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Enrico Marchetto

Publications and source records attributed to Enrico Marchetto.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

Analytic thermal bootstrap in momentum space: From thermal OPE to QNMs

We initiate a bootstrap program that relates ultraviolet data, encoded in the thermal OPE, to infrared observables, namely, the low-frequency behavior and quasinormal modes. Starting from KMS-symmetric completions of individual thermal OPE blocks, which play the role of thermal Polyakov blocks, we construct their Fourier transform, yielding an asymptotic expansion of retarded thermal correlators valid at any spatial momentum. We use these results to derive inversion formulae and connect thermal OPE data to the analytic structure of retarded correlators in the complex frequency plane. Under the assumption of meromorphicity, the inversion formulae express OPE coefficients in terms of the quasinormal-mode frequencies, leading to nontrivial sum rules, constraints on the quasinormal spectrum, and its asymptotics at large spatial momentum. We illustrate these results in free theories, two-dimensional CFTs, the large-$N$ limit and $\varepsilon$-expansion of the $\mathrm{O}(N)$ model, and the $R$-current correlator of strongly coupled $\mathcal N = 4$ SYM at zero spatial momentum. As a byproduct, we derive universal asymptotic formulae for thermal OPE coefficients of heavy operators, resolving their dependence on spin and extending previous results at zero spatial separation. We test these formulae in the three-dimensional Ising CFT, finding good agreement between the resulting truncated correlators and Monte Carlo data.

hep-th

Multiplet Recombination and the CFT Distance Conjecture

Motivated by quantum gravity and the CFT Distance Conjecture, we study infinite-distance limits in four-dimensional ${\cal N}=2$ superconformal field theories with higher-dimensional conformal manifolds and their AdS duals. We focus on partial decoupling limits where a gauge sector becomes weakly coupled while an interacting sector persists. We analyse the structure of towers of states emerging in these limits. The weakly coupled sector contributes, among others, the massless higher-spin tower predicted by the CFT Distance Conjecture exhibiting polynomial degeneracy. The key novelty is the appearance of a protected BPS tower in the interacting sector, characterised by exponential degeneracy and masses at the AdS scale. This structure follows from multiplet recombination in the ${\cal N}=2$ superconformal algebra: As unprotected long multiplets hit the unitarity bound at weak coupling, they recombine into protected short multiplets. We verify this picture through an explicit one-loop computation in the simplest two-node quiver gauge theory with a two-dimensional conformal manifold.

hep-th

Analytic thermal bootstrap meets holography

We compute thermal holographic correlators by combining their analytic structure with the Kubo-Martin-Schwinger (KMS) condition and multi-stress tensor OPE coefficients determined from the dual AdS description. We focus on two-point functions of identical scalar operators with integer conformal dimensions at zero spatial separation. In the black brane background, we show explicitly that holographic two-point functions split into three contributions: a principal one, computed exactly, plus regularized and arcs contributions, both approximated through the use of OPE coefficients asymptotics. For $Δ_ϕ=3$, we show that the principal contribution agree with good approximation with the numerical solution of the bulk wave equation. Moreover, we demonstrate that the expansion in generalized free field correlators proposed in [Barrat,6/2025] admits a natural interpretation in terms of Witten diagrams. Finally, we initiate the study of thermal correlators in the spherically symmetric black hole background, computing their principal contributions.

hep-th

The thermal bootstrap for the critical O(N) model

We propose a numerical method to estimate one-point functions and the free-energy density of conformal field theories at finite temperature by solving the Kubo-Martin-Schwinger condition for the two-point functions of identical scalars. We apply the method for the critical O(N) model for N = 1,2,3 in 3 $\leq$ d $\leq$ 4. We find agreement with known results from Monte Carlo simulations and previous results for the 3d Ising model, and we provide new predictions for N = 2,3.

