We consider three-dimensional Einstein gravity in Euclidean signature with a finite boundary of torus topology endowed with an induced metric of fixed conformal class and a constant trace of extrinsic curvature $K$. For vanishing, positive, and negative cosmological constant $Λ$, we analytically determine boundaries enclosing different patches of locally flat, de Sitter (dS$_3$), and Anti-de Sitter (AdS$_3$) spaces. We find solutions that depend non-trivially on either cycle of the torus, noting that some of them exhibit self-intersections. Adapting the Gibbons-Hawking prescription of interpreting the Euclidean gravitational path integral as a thermal partition function, we explore the rich semi-classical thermodynamic phase space of the problem. While most saddles are found to be either thermally unstable or metastable compared to those with uniform boundaries, we find inhomogeneous solutions that are thermodynamically favourable in the case of $Λ< 0$ and $2<K|Λ|^{-1/2}<3/\sqrt{2}$. Moreover, for all values of $Λ$, there exist patches of space with a non-contractible thermal circle and a macroscopic entropy. We comment on a recasting of the problem in terms of classical strings. We further analyse the problem in both the stretched dS$_3$ horizon limit and the AdS$_3$ boundary limit. Using the results for the latter, we find limitations to a proposed holographic dual that consists of a two-dimensional holographic conformal field theory coupled to timelike Liouville, deformed by a marginal $T\bar{T}$-type operator.
We discuss conformal manifolds for conformal field theories with boundaries or defects. Using conformal perturbation theory we derive constraints on coefficients appearing in the boundary operator product expansion and three-point functions that need to be satisfied for the existence of marginal couplings. We present several explicit examples where we confirm that $β$-functions vanish using a position space regularization, differential regularization. Where possible, we confirm that our $β$-function results agree with the existing literature.
This is a brief introduction to the subject of Conformal Field Theory on surfaces with boundaries and crosscaps, which describes the perturbative expansion of open string theory.
The trace anomaly of conformal field theories in four dimensions is characterized by '$a$' and '$c$'-functions. The scaling properties of the effective action of a CFT in the presence of boundaries is shown to be determined by $a$, $c$ and two new functions (charges) related to boundary effects. The boundary charges are computed for different theories and different boundary conditions. One of the boundary charges depends on the bulk $c$ charge.
We investigate various boundary conditions in two dimensional turbulence systematically in the context of conformal field theory. Keeping the conformal invariance, we can either change the shape of boundaries through finite conformal transformations, or insert boundary operators so as to handle more general cases. Effects of such operations will be reflected in physically measurable quantities such as the energy power spectrum $E(k)$ or the average velocity profiles. We propose that these effects can be used as a possible test of conformal turbulence in an experimental setting. We also study t…
The energy-momentum tensor for a massless conformally coupled scalar field in the region between two curved boundaries in $k=-1$ static Robertson--Walker spacetime is investigated. We assume that the scalar field satisfies the Dirichlet boundary condition on the boundaries. $k=-1$ Robertson--Walker space is conformally related to the Rindler space, as a result we can obtain vacuum expectation values of energy-momentum tensor for conformally invariant field in Robertson--Walker space from the corresponding Rindler counterpart by the conformal transformation.
We discuss the Renyi entanglement entropies of descendant states in critical one-dimensional systems with boundaries, that map to boundary conformal field theories in the scaling limit. We unify the previous conformal-field-theory approaches to describe primary and descendant states in systems with both open and closed boundaries. We provide universal expressions for the first two descendants in the identity family. We apply our technique to critical systems belonging to different universality classes with non-trivial boundary conditions that preserve conformal invariance, and find excellent a…
The $sl(2)$ minimal theories are labelled by a Lie algebra pair $(A,G)$ where $G$ is of $A$-$D$-$E$ type. For these theories on a cylinder we conjecture a complete set of conformal boundary conditions labelled by the nodes of the tensor product graph $A\otimes G$. The cylinder partition functions are given by fusion rules arising from the graph fusion algebra of $A\otimes G$. We further conjecture that, for each conformal boundary condition, an integrable boundary condition exists as a solution of the boundary Yang-Baxter equation for the associated lattice model. The theory is illustrated usi…
We discuss the effect of boundaries in boundary logarithmic conformal field theory and show, with reference to both $c=-2$ and $c=0$ models, how they produce new features even in bulk correlation functions which are not present in the corresponding models without boundaries. We discuss the modification of Cardy's relation between boundary states and bulk quantities.
