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Alessandro Sfondrini

Publications and source records attributed to Alessandro Sfondrini.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2023

More on the tensionless limit of pure-Ramond-Ramond AdS3/CFT2

In a recent letter we presented the equations which describe tensionless limit of the excited-state spectrum for strings on $AdS_3\times S^3\times T^4$ supported by Ramond-Ramond flux, and their numerical solution. In this paper, we give a detailed account of the derivation of these equations from the mirror TBA equations proposed by Frolov and Sfondrini, discussing the contour-deformation trick which we used to obtain excited-state equations and the tensionless limit. We also comment at length on the algorithm for the numerical solution of the equations in the tensionless limit, and present a number of explicit numerical results, as well as comment on their interpretation.

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arXiv2023

On mixed-flux worldsheet scattering in AdS3/CFT2

Strings on AdS3xS3xT4 with mixed Ramond-Ramond and Neveu-Schwarz-Neveu-Schwarz flux are known to be classically integrable. This is a crucial property of this model, which cannot be studied by conventional worldsheet-CFT techniques. Integrability should carry over to the quantum level, and the worldsheet S matrix in the lightcone gauge is known up to the so-called dressing factors. In this work we study the kinematics of mixed-flux theories and consider a relativistic limit of the S matrix whereby we can complete the bootstrap program, including the dressing factors for fundamental particles and bound states. This provides an important test for the dressing factors of the full worldsheet model, and offers new insights on the features of the model when the amount of NSNS flux is low.

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arXiv2023

The Tensionless Limit of Pure-Ramond-Ramond AdS3/CFT2

Despite impressive advances in the AdS3/CFT2 correspondence, the setup involving Ramond-Ramond backgrounds, which is related to the D1-D5 system of branes, remained relatively poorly understood. We use the Mirror TBA equations recently constructed by Frolov and Sfondrini to study the spectrum of pure Ramond-Ramond $AdS_3\times S^3\times T^4$ strings. We find that the leading-order contribution to the anomalous dimensions at small tension is due to the gapless worldsheet excitations, i.e. to the $T^4$ bosons and their superpartners, whose interactions are nontrivial.

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arXiv2023

Ground state energy of twisted $AdS_{3}\times S^{3}\times T^{4}$ superstring and the TBA

We use the lightcone $AdS_{3}\times S^{3}\times T^{4}$ superstring sigma model with fermions and bosons subject to twisted boundary conditions to find the ground state energy in the semi-classical approximation where effective string tension $h$ and the light-cone momentum $L$ are sent to infinity in such a way that ${\cal J}\equiv L/h$ is kept fixed. We then analyse the ground state energy of the model by means of the mirror TBA equations for the $AdS_{3}\times S^{3}\times T^{4}$ superstring in the pure RR background. The calculation is performed for small twist $μ$ with $L$ and $h$ fixed, for large $L$ with $μ$ and $h$ fixed, and for small $h$ with $μ$ and $L$ fixed. In these limits the contribution of the gapless worldsheet modes coming from the $T^4$ bosons and fermions can be computed exactly, and is shown to be proportional to $hL/(4L^2-1)$. Comparison with the semi-classical result shows that the TBA equations involve only one $Y_0$-function for massless excitations but not two as was conjectured before. Some of the results obtained are generalised to the mixed-flux $AdS_{3}\times S^{3}\times T^{4}$ superstring.

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arXiv2022

On the Classical Integrability of Root-$T \overline{T}$ Flows

The Root-$T \overline{T}$ flow was recently introduced as a universal and classically marginal deformation of any two-dimensional translation-invariant field theory. The flow commutes with the (irrelevant) $T \overline{T}$ flow and it can be integrated explicitly for a large class of actions, leading to non-analytic Lagrangians reminiscent of the four-dimensional Modified-Maxwell theory (ModMax). It is not a priori obvious whether the Root-$T \overline{T}$ flow preserves integrability, like it is the case for the $T \overline{T}$ flow. In this paper we demonstrate that this is the case for a large class of classical models by explicitly constructing a deformed Lax connection. We discuss the principal chiral model and the non-linear sigma models on symmetric and semi-symmetric spaces, without or with Wess-Zumino term. We also construct Lax connections for the two-parameter families of theories deformed by both Root-$T \overline{T}$ and $T \overline{T}$ for all of these models.

