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arXiv · 2603.10197

Regge's Inferno

Zohar Komargodski·Alessio Miscioscia·Fedor K. Popov
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Abstract

We study large-spin operators in conformal field theories (CFTs) in spacetime dimensions $d>2$ by placing the theory on appropriate pp-wave backgrounds. We show that these geometries admit Heisenberg-group symmetries, and that these symmetries, combined with locality of quantum fields on such spacetimes, impose strong constraints on the asymptotic spectrum in the large-spin limit. The pp-wave backgrounds probe both the small-twist regime, corresponding to the Regge or light-cone bootstrap, and a strongly coupled regime of large twist. Finally, we demonstrate that causality (or the requirement that the energy be bounded from below) leads to a new unitarity bound in $3+1$ dimensions.

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Zohar Komargodski, Alessio Miscioscia, Fedor K. Popov. 2026-03-10. Regge's Inferno. https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.10197

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