arXiv subjects

Xinan Zhou

Publications and source records attributed to Xinan Zhou.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

Simplicity of AdS Super Yang-Mills at One Loop

We perform a systematic bootstrap analysis of four-point one-loop Mellin amplitudes for super gluons in $\mathrm{AdS}_5\times\mathrm{S}^3$ with arbitrary Kaluza-Klein weights. The analysis produces the general expressions for these amplitudes at extremalities two and three, as well as analytic results for many other special cases. From these results we observe remarkable simplicity. We find that the Mellin amplitudes always contain only simultaneous poles in two Mellin-Mandelstam variables, extending a previous observation in the simplest case with the lowest Kaluza-Klein weights. Moreover, we discover a substantial extension of the implication of the eight-dimensional hidden conformal symmetry, which goes far beyond the Mellin poles associated with the leading logarithmic singularities. This leaves only a small finite set of poles which can be determined on a case-by-case basis from the contributions of protected operators in the OPE.

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arXiv2023

AdS super gluon scattering up to two loops: A position space approach

We carry out a bootstrap study of four-point correlators in 4d $\mathcal{N}=2$ SCFTs which are dual to super Yang-Mills on $AdS_5\times S^3$. We focus on the simplest $\frac{1}{2}$-BPS operators which correspond to the super gluons in the massless current multiplet. Our computation is based on an ansatz in position space which is inspired by a hidden symmetry structure manifest in the leading terms of the Lorentzian singularities of the correlators. By using other consistency conditions, we completely fix the super gluon correlators at one and two loops in the bulk genus expansion, up to possible counterterms. Our results reveal a number of interesting properties enriched by the color structures. In particular, the implication of hidden conformal symmetry on the full super gluon reduced correlator exhibits an analogous pattern as in the $AdS_5\times S^5$ supergravity correlators recently computed up to two loops.

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arXiv2023

Kaluza-Klein Five-Point Functions from $\textrm{AdS}_5\times S_5$ Supergravity

We continue to explore the bootstrap approach to five-point correlation functions for IIB supergravity on $AdS_5\times S^5$. Building on the result of [1], we develop an improved algorithm that allows us to more efficiently compute correlators of higher Kaluza-Klein modes. The new method uses only factorization and a superconformal twist, and is entirely within Mellin space where the analytic structure of holographic correlators is simpler. Using this method, we obtain in a closed form all five-point functions of the form $\langle pp222\rangle$, extending the earlier result for $p=2$. As a byproduct of our analysis, we also obtain explicit results for spinning four-point functions of higher Kaluza-Klein modes.

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arXiv2023

Spinning correlators in $\mathcal{N} = 2$ SCFTs: Superspace and AdS amplitudes

We study four-point functions of spinning operators in the flavor current multiplet in four dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ SCFTs, using superspace techniques. In particular we explicitly construct the differential operators relating the different components of the super-correlator. As a byproduct of our analysis, we report the computation of the four-point amplitudes of gluons in bosonic Yang-Mills theories on $\mathrm{AdS}_5$ and we give evidence of an AdS double copy relation between the gluon amplitude and its gravitational counterpart.

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arXiv2023

Power Corrections to Energy Flow Correlations from Large Spin Perturbation

Dynamics of high energy scattering in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) are primarily probed through detector energy flow correlations. One important example is the Energy-Energy Correlator (EEC), whose back-to-back limit probes correlations of QCD on the lightcone and can be described by a transverse-momentum dependent factorization formula in the leading power approximation. In this work, we develop a systematic method to go beyond this approximation. We identify the origin of logarithmically enhanced contributions in the back-to-back limit as the exchange of operators with low twists and large spins in the local operator product expansion. Using techniques from the conformal bootstrap, the large logarithms beyond leading power can be resummed to all orders in the perturbative coupling. As an illustration of this method, we perform an all-order resummation of the leading and next-to-leading logarithms beyond the leading power in ${\cal N} = 4$ Super Yang-Mills theory.

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arXiv2022

Selected Topics in Analytic Conformal Bootstrap: A Guided Journey

This review aims to offer a pedagogical introduction to the analytic conformal bootstrap program via a journey through selected topics. We review analytic methods which include the large spin perturbation theory, Mellin space methods and the Lorentzian inversion formula. These techniques are applied to a variety of topics ranging from large-N theories, to the epsilon expansion and holographic superconformal correlators, and are demonstrated in a large number of explicit examples.

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arXiv2022

Yangian Symmetry in Holographic Correlators

We point out that an infinite class of Witten diagrams is invariant under a Yangian symmetry. These diagrams are building blocks of holographic correlators and are related by a web of differential recursion relations. We show that Yangian invariance is equivalent to the consistency conditions of the recursion relations.

