We use the equations of motion in combination with crossing symmetry to constrain the properties of interacting fermionic boundary conformal field theories. This combination is an efficient way of determining operator product expansion coefficients and anomalous dimensions at the first few orders of the $ε$ expansion. Two necessary ingredients for this procedure are knowledge of the boundary and bulk spinor conformal blocks. The bulk spinor conformal blocks are derived here for the first time. We then consider a number of examples. For $ϕ$ a scalar field and $ψ$ a fermionic field, we study the effects of a $ϕ\bar ψψ$ coupling in $4- ε$ dimensions, a $ϕ^2 \bar ψψ$ coupling in $3 -ε$ dimensions, and a $(\bar ψψ)^2$ coupling in $2+ε$ dimensions. We are able to compute some new anomalous dimensions for operators in these theories. Finally, we relate the anomalous dimension of a surface operator to the behavior of the charge density near the surface.
The conformal crossing equation puts very stringent constraints on the conformal data. We formulate it in way that makes the conformal symmetry more transparent. This allows for generalization of the crossing equation to arbitrary Lie group G. Using the crossing equation for SU(2) as a toy model, we find infinitely many solutions to the G-crossing equation. In particular, when G is specialized to the conformal group SO(d+1,1), we get infinitely many solutions to the conformal crossing equation.
We study the properties of operators in a unitary conformal field theory whose scaling dimensions approach each other for some values of the parameters and satisfy von Neumann-Wigner non-crossing rule. We argue that the scaling dimensions of such operators and their OPE coefficients have a universal scaling behavior in the vicinity of the crossing point. We demonstrate that the obtained relations are in a good agreement with the known examples of the level-crossing phenomenon in maximally supersymmetric $\mathcal N=4$ Yang-Mills theory, three-dimensional conformal field theories and QCD.
In this note, we explore the relation between crossing symmetry and modular invariance in conformal field theory and S-duality in gauge theory. It is shown that partition functions of different S dual theories of N=2 SU(2) gauge theory with four fundamentals can be derived from the crossing symmetry of the Liouville four point function. We also show that the partition function of N=4 SU(2) gauge theory can be derived from the Liouville partition function on torus.
Analyticity and crossing properties of four point function are investigated in conformal field theories in the frameworks of Wightman axioms. A Hermitian scalar conformal field, satisfying the Wightman axioms, is considered. The crucial role of microcausality in deriving analyticity domains is discussed and domains of analyticity are presented. A pair of permuted Wightman functions are envisaged. The crossing property is derived by appealing to the technique of analytic completion for the pair of permuted Wightman functions. The operator product expansion of a pair of scalar fields is studied …
In this note, we present an alternative representation of the conformal block with external scalars in general spacetime dimensions in terms of a finite summation over Appell fourth hypergeometric function ${\bf{F}}_4$. We also construct its generalization to the non-local primary exchange operator with continuous spin and its corresponding Mellin representation which are relevant for Lorentzian spacetime. Using these results we apply the Lorentzian inversion formula to compute so-called crossing kernel in general spacetime dimensions, the resultant expression can be written as a double infini…
A program of wide interest in modern conformal bootstrap studies is to numerically solve general conformal field theories, based on a critical assumption that the dynamics is encoded in the conformal four-point crossing equations and positivity condition. In this letter we propose and verify a novel algebraic property of the crossing equations which provides strong restriction for this program. We show for various types of symmetries $\cal G$, the crossing equations can be linearly converted into the $SO(N)$ vector crossing equations associated with the $SO(N)\rightarrow \cal G$ branching rule…
Using conformal field theory, we derive several new crossing formulas at the two-dimensional percolation point. High-precision simulation confirms these results. Integrating them gives a unified derivation of Cardy's formula for the horizontal crossing probability $Π_h(r)$, Watts' formula for the horizontal-vertical crossing probability $Π_{hv}(r)$, and Cardy's formula for the expected number of clusters crossing horizontally $\mathcal{N}_h(r)$. The main step in our approach implies the identification of the derivative of one primary operator with another. We present operator identities that s…
The Jain theory of hierarchical Hall states is reconsidered in the light of recent analyses that have found exact relations between projected Jain wavefunctions and conformal field theory correlators. We show that the underlying conformal theory is precisely given by the W-infinity minimal models introduced earlier. This theory involves a reduction of the multicomponent Abelian theory that is similar to the projection to the lowest Landau level in the Jain approach. The projection yields quasihole excitations obeying non-Abelian fractional statistics. The analysis closely parallels the bosonic…
Spectral flow of chiral fermions in the background of electroweak sphalerons is studied. A fermion field configuration that interpolates between the sphaleron zero mode and the asymptotic fermion modes is proposed for the level crossing left handed fermion fields. It is shown that the fermionic electromagnetic currents with non-trivial helicity are produced during the level crossing. Cosmic magnetic field generation due to these currents is briefly discussed.