Conformal Vacuum of dS$_4\times \mathbb R$ with Oppositely Oriented Boundaries
Quantum Algorithms and Applications Collaboratory, Sandia National Laboratories（桑迪亚国家实验室量子算法与应用协作中心）；Leinweber Institute for Theoretical Physics and Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校莱因韦伯理论物理研究所与物理系）
In the presence of boundaries the integrated conformal anomaly is modified by the boundary terms so that the anomaly is non-vanishing in any (even or odd) dimension. The boundary terms are due to extrinsic curvature whose exact structure in $d=3$ and $d=4$ has recently been identified. In this note we present a holographic calculation of those terms in two different prescriptions for the holographic description of the boundary CFT. We stress the role of supersymmetry when discussing the holographic description of ${\cal N}=4$ SYM on a $4$-manifold with boundaries.
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…
In this training course report, I briefly present the one- and two-matrix models as tools for the study of conformal field theories with boundaries. In a first part, after a short historical presentation of random matrices, I present the matrix models' formalism, their diagramatic interpretation, their link with random surfaces and conformal field theories and the "loop equations" method for the 2-matrix model. In a second part, I use this method for the calculation of the generating function of random cylindres whose boundaries are two-coloured, which was not know before.
Boundaries and defects in conformal field theories at finite temperature
Università di Parma（帕尔马大学）；INFN Gruppo Collegato di Parma（意大利国家核物理研究所帕尔马协作组）；Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Torino（都灵大学物理系）；INFN, Sezione di Torino（意大利国家核物理研究所都灵分部）
There has been recent interest in conformal twisted boundary conditions and their realisations in solvable lattice models. For the Ising and Potts quantum chains, these amount to boundary terms that are related to duality, which is a proper symmetry of the model at criticality. Thus, at criticality, the duality-twisted Ising model is translationally invariant, similar to the more familiar cases of periodic and antiperiodic boundary conditions. The complete finite-size spectrum of the Ising quantum chain with this peculiar boundary condition is obtained.
In this letter we calculate the exact partition function for free bosons on the plane with lacunae. First the partition function for a plane with two spherical holes is calculated by matching exactly for the infinite set of Wilson coefficients in an effective world line theory and then performing the ensuing Gaussian integration. The partition is then re-calculated using conformal field theory techniques, and the equality of the two results is made manifest. It is then demonstrated that there is an exact correspondence between the Wilson coefficients (susceptabilities) in the effective field t…
We study the null-boundaries of Wheeler-de Witt (WdW) patches in three dimensional Poincare-AdS, when the selected boundary timeslice is an arbitrary (non-constant) function, presenting some useful analytic statements about them. Special attention will be given to the piecewise smooth nature of the null-boundaries, due to the emergence of caustics and null-null joint curves. This is then applied, in the spirit of our previous paper arXiv:1806.08376, to the problem of how complexity of the CFT$_2$ groundstate changes under a small local conformal transformation according to the action (CA) prop…
We discuss dilatonic gravity (bulk theory) from the point of view of (generalized) AdS/CFT correspondence. Self-consistent dilatonic background is considered. It may be understood as two boundaries space where AdS boundary appears as infinite boundary and new (singular) boundary occurs at short distances. The two-point correlation function and conformal dimension for minimal and dilaton coupled scalar are found. Even for minimal scalar, the conformal dimension is found to be different on above two boundaries. Hence, new CFT appears in AdS/CFT correspondence at short distances. AdS/CFT correspo…
In hep-th/9910245, Witten and Yau consider the AdS/CFT correspondence in the context of a Riemannian Einstein manifold $M^{n+1}$ of negative Ricci curvature which admits a conformal compactification with conformal boundary $N^n$. They prove that if the conformal class of the boundary contains a metric of positive scalar curvature, then $M$ and $N$ have several desirable properties: (1) $N$ is connected, (2) the $n$th homology of the compactified $M$ vanishes, and (3) the fundamental group of $M$ is "bounded by" that of $N$. Here it is shown that all of these results extend to the case where th…
