arXiv subjects

Kamran Salehi Vaziri

Publications and source records attributed to Kamran Salehi Vaziri.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Microstate counting from defects in de Sitter

We explore the microscopic origin of de Sitter entropy using a Lorentzian path-integral approach. We construct a Hilbert space whose states are associated with configurations of thin shells or end-of-the-world branes, with state overlaps defined by the gravitational path integral. By considering states which are indistinguishable to an observer, we find that the variance of microstate overlaps is dominated by Lorentzian wormhole topologies with conical singularities. Evaluating these overlaps, we recover the expected area law for the entropy, relating the dimension of the de Sitter Hilbert space to the area of the cosmological horizon. Extending this analysis to Schwarzschild-de Sitter spacetime, we show that both the cosmological and black hole horizons contribute to the total entropy. Along the way, we present an explicit construction of the shell and brane configurations and examine their compatibility with relevant consistency conditions, including the null energy condition.

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arXiv2026

Cosmological Weight-Shifting Matrices

We construct matrices that shift the scaling dimension of scalar fields for arbitrary de Sitter Feynman diagrams. Acting on a set of master integrals, these weight-shifting matrices shift the scaling dimensions of individual edges of a given diagram by an integer. They can thus be applied to a broader range of problems and are simpler to implement than earlier derivative-based approaches. By introducing a Kronecker product representation of our matrix formulation, we generalise weight-shifting operators beyond four-point functions to arbitrary tree-level diagrams. As an application, we obtain explicit expressions for several massless wavefunction coefficients in four-dimensional de Sitter space, starting from conformally coupled seed functions. Our construction provides a systematic and graph-local approach to generating cosmologically relevant correlators from simpler master integrals.

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arXiv2026

Differential Equations for Massive Correlators

We uncover a combinatorial structure governing the differential equations satisfied by wavefunction coefficients of scalar fields with generic masses in de Sitter space. Using an integral representation of the massive mode functions, we express the Feynman integrals underlying cosmological correlators as twisted integrals of rational functions. In this formulation, the integrals belong to a finite set of master integrals obeying a first-order system of differential equations, which can be derived efficiently in the time-integral representation. We show that these equations admit a simple graphical description in terms of graph tubings, which encode the couplings among basis functions and the evolution of singularities. This structure provides an efficient algorithm to derive the differential equations, and a boundary-centric perspective on massive cosmological correlators in which their analytic structure emerges from underlying combinatorial data. As an illustration, we solve the system in the limits of small and large masses.

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arXiv2025

The Källén-Lehmann representation in de Sitter spacetime

We study two-point functions of symmetric traceless local operators in the bulk of de Sitter spacetime. We derive the Källén-Lehmann spectral decomposition for any spin and show that unitarity implies its spectral densities are nonnegative. In addition, we recover the Källén-Lehmann decomposition in Minkowski space by taking the flat space limit. Using harmonic analysis and the Wick rotation to Euclidean Anti de Sitter, we derive an inversion formula to compute the spectral densities. Using the inversion formula, we relate the analytic structure of the spectral densities to the late-time boundary operator content. We apply our technical tools to study two-point functions of composite operators in free and weakly coupled theories. In the weakly coupled case, we show how the Källén-Lehmann decomposition is useful to find the anomalous dimensions of the late-time boundary operators. We also derive the Källén-Lehmann representation of two-point functions of spinning primary operators of a Conformal Field Theory on de Sitter.

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arXiv2024

A non-perturbative construction of the de Sitter late-time boundary

We propose a new approach for constructing the late-time conformal boundary of quantum field theory in de Sitter spacetime. A boundary theory which consists of a continuous family of primary operators residing on unitary irreducible representations, the principal series. These boundary operators exhibit two-point functions that include contact terms alongside standard CFT two-point functions. We introduce a bulk-to-boundary expansion in which a bulk operator, when pushed to the boundary, is represented as an integral over boundary operators. The kernel of this integral is related to the Källén-Lehmann spectral density, and we examine the convergence of the expansion by deriving the spectral density's large dimension limit. Additionally, we derive an inversion formula for the bulk-to-boundary expansion, where, given a bulk theory, the boundary operator content is constructed as an integral of the bulk operator times the bulk-to-boundary propagator. We verify the inversion formula by recovering the boundary two-point function and reproducing perturbation theory. Along the way, we define an operator that generates both the bulk-to-boundary and free bulk-to-bulk propagators from the boundary two-point function, proving to be a powerful tool for simplifying de Sitter diagrams.

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arXiv2023

Hilbert space of Quantum Field Theory in de Sitter spacetime

We study the decomposition of the Hilbert space of quantum field theory in $(d+1)$ dimensional de Sitter spacetime into Unitary Irreducible Representations (UIRs) of its isometry group \SO$(1,d+1)$. Firstly, we consider multi-particle states in free theories starting from the tensor product of single-particle UIRs. Secondly, we study conformal multiplets of a bulk Conformal Field Theory with symmetry group \SO$(2,d+1)$. Our main tools are the Harish-Chandra characters and the numerical diagonalization of the (truncated) quadratic Casimir of \SO$(1,d+1)$. We introduce a continuous density that encodes the spectrum of irreducible representations contained in a reducible one of $\SO(1,d+1)$. Our results are complete for $d=1$ and $d=2$. In higher dimensions, we rederive and extend several results previously known in the literature. Our work provides the foundation for future nonperturbative bootstrap studies of Quantum Field Theory in de Sitter spacetime.

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arXiv2022

Towards the non-perturbative cosmological bootstrap

We study quantum field theory on a de Sitter spacetime dS$_{d+1}$ background. Our main tool is the Hilbert space decomposition in irreducible unitary representations of its isometry group $SO(d+1,1)$. As the first application of the Hilbert space formalism, we recover the Källen-Lehmann spectral decomposition of the scalar bulk two-point function. In the process, we exhibit a relation between poles in the corresponding spectral densities and the boundary CFT data. Moreover, we derive an inversion formula for the spectral density through analytical continuation from the sphere and use it to find the spectral decompisiton for a few examples. Next, we study the conformal partial wave decomposition of the four-point functions of boundary operators. These correlation functions are very similar to the ones of standard conformal field theory, but have different positivity properties that follow from unitarity in de Sitter. We conclude by proposing a non-perturbative conformal bootstrap approach to the study of these late-time four-point functions, and we illustrate our proposal with a concrete example for QFT in dS$_2$.

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arXiv2021

Hamiltonian truncation in Anti-de Sitter spacetime

Quantum Field Theories (QFTs) in Anti-de Sitter (AdS) spacetime are often strongly coupled when the radius of AdS is large, and few methods are available to study them. In this work, we develop a Hamiltonian truncation method to compute the energy spectrum of QFTs in two-dimensional AdS. The infinite volume of constant timeslices of AdS leads to divergences in the energy levels. We propose a simple prescription to obtain finite physical energies and test it with numerical diagonalization in several models: the free massive scalar field, $ϕ^4$ theory, Lee-Yang and Ising field theory. Along the way, we discuss spontaneous symmetry breaking in AdS and derive a compact formula for perturbation theory in quantum mechanics at arbitrary order. Our results suggest that all conformal boundary conditions for a given theory are connected via bulk renormalization group flows in AdS.

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