Conformal Truncation of Chern-Simons Theory at Large $N_f$

Abstract

We set up and analyze the lightcone Hamiltonian for an abelian Chern-Simons field coupled to $N_f$ fermions in the limit of large $N_f$ using conformal truncation, i.e. with a truncated space of states corresponding to primary operators with dimension below a maximum cutoff $\Delta_{\rm max}$. In both the Chern-Simons theory, and in the $O(N)$ model at infinite $N$, we compute the current spectral functions analytically as a function of $\Delta_{\rm max}$ and reproduce previous results in the limit that the truncation $\Delta_{\rm max}$ is taken to $\infty$. Along the way, we determine how to preserve gauge invariance and how to choose an optimal discrete basis for the momenta of states in the truncation space.