Bootstrapping Smooth Conformal Defects in Chern-Simons-Matter Theories

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Gabai, Barak, Sever, Amit, Zhong, De-liang
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Gabai, Barak
Sever, Amit
Zhong, De-liang
author_facet Gabai, Barak
Sever, Amit
Zhong, De-liang
contents The expectation value of a smooth conformal line defect in a CFT is a conformal invariant functional of its path in space-time. For example, in large $N$ holographic theories, these fundamental observables are dual to the open string partition function in AdS. In this paper, we develop a bootstrap method for studying them and apply it to conformal line defects in Chern-Simons matter theories. In these cases, the line bootstrap is based on three minimal assumptions -- conformal invariance of the line defect, large $N$ factorization, and the spectrum of the two lowest-lying operators at the end of the line. On the basis of these assumptions, we solve the one-dimensional CFT on the line and systematically compute the defect expectation value in an expansion around the straight line. We find that the conformal symmetry of a straight defect is insufficient to fix the answer. Instead, imposing the conformal symmetry of the defect along an arbitrary curved line leads to a functional bootstrap constraint. The solution to this constraint is found to be unique.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2312_17132
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Bootstrapping Smooth Conformal Defects in Chern-Simons-Matter Theories
Gabai, Barak
Sever, Amit
Zhong, De-liang
High Energy Physics - Theory
The expectation value of a smooth conformal line defect in a CFT is a conformal invariant functional of its path in space-time. For example, in large $N$ holographic theories, these fundamental observables are dual to the open string partition function in AdS. In this paper, we develop a bootstrap method for studying them and apply it to conformal line defects in Chern-Simons matter theories. In these cases, the line bootstrap is based on three minimal assumptions -- conformal invariance of the line defect, large $N$ factorization, and the spectrum of the two lowest-lying operators at the end of the line. On the basis of these assumptions, we solve the one-dimensional CFT on the line and systematically compute the defect expectation value in an expansion around the straight line. We find that the conformal symmetry of a straight defect is insufficient to fix the answer. Instead, imposing the conformal symmetry of the defect along an arbitrary curved line leads to a functional bootstrap constraint. The solution to this constraint is found to be unique.
title Bootstrapping Smooth Conformal Defects in Chern-Simons-Matter Theories
topic High Energy Physics - Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.17132