators in momentum space and in arbitrary dimensions for three scalar operators by means of a…
We establish the Lorentzian AdS$_2$/CFT$_1$ correspondence from a reconstruction of all bulk points through the kinematic-space approach. The OPE block is exactly a bulk local operator. We formulate the correspondence between the bulk propagator in the non-interacting scalar field theory and the conformal block in CFT$_1$. When we consider the stress tensor, the variation probes the variation of AdS$_2$ metric. The reparameterization provides the asymptotic boundary of the bulk spacetime as in the derivation of the Schwarzian theory from two-dimensional dilaton gravity theory. Finally, we find…
CFTs in Euclidean signature satisfy well-accepted rules, such as the convergent Euclidean OPE. It is nowadays common to assume that CFT correlators exist and have various properties also in Lorentzian signature. Some of these properties may represent extra assumptions, and it is an open question if they hold for familiar statistical-physics CFTs such as the critical 3d Ising model. Here we consider Wightman 4-point functions of scalar primaries in Lorentzian signature. We derive a minimal set of their properties solely from the Euclidean unitary CFT axioms, without using extra assumptions. We …
General principles of quantum field theory imply that there exists an operator product expansion (OPE) for Wightman functions in Minkowski momentum space that converges for arbitrary kinematics. This convergence is guaranteed to hold in the sense of a distribution, meaning that it holds for correlation functions smeared by smooth test functions. The conformal blocks for this OPE are conceptually extremely simple: they are products of 3-point functions. We construct the conformal blocks in 2-dimensional conformal field theory and show that the OPE in fact converges pointwise to an ordinary func…
Institute of Modern Physics, Northwest University（西北大学现代物理研究所）；NSFC-SPTP Peng Huanwu Center for Fundamental Theory（国家自然科学基金委-理论物理中心彭桓武基础理论中心）；Department of Physics, Great Bay University（大湾区大学物理系）
A Wheeler-Dewitt quantum constraint operator for four-dimensional, non-perturbative Lorentzian vacuum quantum gravity is defined in the continuum. The regulated Wheeler-DeWitt constraint operator is densely defined, does not require any renormalization and the final operator is anomaly-free and at least symmmetric. The technique introduced here can also be used to produce a couple of other completely well-defined regulated operators including but not exhausting a) the Euclidean Wheeler-DeWitt operator, b)the generator of the Wick rotation transform that maps solutions to the Euclidean Hamilton…
We investigate the structure of two point functions for the QFT dual to an asymptotically Lorentzian AdS-wormhole. The bulk geometry is a solution of 5-dimensional second order Einstein Gauss Bonnet gravity and causally connects two asymptotically AdS space times. We revisit the GKPW prescription for computing two-point correlation functions for dual QFT operators O in Lorentzian signature and we propose to express the bulk fields in terms of the independent boundary values phi_0^\pm at each of the two asymptotic AdS regions, along the way we exhibit how the ambiguity of normalizable modes in …
We study the spectrum and OPE coefficients of the three-dimensional critical O(2) model, using four-point functions of the leading scalars with charges 0, 1, and 2 ($s$, $ϕ$, and $t$). We obtain numerical predictions for low-twist OPE data in several charge sectors using the extremal functional method. We compare the results to analytical estimates using the Lorentzian inversion formula and a small amount of numerical input. We find agreement between the analytic and numerical predictions. We also give evidence that certain scalar operators lie on double-twist Regge trajectories and obtain est…
Connes' functional formula of the Riemannian distance is generalized to the Lorentzian case using the so-called Lorentzian distance, the d'Alembert operator and the causal functions of a globally hyperbolic spacetime. As a step of the presented machinery, a proof of the almost-everywhere smoothness of the Lorentzian distance considered as a function of one of the two arguments is given. Afterwards, using a $C^*$-algebra approach, the spacetime causal structure and the Lorentzian distance are generalized into noncommutative structures giving rise to a Lorentzian version of part of Connes' nonco…
For Euclidean quantum field theories, Holland and Hollands have shown operator product expansion (OPE) coefficients satisfy "flow equations": For interaction parameter $λ$, the partial derivative of any OPE coefficient with respect to $λ$ is given by an integral over Euclidean space of a sum of products of other OPE coefficients. In this paper, we generalize these results for flat Euclidean space to curved Lorentzian spacetimes in the context of the solvable "toy model" of massive Klein-Gordon scalar field theory, with $m^2$ viewed as the "self-interaction parameter". Even in Minkowski spaceti…