In this paper, we will make an attempt to clarify the relation between three-dimensional euclidean loop quantum gravity with vanishing cosmological constant and quantum field theory in the continuum. We will argue, in particular, that in three spacetime dimensions the discrete spectra for the geometric boundary observables that we find in loop quantum gravity can be understood from the quantisation of a conformal boundary field theory in the continuum without ever introducing spin networks or triangulations of space. At a technical level, the starting point is the Hamiltonian formalism for gen…
We consider certain supersymmetric configurations of intersecting branes and branes ending on branes and analyze the duality between their open and closed string interpretation. The examples we study are chosen such that we have the lower dimensional brane realizing an n+1 dimensional conformal field theory on its worldvolume and the higher dimensional one introducing a conformal boundary. We also consider two CFTs, possibly with different central charges, interacting along a common conformal boundary. We show with a probe calculation that the dual closed string description is in terms of grav…
We propose a bootstrap program for CFTs near intersecting boundaries which form a co-dimension 2 edge. We describe the kinematical setup and show that bulk 1-pt functions and bulk-edge 2-pt functions depend on a non-trivial cross-ratio and on the angle between the boundaries. Using the boundary OPE (BOE) with respect to each boundary, we derive two independent conformal block expansions for these correlators. The matching of the two BOE expansions leads to a crossing equation. We analytically solve this equation in several simple cases, notably for a free bulk field, where we recover Feynman-d…
We discuss some geometrical issues related to spacelike minimal surfaces in $AdS_m$ with null polygonal boundaries at conformal infinity. In particular for $AdS_4$, two holomorphic input functions for the Pohlmeyer reduced system are identified. This system contains two coupled differential equations for two functions $α(z,\bar z)$ and $β(z,\bar z)$, related to curvature and torsion of the surface. Furthermore, we conjecture that, for a polynomial choice of the two holomorphic functions, the relative positions of their zeros encode the conformal invariant data of the boundary null $2n$-gon.
We study entanglement entropy (EE) in conformal field theories (CFTs) in Minkowski space with a planar boundary or with a planar defect of any codimension. In any such boundary CFT (BCFT) or defect CFT (DCFT), we consider the reduced density matrix and associated EE obtained by tracing over the degrees of freedom outside of a (hemi-)sphere centered on the boundary or defect. Following Casini, Huerta, and Myers, we map the reduced density matrix to a thermal density matrix of the same theory on hyperbolic space. The EE maps to the thermal entropy of the theory on hyperbolic space. For BCFTs and…
We discuss the AdS/CFT correspondence for negative curvature Einstein manifolds whose conformal boundary is degenerate in the sense that it is of codimension greater than one. In such manifolds, hypersurfaces of constant radius do not blow up uniformly as one increases the radius; examples include products of hyperbolic spaces and the Bergman metric. We find that there is a well-defined correspondence between the IR regulated bulk theory and conformal field theory defined in a background whose degenerate geometry is regulated by the same parameter. We are hence able to make sense of supergravi…
Entanglement entropy (EE) in critical quantum spin chains described by 1+1D conformal field theories contains signatures of the universal characteristics of the field theory. Boundaries and defects in the spin chain give rise to universal contributions in the EE. In this work, we analyze these universal contributions for the critical Ising and XXZ spin chains for different conformal boundary conditions and defects. For the spin chains with boundaries, we use the boundary states for the corresponding continuum theories to compute the subleading contribution to the EE analytically and provide su…
Motivated by questions about quantum information and classification of quantum field theories, we consider Conformal Field Theories (CFTs) in spacetime dimension $d\geq 5$ with a conformally-invariant spatial boundary (BCFTs) or $4$-dimensional conformal defect (DCFTs). We determine the boundary or defect contribution to the Weyl anomaly using the standard algorithm, which includes imposing Wess-Zumino consistency and fixing finite counterterms. These boundary/defect contributions are built from the intrinsic and extrinsic curvatures, as well as the pullback of the ambient CFT's Weyl tensor. F…
Universal formulas for the boundary and crosscap coefficients are presented, which are valid for all symmetric simple current modifications of the charge conjugation invariant of any rational conformal field theory.