hep-th

The analytic bootstrap at finite temperature

We propose new universal formulae for thermal two-point functions of scalar operators based on their analytic structure, constructed to manifestly satisfy all the bootstrap conditions. We derive a dispersion relation in the complexified time plane, which fixes the correlator up to an additive constant and theory-dependent dynamical information. At non-zero spatial separation we introduce a formula for the thermal two-point function obtained by summing over images of the dispersion relation result obtained in the OPE regime. This construction satisfies all thermal bootstrap conditions, with the exception of clustering at infinite distance, which must be verified on a case-by-case basis. We test our results both in weakly and strongly-coupled theories. In particular, we show that the asymptotic behavior for the heavy sector proposed in~\cite{Marchetto:2023xap} and its correction can be explicitly derived from the dispersion relation. We combine analytical and numerical results to compute the thermal two-point function of the energy operator in the $3d$ Ising model and find agreement with Monte Carlo simulations.

hep-th

$\mathcal{SW}$-algebras and strings with torsion

We explore the connection between super $\mathcal{W}$-algebras ($\mathcal{SW}$-algebras) and $\mathrm{G}$-structures with torsion. The former are realised as symmetry algebras of strings with $\mathcal{N}=(1,0)$ supersymmetry on the worldsheet, while the latter are associated with generic string backgrounds with non-trivial Neveu-Schwarz flux $H$. In particular, we focus on manifolds featuring $\mathrm{Spin}(7)$, $\mathrm{G}_2$, $\mathrm{SU}(2)$, and $\mathrm{SU}(3)$-structures. We compare the full quantum algebras with their classical limits, obtained by studying the commutators of superconformal and $\mathcal{W}$-symmetry transformations, which preserve the action of the $(1,0)$ non-linear $σ$-model. We show that, at first order in the string length scale $\ell_s$, the torsion deforms some of the OPE coefficients corresponding to special holonomy through a scalar torsion class.

hep-th

Conformal line defects at finite temperature

We study conformal field theories at finite temperature in the presence of a temporal conformal line defect, wrapping the thermal circle, akin to a Polyakov loop in gauge theories. Although several symmetries of the conformal group are broken, the model can still be highly constrained from its features at zero-temperature. In this work we show that the defect and bulk one and two-point correlators can be written as functions of zero-temperature data and thermal one-point functions (defect and bulk). The defect one-point functions are new data and they are induced by thermal effects of the bulk. For this new set of data we derive novel sum rules and establish a bootstrap problem for the thermal defect one-point functions from the KMS condition. We also comment on the behaviour of operators with large scaling dimensions. Additionally, we relate the free energy and entropy density to the OPE data through the one-point function of the stress-energy tensor. Our formalism is validated through analytical computations in generalized free scalar field theory, and we present new predictions for the O(N) model with a magnetic impurity in the $\varepsilon$-expansion and the large N limit.

hep-th

Sum rules & Tauberian theorems at finite temperature

We study CFTs at finite temperature and derive explicit sum rules for one-point functions of operators by imposing the KMS condition. In the case of a large gap between light and heavy operators, we explicitly compute one-point functions for light operators. Turning to heavy operators we employ Tauberian theorems and compute the asymptotic OPE density for heavy operators, from which we extract the leading terms of the OPE coefficients associated with heavy operators. Furthermore, we approximate and establish bounds for the two-point functions.

hep-th

Broken (super) conformal Ward identities at finite temperature

When a (super) conformal field theory is placed on a non-trivial manifold, the (super) conformal symmetry is broken. However, it is still possible to derive broken Ward identities for these broken symmetries, which provide additional constraints on the theory. We derive and apply the broken Ward identities associated with the (super) conformal group on the thermal manifold $\mathcal{M}_β= S_β^1 \times \mathbb{R}^{d-1}$ and $\mathcal{M} = T^2 \times \mathbb{R}^{d-2}$. The novel constraints not only systematically reproduce known results, including an implicit formulation of the generalized Cardy formula, but also elegantly relate the thermal energy spectrum with the conformal spectrum.

hep-th

$T\bar{T}$ deformations and integrable spin chains

We consider current-current deformations that generalise $T\bar{T}$ ones, and show that they may be also introduced for integrable spin chains. In analogy with the integrable QFT setup, we define the deformation as a modification of the S matrix in the Bethe equations. Using results by Bargheer, Beisert and Loebbert we show that the deforming operator is composite and constructed out of two currents on the lattice; its expectation value factorises like for $T\bar{T}$. Such a deformation may be considered for any combination of charges that preserve the model's integrable structure.

hep-th