We describe the dynamics of a single fermion in a dispersionless band coupled to the 2+1 dimensional conformal field theory (CFT) describing the quantum phase transition of a bosonic order parameter with N components. The fermionic spectral functions are expected to apply to the vicinity of quantum critical points in two-dimensional metals over an intermediate temperature regime where the Landau damping of the order parameter can be neglected. Some of our results are obtained by a mapping to an auxiliary problem of a CFT containing a defect line with an external field which locally breaks the …
We investigate two aspects of conformal field theories. In the first part, we study the general 4-point correlator of identical scalars around the fully crossing symmetric point $u=v=1$, where $u,v$ are conformally invariant cross ratios. Since this point is fully crossing invariant, we can deduce some general properties of the 4-point correlators from crossing symmetry. In the second part, we discuss the conformal bootstrap with OPE truncations. As a generalization of Gliozzi's method, we propose to extract the low-lying CFT data by minimizing the "error" induced by an OPE truncation. The err…
We initiate the study of the conformal bootstrap using Sturm-Liouville theory, specializing to four-point functions in one-dimensional CFTs. We do so by decomposing conformal correlators using a basis of eigenfunctions of the Casimir which are labeled by a complex number alpha. This leads to a systematic method for computing conformal block decompositions. Analyzing bootstrap equations in alpha space turns crossing symmetry into an eigenvalue problem for an integral operator K. The operator K is closely related to the Wilson transform, and some of its eigenfunctions can be found in closed form…
Based on our earlier work on free field realizations of conformal blocks for conformal field theories with $SL(2)$ current algebra and with fractional level and spins, we discuss in some detail the fusion rules which arise. By a careful analysis of the 4-point functions, we find that both the fusion rules previously found in the literature are realized in our formulation. Since this is somewhat contrary to our expectations in our first work based on 3-point functions, we reanalyse the 3-point functions and come to the same conclusion. We compare our results on 4-point conformal blocks in parti…
We construct the complete set of boundary states of two-dimensional fermionic CFTs using that of the bosonic counterpart. We see that there are two groups of boundary conditions, which contributes to the open-string partition function by characters with integer coefficients, or with $\sqrt{2}$ times integer coefficients. We argue that, using the argument of [JHEP 09 (2020) 018], this $\sqrt{2}$ indicates a single unpaired Majorana zero mode, and that these two groups of boundary conditions are mutually incompatible. We end the paper by mentioning a possible interpretation of the result in term…
In theories with anomalous fermion number nonconservation, the level crossing picture is considered a faithful representation of the fermionic quantum number variation. It represents each created fermion by an energy level that crosses the zero-energy line from below. If several fermions of various masses are created, the level crossing picture contains several levels that cross the zero-energy line and cross each other. However, we know from quantum mechanics that the corresponding levels cannot cross if the different fermions are mixed via some interaction potential. The simultaneous applica…
We study the large class of solvable lattice models, based on the data of conformal field theory. These models are constructed from any conformal field theory. We consider the lattice models based on affine algebras described by Jimbo et al., for the algebras $ABCD$ and by Kuniba et al. for $G_2$. We find a general formula for the crossing multipliers of these models. It is shown that these crossing multipliers are also given by the principally specialized characters of the model in question. Therefore we conjecture that the crossing multipliers in this large class of solvable interaction roun…
The physical properties of arbitrary half-integer spins F = N - 1/2 fermionic cold atoms loaded into a one-dimensional optical lattice are investigated by means of a conformal field theory approach. We show that for attractive interactions two different superfluid phases emerge for F \ge 3/2: A BCS pairing phase, and a molecular superfluid phase which is formed from bound-states made of 2N fermions. In the low-energy approach, the competition between these instabilities and charge-density waves is described in terms of Z_N parafermionic degrees of freedom. The quantum phase transition for F=3/…
We study conformal partial waves (CPWs) in Mellin space with totally symmetric external operators of arbitrary integer spin. The exchanged spin is arbitrary, and includes mixed symmetry and (partially)-conserved representations. In a basis of CPWs recently introduced in arXiv:1702.08619, we find a remarkable factorisation of the external spin dependence in their Mellin representation. This property allows a relatively straightforward study of inversion formulae to extract OPE data from the Mellin representation of spinning 4pt correlators and in particular, to extract closed-form expressions f…
We investigate analyticity properties of correlation functions in conformal field theories (CFT) in the Wightman formulation. The goal is to determine domain of holomorphy of permuted Wightman functions. We focus on crossing property of three-point functions. The domain of holomorphy of a pair of three-point functions is determined by appealing to Jost's theorem and by adopting the technique of analytic completion. This program paves the way to address the issue of crossing for the four-point functions on a rigorous footing.