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arXiv2022

Root-$T \overline{T}$ Deformations in Two-Dimensional Quantum Field Theories

In this letter we introduce a one-parameter deformation of two-dimensional quantum field theories generated by a non-analytic operator which we call Root-$T \overline{T}$. For a conformal field theory, the operator coincides with the square-root of the $T \overline{T}$ operator. More generally, the operator is defined so that classically it is marginal and generates a flow which commutes with the $T \overline{T}$-flow. Intriguingly, the Root-$T \overline{T}$ flow is closely related to the ModMax theory recently constructed by Bandos, Lechner, Sorokin and Townsend.

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arXiv2022

Transfer matrices for AdS3/CFT2

We work out the algebraic Bethe ansatz for the worldsheet theory of the $AdS_3\times S^3\times T^4$ superstring, and use it to derive the transfer matrices for fundamental particles and bound states of the string and mirror model. We also show how the Bethe equations and transfer matrices are modified in the presence of an Abelian twist. These will be an important ingredient in the exploration of the mirror thermodynamic Bethe ansatz equations recently proposed by Frolov and Sfondrini, and their generalisation to twisted and deformed models.

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arXiv2022

Mirror Thermodynamic Bethe Ansatz for AdS3/CFT2

We consider superstrings on the pure-Ramond-Ramond $AdS_3\times S^3\times T^4$ background. Using the recently-proposed dressing factors for the worldsheet S matrix, we formulate the string hypothesis for the mirror Bethe-Yang equations, and use it to derive the canonical mirror thermodynamic Bethe ansatz (TBA) equations of the model. For the first time, these equations account for all massive and massless modes of the model, and do not resort to any limit or special kinematics. We also discuss the simplified mirror TBA equations and the Y-system of the model.

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arXiv2022

Massless S matrices for AdS3/CFT2

The AdS3/CFT2 correspondence features massless non-relativistic modes on the string worldsheet in lightcone gauge. We study in detail these excitations and highlight how they naturally split between chiral (left-moving) and anti-chiral (right-moving) representations. In light of this split we discuss the constraints on the two-particle worldsheet S matrix imposed by braiding and physical unitarity, parity, time-reversal, and crossing invariance. We also comment on the implication of this split in the mirror kinematics.

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arXiv2021

New Dressing Factors for AdS3/CFT2

The worldsheet S matrix of strings on the $AdS_3\times S^3\times T^4$ background is almost entirely fixed by symmetries, up to five functions -- the dressing factors. These must satisfy several consistency conditions, in particular a set of crossing equations. We find that the existing proposal for the dressing factors, while crossing invariant, violates some of these consistency conditions. We put forward a new set of dressing factors and discuss in detail their analytic properties in the string and mirror region, as well as under bound-state fusion.

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arXiv2021

Bethe Ansatz for Quantum-Deformed Strings

Two distinct $η$-deformations of strings on AdS$_5\times$S$^5$ can be defined; both amount to integrable quantum deformations of the string non-linear sigma model, but only one is itself a superstring background. In this paper we compare their conjectured all-loop worldsheet S matrices and derive the corresponding Bethe equations. We find that, while the S matrices are apparently different, they lead to the same Bethe equations. Moreover, in either case the eigenvalues of the transfer matrix, which encode the conserved charges of each system, also coincide. We conclude that the integrable structure underlying the two constructions is essentially the same. Finally, we write down the full Bethe-Yang equations describing the asymptotic spectrum of the superstring background.

