Exactly solvable non-unitary conformal interfaces in unitary CFTs

Abstract

We construct directly on the lattice a class of non-unitary interfaces that are both exactly conformal and exactly solvable, and establish their corresponding boundary and interface conformal field theory (CFT) descriptions. The construction is obtained by analytically continuing the scattering data of known exact unitary conformal interfaces on the lattice, yielding an $SL(2,\mathbb C)$-parametrized family, which is non-compact and breaks probability-current conservation. Exploiting the exact lattice-continuum correspondence, we derive the conformal boundary states in the folded picture. We show that a proper definition of the Hilbert space in the closed-string channel requires the incoming and outgoing boundary states to be specified independently by boundary data associated with a pair of dual biorthogonal bases, in close analogy with the right and left eigenvectors of a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian. This requirement determines a consistent CFT construction of non-unitary boundaries and interfaces, and leads to a non-unitary generalization of the conventional Cardy's condition for unitary boundary CFT. Beyond their formal construction, these non-unitary interfaces are shown to exhibit logarithmic entanglement scaling governed by an effective central charge that is generally complex. For the $SU(1,1)$ subclass, the effective central charge remains real but grows without bound as the transmission coefficient increases. This result is demonstrated through analytical and numerical lattice calculations, as well as an interface CFT analysis in the unfolded picture. Finally, we present a general CFT analysis of a class of global quantum quenches whose initial states are prepared with non-unitary boundaries. We relate their effective temperature to the conformal dimension of the boundary-condition-changing operators associated with non-unitary boundary conditions.