We compute the conformal blocks associated with scalar-scalar-fermion-fermion 4-point functions in 3D CFTs. Together with the known scalar conformal blocks, our result completes the task of determining the so-called `seed blocks' in three dimensions. Conformal blocks associated with 4-point functions of operators with arbitrary spins can now be determined from these seed blocks by using known differential operators.
We construct a crossing symmetric basis for conformal four-point functions in momentum space by requiring consistent factorization. Just as scattering amplitudes factorize when the intermediate particle is on-shell, non-analytic parts of conformal correlators enjoy a similar factorization in momentum space. Based on this property, Polyakov, in his pioneering 1974 work, introduced a basis for conformal correlators which manifestly satisfies the crossing symmetry. He then initiated the bootstrap program by requiring its consistency with the operator product expansion. This approach is complement…
Conformal totally symmetric arbitrary spin fermionic fields propagating in the flat space-time of even dimension greater than or equal to four are investigated. First-derivative metric-like formulation involving Fang-Fronsdal kinetic operator for such fields is developed. Gauge invariant Lagrangian and the corresponding gauge transformations are obtained. Gauge symmetries of the Lagrangian are realized by using auxiliary fields and the Stueckelberg fields. Realization of conformal algebra symmetries on the space of conformal gauge fermionic fields is obtained. The on-shell degrees of freedom o…
In this paper, we apply the K-theory scheme of classifying the topological insulators/superconductors to classify the topological classes of the massive multi-flavor fermions in anti-de Sitter (AdS) space. In the context of AdS/CFT correspondence, the multi-flavor fermionic mass matrix is dual to the pattern of operator mixing in the boundary conformal field theory (CFT). Thus, our results classify the possible patterns of operator mixings among fermionic operators in the holographic CFT.
We present explicit computations and conjectures for $2 \to 2$ scattering matrices in large $N$ {\it $U(N)$} Chern-Simons theories coupled to fundamental bosonic or fermionic matter to all orders in the 't Hooft coupling expansion. The bosonic and fermionic S-matrices map to each other under the recently conjectured Bose-Fermi duality after a level-rank transposition. The S-matrices presented in this paper may be regarded as relativistic generalization of Aharonov-Bohm scattering. They have unusual structural features: they include a non analytic piece localized on forward scattering, and obey…
The conjecture that the states of the fermionic quasi-particles in minimal conformal field theories are eigenstates of the integrals of motion to certain eigenvalues is checked and shown to be correct only for the Ising model.
A free fermion representation of the rolling tachyon boundary conformal field theory is constructed. The representation is used to obtain an explicit, compact, exact expression for the boundary state. We use the boundary state to compute the disc and cylinder amplitudes for the half-S-brane.
A class of algebras is constructed using free fermions and the invariant antisymmetric tensors associated with irreducible holonomy groups. (This version contains minor typographical corrections and some additional references. )
Our previous work [1] constructed, in three-dimensional momentum space, a manifestly crossing symmetric basis for scalar conformal four-point functions, based on the factorization property proposed by Polyakov. This work extends this construction to general dimensional conformal field theory. To facilitate the treatment of symmetric traceless tensors, we exploit techniques of spherical harmonics in general dimensions.
We compute the central charge $C_T$ and universal conductivity $C_J$ of $N_F$ fermions coupled to a $U(1)$ gauge field up to next-to-leading order in the $1/N_F$ expansion. We discuss implications of these precision computations as a diagnostic for response and entanglement properties of interacting conformal field theories for strongly correlated condensed matter phases and conformal quantum electrodynamics in $2+1$ dimensions.
The explicit form of conformal generators is found which provides the extension of Poincare symmetry for massless particles of arbitrary helicity. The helicity 1/2 particles are considered as the particular example. The realization of conformal symmetry in the semiclassical regime of Weyl equation is obtained.