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arXiv2021

Integrable bootstrap for AdS3/CFT2 correlation functions

We propose an integrable bootstrap framework for the computation of correlation functions for superstrings in $AdS_3\times S^3\times T^4$ backgrounds supported by an arbitrary mixture or Ramond-Ramond and Neveu-Schwarz-Neveu-Schwarz fluxes. The framework extends the "hexagon tessellation" approach which was originally proposed for $AdS_5\times S^5$ and for the first time it demonstrates its applicability to other (less supersymmetric) setups. We work out the hexagon form factor for two-particle states, including its dressing factors which follow from those of the spectral problem, and we show that it satisfies non-trivial consistency conditions. We propose a bootstrap principle, slightly different from that of $AdS_5\times S^5$, which allows to extend the form factor to arbitrarily many particles. Finally, we compare its predictions with some correlation functions of protected operators. Possible applications of this construction include the study of wrapping corrections, of higher-point correlation functions, and of non-planar corrections.

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arXiv2020

Long Strings and Symmetric Product Orbifold from the AdS$_3$ Bethe Equations

A particularly rich class of integrable systems arises from the AdS/CFT duality. There, the two-dimensional quantum field theory living on the string worldsheet may be understood in terms of a non-relativistic factorized S matrix, and the energy spectrum may be derived by techniques such as the mirror thermodynamic Bethe ansatz or the quantum spectral curve. In the case of AdS$_3$/CFT$_2$ without Ramond-Ramond fluxes, the worldhseet theory is a Wess-Zumino-Witten model with continous and discrete representations which, for the lowest allowed level, is dual to the symmetric product orbifold of a free theory. I will show how continuous representations may arise from integrability, and that at lowest level the Bethe equations yield the symmetric product orbifold partition function on the nose.

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arXiv2020

Bound State Scattering Simplified

In the description of the AdS5/CFT4 duality by an integrable system the scattering matrix for bound states plays a crucial role: it was initially constructed for the evaluation of finite size corrections to the planar spectrum of energy levels/anomalous dimensions by the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz, and more recently it re-appeared in the context of the glueing prescription of the hexagon approach to higher-point functions. In this work we present a simplified form of this scattering matrix and we make its pole structure manifest. We find some new relations between its matrix elements and also present an explicit form for its inverse. We finally discuss some of its properties including crossing symmetry. Our results will hopefully be useful for computing finite-size effects such as the ones given by the complicated sum-integrals arising from the glueing of hexagons, as well as help towards understanding universal features of the AdS5/CFT4 scattering matrix.

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arXiv2020

Flow equations for generalised $T\bar{T}$ deformations

We consider the most general set of integrable deformations extending the $T\bar{T}$ deformation of two-dimensional relativistic QFTs. They are CDD deformations of the theory's factorised S-matrix related to the higher-spin conserved charges. Using a mirror version of the generalised Gibbs ensemble, we write down the finite-volume expectation value of the higher-spin charges, and derive a generalised flow equation that every charge must obey under a generalised $T\bar{T}$ deformation. This also reproduces the known flow equations on the nose.

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arXiv2019

Multi-particle finite-volume effects for hexagon tessellations

Correlation functions of gauge-invariant composite operators in N=4 super Yang-Mills theory can be computed by integrability using triangulations. The elementary tile in this process is the hexagon, which should be glued by appropriately inserting resolutions of the identity involving virtual ("mirror") magnons. We consider this problem for five-point functions of protected operators. At one-loop in the 't Hooft coupling, it is necessary to glue three adjacent tiles which involves two virtual magnons scattering among each other. We show that the result can be simplified by using an adapted mirror rotation and employing appropriate summation techniques. The mirror-particle contributions then yield hyperlogarithms of weight two. Finally, we use these results to investigate braiding prescriptions introduced in earlier work on the problem.

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arXiv2019

$T\bar{T}$ deformations with $\mathcal{N}=(0,2)$ supersymmetry

We investigate the behaviour of two-dimensional quantum field theories with $\mathcal{N}=(0,2)$ supersymmetry under a deformation induced by the `$T\bar{T}$' composite operator. We show that the deforming operator can be defined by a point-splitting regularisation in such a way as to preserve $\mathcal{N}=(0,2)$ supersymmetry. As an example of this construction, we work out the deformation of a free $\mathcal{N}=(0,2)$ theory and compare to that induced by the Noether stress-energy tensor. Finally, we show that the $\mathcal{N}=(0,2)$ supersymmetric deformed action actually possesses $\mathcal{N}=(2,2)$ symmetry, half of which is non-linearly realised.

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