We derive a nonlinear integral equation (NLIE) for some bulk excited states of the sine-Gordon model on a finite interval with general integrable boundary interactions, including boundary terms proportional to the first time derivative of the field. We use this NLIE to compute numerically the dimensions of these states as a function of scale, and check the UV and IR limits analytically. We also find further support for the ground-state NLIE by comparison with boundary conformal perturbation theory (BCPT), boundary truncated conformal space approach (BTCSA) and the boundary analogue of the Lusc…
The imposition of boundary conditions upon a quantized field can lead to singular energy densities on the boundary. We treat the boundaries as quantum mechanical objects with a nonzero position uncertainty, and show that the singular energy density is removed. This treatment also resolves a long standing paradox concerning the total energy of the minimally coupled and conformally coupled scalar fields.
In realistic situations, black hole spacetimes do not admit a global timelike Killing vector field. However, it is possible to describe the horizon in a quasilocal setting by introducing the notion of a quasilocal boundary with certain properties which mimic the properties of a black hole horizon. Isolated horzons and Killing horizons are examples of such kind. In this paper, we construct a boundary of spacetime which is null and admits a conformal Killing vector field. Furthermore we construct the space of solutions (in general theory of relativity) which admits such quasilocal conformal Kill…
A relation between the conformal anomaly and the logarithmic term in the entanglement entropy is known to exist for CFT's in even dimensions. In odd dimensions the local anomaly and the logarithmic term in the entropy are absent. As was observed recently, there exists a non-trivial integrated anomaly if an odd-dimensional spacetime has boundaries. We show that, similarly, there exists a logarithmic term in the entanglement entropy when the entangling surface crosses the boundary of spacetime. The relation of the entanglement entropy to the integrated conformal anomaly is elaborated for three-d…
The connection between Riemann surfaces with boundaries and the theory of vertex operator algebras is discussed in the framework of conformal field theories defined by Kontsevich and Segal and in the framework of their generalizations in open string theory and boundary conformal field theory. We present some results, problems, conjectures, their conceptual implications and meanings in a program to construct these theories from representations of vertex operator algebras.
We numerically obtain the conformal spectrum of several classical spin models on a two-dimensional lattice with open boundaries, for every boundary fixed point obtained by the Cardy's derivation [J. L. Cardy, Nucl. Phys. B 324, 581 (1989)]. In order to extract accurate conformal data, we implement the tensor network renormalization algorithm [G. Evenbly and G. Vidal, Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 180405 (2015)] extended so as to be applicable to a square lattice with open boundaries. We successfully compute the boundary conformal spectrum consistent with the underlying boundary conformal field theorie…
We study conformal field theory on two-dimensional orbifolds and show this to be an effective way to analyze physical effects of geometric singularities with angular deficits. They are closely related to boundaries and cross caps. Representatives classes of singularities can be described exactly using generalizations of boundary states. From this we compute correlation functions and derive the spectra of excitations localized at the singularities.