We apply recently constructed functional bases to the numerical conformal bootstrap for 1D CFTs. We argue and show that numerical results in this basis converge much faster than the traditional derivative basis. In particular, truncations of the crossing equation with even a handful of components can lead to extremely accurate results, in opposition to hundreds of components in the usual approach. We explain how this is a consequence of the functional basis correctly capturing the asymptotics of bound-saturating extremal solutions to crossing. We discuss how these methods can and should be imp…
In this paper, we use an M-theory model to conjecture the refined reminiscence of the OSV formula connecting the refined topological string partition function with the refined BPS states partition function for the toric Calabi-Yau threefolds without any compact four cycles. Further, we show how to use the vertex operators in 2d free fermions to reproduce the refined BPS states partition function for the $\mathbb{C}^3$ case and the wall-crossing formulas of the refined BPS states partition function for the resolved conifold and $\mathcal{O}(-2)\oplus\mathcal{O}\rightarrow \mathbb{P}^1$ cases.
We examine crossing probabilities and free energies for conformally invariant critical 2-D systems in rectangular geometries, derived via conformal field theory and Stochastic Löwner Evolution methods. These quantities are shown to exhibit interesting modular behavior, although the physical meaning of modular transformations in this context is not clear. We show that in many cases these functions are completely characterized by very simple transformation properties. In particular, Cardy's function for the percolation crossing probability (including the conformal dimension 1/3), follows from a …
We systematically study the exclusion statistics for quasi-particles for Conformal Field Theory spectra by employing a method based on recursion relations for truncated spectra. Our examples include generalized fermions in c<1 unitary minimal models, Z_k parafermions, and spinons for the su(n)_1, so(n)_1 and sp(2n)_1 Wess-Zumino-Witten models. For some of the latter examples we present explicit expressions for finitized affine characters and for the N-spinon decomposition of affine characters.
We investigate the constraints of crossing symmetry on CFT correlation functions. Four point conformal blocks are naturally viewed as functions on the upper-half plane, on which crossing symmetry acts by PSL(2,Z) modular transformations. This allows us to construct a unique, crossing symmetric function out of a given conformal block by averaging over PSL(2,Z). In some two dimensional CFTs the correlation functions are precisely equal to the modular average of the contributions of a finite number of light states. For example, in the two dimensional Ising and tri-critical Ising model CFTs, the c…
We describe wall-crossing for local, toric Calabi-Yau manifolds without compact four-cycles, in terms of free fermions, vertex operators, and crystal melting. Firstly, to each such manifold we associate two states in the free fermion Hilbert space. The overlap of these states reproduces the BPS partition function corresponding to the non-commutative Donaldson-Thomas invariants, given by the modulus square of the topological string partition function. Secondly, we introduce the wall-crossing operators which represent crossing the walls of marginal stability associated to changes of the B-field …
Celestial diamonds encode the global conformal multiplets of the conformally soft sector, elucidating the role of soft theorems, symmetry generators and Goldstone modes. Upon adding supersymmetry they stack into a pyramid. Here we treat the soft charges associated to the fermionic layers that tie this structure together. This extends the analysis of conformally soft currents for photons and gravitons which have been shown to generate asymptotic symmetries in gauge theory and gravity to infinite-dimensional fermionic symmetries. We construct fermionic charge operators in 2D celestial CFT from a…
We define Mellin amplitudes for the fermion-scalar four point function and the fermion four point function. The Mellin amplitude thus defined has multiple components each associated with a tensor structure. In the case of three spacetime dimensions, we explicitly show that each component factorizes on dynamical poles onto components of the Mellin amplitudes for the corresponding three point functions. The novelty here is that for a given exchanged primary, each component of the Mellin amplitude may in general have more than one series of poles. We present a few examples of Mellin amplitudes fo…
It is shown that Weyl spinors in 4D Minkowski space are composed of primary fields of half-integer conformal weights. This yields representations of fermionic 2-point functions in terms of correlators of primary fields with a factorized transformation behavior under the Lorentz group. I employ this observation to determine the general structure of the corresponding Lorentz covariant correlators by methods similar to the methods employed in conformal field theory to determine 2- and 3-point functions of primary fields. In particular, the chiral symmetry breaking terms resemble fermionic 2-point…
We prove a generalization of the Verlinde formula to fermionic rational conformal field theories. The fusion coefficients of the fermionic theory are equal to sums of fusion coefficients of its bosonic projection. In particular, fusion coefficients of the fermionic theory connecting two conjugate Ramond fields with the identity are either one or two. Therefore, one is forced to weaken the axioms of fusion algebras for fermionic theories. We show that in the special case of fermionic W(2,d)-algebras these coefficients are given by the dimensions of the irreducible representations of the horizon…
