Geometry of effective field theory positivity cones

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Bonnefoy, Quentin, Cortés, Vicente, Gendy, Emanuele, Grojean, Christophe, von Merkl, Karim Ritter, Pilatus, Paula Naomi
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Bonnefoy, Quentin
Cortés, Vicente
Gendy, Emanuele
Grojean, Christophe
von Merkl, Karim Ritter
Pilatus, Paula Naomi
author_facet Bonnefoy, Quentin
Cortés, Vicente
Gendy, Emanuele
Grojean, Christophe
von Merkl, Karim Ritter
Pilatus, Paula Naomi
contents Positivity bounds are theoretical constraints on the Wilson coefficients of an effective field theory. These bounds emerge from the requirement that a given effective field theory must be the low-energy limit of a relativistic quantum theory that satisfies the fundamental principles of unitarity, locality, and causality. The task of deriving these bounds can be reformulated as the geometric problem of finding the extremal representation of a closed convex cone~$\mathcal C_W$. More precisely, in the presence of multiple particle flavors, the forward-limit positivity cone $\mathcal C_W$ consists of all positive semi-definite tensors in $W =\left\{ S \in \mathrm{Sym}^2 (\mathrm{Sym}^2\, V^*)\oplus \mathrm{Sym}^2 \left(Λ^2 V^*\right) : τS = S \right\} \subset \mathrm{Sym}^2(V^*\otimes V^*)$, where $τ$ denotes transposition in the second and fourth tensor factor and $V\cong\mathbb{R}^n$, where $n$ is the number of flavors. In this work, we solve this question up to three flavors, i.e.~$n=3$, proving a full classification of all extremal elements in these cases. We furthermore study the implications of our findings, deriving the full positivity bounds for amplitudes with and without additional symmetries. In the cases with additional symmetries that we consider, we find that the so-called elastic bounds are sufficient to give rise to the full positivity bounds.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_18165
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Geometry of effective field theory positivity cones
Bonnefoy, Quentin
Cortés, Vicente
Gendy, Emanuele
Grojean, Christophe
von Merkl, Karim Ritter
Pilatus, Paula Naomi
Mathematical Physics
High Energy Physics - Theory
Algebraic Geometry
52A20, 15B48, 81T12
Positivity bounds are theoretical constraints on the Wilson coefficients of an effective field theory. These bounds emerge from the requirement that a given effective field theory must be the low-energy limit of a relativistic quantum theory that satisfies the fundamental principles of unitarity, locality, and causality. The task of deriving these bounds can be reformulated as the geometric problem of finding the extremal representation of a closed convex cone~$\mathcal C_W$. More precisely, in the presence of multiple particle flavors, the forward-limit positivity cone $\mathcal C_W$ consists of all positive semi-definite tensors in $W =\left\{ S \in \mathrm{Sym}^2 (\mathrm{Sym}^2\, V^*)\oplus \mathrm{Sym}^2 \left(Λ^2 V^*\right) : τS = S \right\} \subset \mathrm{Sym}^2(V^*\otimes V^*)$, where $τ$ denotes transposition in the second and fourth tensor factor and $V\cong\mathbb{R}^n$, where $n$ is the number of flavors. In this work, we solve this question up to three flavors, i.e.~$n=3$, proving a full classification of all extremal elements in these cases. We furthermore study the implications of our findings, deriving the full positivity bounds for amplitudes with and without additional symmetries. In the cases with additional symmetries that we consider, we find that the so-called elastic bounds are sufficient to give rise to the full positivity bounds.
title Geometry of effective field theory positivity cones
topic Mathematical Physics
High Energy Physics - Theory
Algebraic Geometry
52A20, 15B48, 81T12
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.18165