Quantum entanglement in 3 spatial dimensions is studied in systems with physical boundaries when an entangling surface intersects the boundary. We show that there are universal logarithmic boundary terms in the entanglement Rényi entropy and derive them for different conformal field theories and geometrical configurations. The paper covers such topics as spectral geometry on manifolds with conical singularities crossing the boundaries, the dependence of the entanglement entropy on mutual position of the boundary and the entangling surface, effects of acceleration and rotation of the boundary, …
We study four-dimensional superconformal field theories coupled to three-dimensional superconformal boundary or defect degrees of freedom. Starting with bulk N=2, d=4 theories, we construct abelian models preserving N=2, d=3 supersymmetry and the conformal symmetries under which the boundary/defect is invariant. We write the action, including the bulk terms, in N=2, d=3 superspace. Moreover we derive Callan-Symanzik equations for these models using their superconformal transformation properties and show that the beta functions vanish to all orders in perturbation theory, such that the models r…
We expand the results of arXiv:1105.5165, where a holographic description of a conformal field theory defined on a manifold with boundaries (so called BCFT) was proposed, based on AdS/CFT. We construct gravity duals of conformal field theories on strips, balls and also time-dependent boundaries. We show a holographic g-theorem in any dimension. As a special example, we can define a `boundary central charge' in three dimensional conformal field theories and our holographic g-theorem argues that it decreases under RG flows. We also computed holographic one-point functions and confirmed that thei…
We study operators with large internal charge in boundary conformal field theories (BCFTs) with internal symmetries. Using the state-operator correspondence and the existence of a macroscopic limit, we find a non-trivial relation between the scaling dimension of the lowest dimensional CFT and BCFT charged operators to leading order in the charge. We also construct the superfluid effective field theory for theories with boundaries and use it to systematically calculate the BCFT spectrum in a systematic expansion. We verify explicitly many of the predictions from the EFT analysis in concrete exa…
In these notes we study integrable structures of conformal field theory with $\textrm{BCD}$ symmetry. We realise these integrable structures as affine Yangian $\mathfrak{gl}(1)$ "spin chains" with boundaries. We provide three solutions of Sklyanin $\textrm{KRKR}$ equation compatible with affine Yangian $R$-matrix and derive Bethe ansatz equations for the spectrum.
We present the explicit global realization of the isometries of anti-de Sitter like spaces of signature $(d_-,d_+)$, and their algebras in the space of functions on the pseudo-Riemannian symmetric space $SO(d_- +1,d_+) / SO(d_-,d_+)$. The process of going to the invariant boundaries leads to the realization of the corresponding conformal groups and algebras. We compute systematically the geodesics in these spaces by considering the coset representation of them.
We study whether the relations between the Weyl anomaly, entanglement entropy (EE), and thermal entropy of a two-dimensional (2D) conformal field theory (CFT) extend to 2D boundaries of 3D CFTs, or 2D defects of $D \geq 3$ CFTs. The Weyl anomaly of a 2D boundary or defect defines two or three central charges, respectively. One of these, $b$, obeys a c-theorem, as in 2D CFT. For a 2D defect, we show that another, $d_2$, interpreted as the defect's `conformal dimension,' must be non-negative by the Averaged Null Energy Condition (ANEC). We show that the EE of a sphere centered on a planar defect…
Perturbing a CFT by a relevant operator on a half space and letting the perturbation flow to the far infrared we obtain an RG interface between the UV and IR CFTs. If the IR CFT is trivial we obtain an RG boundary condition. The space of massive perturbations thus breaks up into regions labelled by conformal boundary conditions of the UV fixed point. For the 2D critical Ising model perturbed by a generic relevant operator we find the assignment of RG boundary conditions to all flows. We use some analytic results but mostly rely on TCSA and TFFSA numerical techniques. We investigate real as wel…
We argue that there is an obstruction to placing theories with 't Hooft anomalies on manifolds with a boundary, unless the symmetry associated with the anomaly can be represented as a non-invariance under an Abelian transformation. For a two dimensional conformal field theory we further demonstrate that all anomalies except the usual trace anomaly are incompatible on a manifold with a boundary. Our findings extend a known result whereby, under mild assumptions, Lagrangian theories with chiral matter cannot be canonically quantized.
In this paper we investigate the spectrum of $OSp(n|2m)$ quantum spin chains with free boundary conditions. We compute the surface free energy of these models which, similar to other properties in the thermodynamic limit including the effective central charge of the underlying conformal field theory, depends on $n-2m$ only. For several models in the regime $n-2m< 2$ we have studied the finite-size properties including the subleading logarithmic corrections to scaling. As in the case of periodic boundary conditions we find the existence of a tower of states with the same conformal dimension as …
We study the gravitational collapse in five-dimensional de Sitter (dS) spacetime and discuss the existence of the conformal boundaries at future timelike infinity from the perspective of the dS/CFT correspondence. We investigate the motion of a spherical dust shell and the black hole area bounds. The latter includes the analysis of the trapping horizon and the initial data with spindle-shaped matter distribution. In all above analyses we find the evidences that guarantee the existence of the conformal boundaries at future timelike infinity which are essential to apply the dS/CFT correspondence…