We reconstruct an explicit model of modified gravity in which a crossing of the phantom divide can be realized. It is shown that the (finite-time) Big Rip singularity appears in the model of modified gravity (i.e., in the so-called Jordan frame), whereas that in the corresponding scalar field theory obtained through the conformal transformation (i.e., in the so-called Einstein frame) the singularity becomes the infinite-time one. Furthermore, we investigate the relations between the scalar field theories with realizing a crossing of the phantom divide and the corresponding modified gravitation…
Fermionic totally symmetric arbitrary spin massless fields in AdS space of dimension greater than or equal to four are studied. Using Poincaré parametrization of AdS space, CFT adapted gauge invariant formulation for such fields is developed. We demonstrate that the curvature and radial coordinate contributions to Lagrangian and gauge transformation of the AdS fields can be expressed in terms of ladder operators. Covariant and modified de Donder gauge conditions are proposed. The modified de Donder gauge leads to decoupled equations of motion which can easily be solved in terms of the Bessel f…
We study conformal twist field four-point functions on a $\mathbb Z_N$ orbifold. We examine in detail the case $N=3$ and analyze theories obtained by replicated $N$-times a minimal model with central charge $c<1$. A fastly convergent expansion of the twist field correlation function in terms of sphere conformal blocks with central charge $Nc$ is obtained by exploiting covering map techniques. We discuss extensive applications of the formalism to the entanglement of two disjoint intervals in CFT, in particular we propose a conformal block expansion for the partially transposed reduced density m…
In this paper, we analyze the constraints imposed by unitarity and crossing symmetry on conformal theories in large dimensions. In particular, we show that in a unitary conformal theory in large dimension $D$, the four-point function of identical scalar operators $ϕ$ with scaling dimension $Δ_ϕ$ such that $Δ_ϕ/D<3/4$, is necessarily that of the generalized free field theory. This result follows only from crossing symmetry and unitarity. In particular, we do not impose the existence of a conserved spin two operator (stress tensor). We also present an argument to extend the applicability of this…
We define Modular Linear Differential Equations (MLDE) for the level-two congruence subgroups $Γ_\vartheta$, $Γ^0(2)$ and $Γ_0(2)$ of $\text{SL}_2(\mathbb Z)$. Each subgroup corresponds to one of the spin structures on the torus. The pole structures of the fermionic MLDEs are investigated by exploiting the valence formula for the level-two congruence subgroups. We focus on the first and second order holomorphic MLDEs without poles and use them to find a large class of `Fermionic Rational Conformal Field Theories', which have non-negative integer coefficients in the $q$-series expansion of thei…
We employ the conformal bootstrap to re-examine the problem of finding the critical behavior of four-Fermion theory at its strong coupling fixed point. Existence of a solution of the bootstrap equations indicates self-consistency of the assumption that, in space-time dimensions less than four, the renormalization group flow of the coupling constant of a four-Fermion interaction has a nontrivial fixed point which is generally out of the perturbative regime. We exploit the hypothesis of conformal invariance at this fixed point to reduce the set of the Schwinger-Dyson bootstrap equations for four…
General fermionic expressions for the branching functions of the rational coset conformal field theories $\widehat{su}(2)_{M}\times \widehat{su}(2)_N/\widehat{su}(2)_{M+N}$ are given. The equality of the bosonic and fermionic representations for the branching functions is proven by introducing polynomial truncations of these branching functions which are the configuration sums of the RSOS models in regime III. The path space interpretation of the RSOS models provides recursion relations for the configuration sums. The proof of the recursion relations for the fermionic expressions is given by u…
These lectures were given at the Weizmann Institute in the spring of 2019. They are intended to familiarize students with the nuts and bolts of the numerical bootstrap as efficiently as possible. After a brief review of the basics of conformal field theory in $d>2$ spacetime dimensions, we discuss how to compute conformal blocks, formulate the crossing equations as a semi-definite programming problem, solve this problem using SDPB on a personal computer, and interpret the results. We include worked examples for all steps, including bounds for 3d CFTs with $\mathbb{Z}_2$ or $O(N)$ global symmet…
It is well known that instantons are classical topological solutions existing in the context of quantum field theories that lie behind the standard model of particles. To provide a better understanding for the dynamical nature of spinor-type instanton solutions, conformal invariant pure spinor fermionic models that admit particle-like solutions for the derived classical field equations are studied in this work under cosine wave forcing. For this purpose the effects of external periodic forcing on two systems having different dimensions and quantum spinor numbers and have been obtained under th…