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arXiv2022

Scattering bound states in AdS

We initiate the study of bound state scattering in AdS space at the level of Witten diagrams. For concreteness, we focus on the case with only scalar fields and analyze several basic diagrams which more general diagrams reduce to. We obtain closed form expressions for their Mellin amplitudes with arbitrary conformal dimensions, which exhibit interesting behavior. In particular, we observe that certain tree-level bound state Witten diagrams have the same structure as loop diagrams in AdS.

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arXiv2022

Super Gluon Five-Point Amplitudes in AdS Space

We present the tree-level five-point amplitude of the lowest KK mode of SYM on AdS$_5$$\times$S$^3$, dual to the correlator of the flavor current multiplet in the dual 4d ${\cal N}=2$ SCFT. Its color and kinematical structure is particularly simple and resembles that of the flat-space gluon amplitude.

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arXiv2021

Defect CFT in the 6d (2,0) theory from M2 brane dynamics in AdS$_7 \times$S$^4$

Surface operators in the 6d (2,0) theory at large $N$ have a holographic description in terms of M2 branes probing the AdS$_7 \times S^4$ M-theory background. The most symmetric, 1/2-BPS, operator is defined over a planar or spherical surface, and it preserves a 2d superconformal group. This includes, in particular, an $SO(2,2)$ subgroup of 2d conformal transformations, so that the surface operator may be viewed as a conformal defect in the 6d theory. The dual M2 brane has an AdS$_3$ induced geometry, reflecting the 2d conformal symmetry. Here we use the holographic description to extract the defect CFT data associated to the surface operator. The spectrum of transverse fluctuations of the M2 brane is found to be in one-to-one correspondence with a protected multiplet of operator insertions on the surface, which includes the displacement operator. We compute the one-loop determinants of fluctuations of the M2 brane, and extract the conformal anomaly coefficient of the spherical surface to order $N^0$. We also briefly discuss the RG flow from the non-supersymmetric to the 1/2-BPS defect operator, and its consistency with a "$b$-theorem" for the defect CFT. Starting with the M2 brane action, we then use AdS$_3$ Witten diagrams to compute the 4-point functions of the elementary bosonic insertions on the surface operator, and extract some of the defect CFT data from the OPE. The 4-point function is shown to satisfy superconformal Ward identities, and we discuss a related subsector of "twisted" scalar insertions, whose correlation functions are constrained by the residual superconformal symmetry.

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arXiv2021

Gluon Scattering in AdS from CFT

We present a systematic study of holographic correlators in a vast array of SCFTs with non-maximal superconformal symmetry. These theories include 4d $\mathcal{N}=2$ SCFTs from D3-branes near F-theory singularities, 5d Seiberg exceptional theories and 6d E-string theory, as well as 3d and 4d phenomenological models with probe flavor branes. We consider current multiplets and their generalizations with higher weights, dual to massless and massive super gluons in the bulk. At leading order in the inverse central charge expansion, connected four-point functions of these operators correspond to tree-level gluon scattering amplitudes in AdS. We show that all such tree-level four-point amplitudes in all these theories are fully fixed by symmetries and consistency conditions and explicitly construct them. Our results encode a wealth of SCFT data and exhibit various interesting emergent structures. These include Parisi-Sourlas-like dimensional reductions, hidden conformal symmetry and an AdS version of the color-kinematic duality.

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arXiv2021

A Basis of Analytic Functionals for CFTs in General Dimension

We develop an analytic approach to the four-point crossing equation in CFT, for general spacetime dimension. In a unitary CFT, the crossing equation (for, say, the s- and t-channel expansions) can be thought of as a vector equation in an infinite-dimensional space of complex analytic functions in two variables, which satisfy a boundedness condition in the u-channel Regge limit. We identify a useful basis for this space of functions, consisting of the set of s- and t-channel conformal blocks of double-twist operators in mean field theory. We describe two independent algorithms to construct the dual basis of linear functionals, and work out explicitly many examples. Our basis of functionals appears to be closely related to the CFT dispersion relation recently derived by Carmi and Caron-Huot.

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arXiv2021

Aspects of CFTs on Real Projective Space

We present an analytic study of conformal field theories on the real projective space $\mathbb{RP}^d$, focusing on the two-point functions of scalar operators. Due to the partially broken conformal symmetry, these are non-trivial functions of a conformal cross ratio and are constrained to obey a crossing equation. After reviewing basic facts about the structure of correlators on $\mathbb{RP}^d$, we study a simple holographic setup which captures the essential features of boundary correlators on $\mathbb{RP}^d$. The analysis is based on calculations of Witten diagrams on the quotient space $AdS_{d+1}/\mathbb{Z}_2$, and leads to an analytic approach to two-point functions. In particular, we argue that the structure of the conformal block decomposition of the exchange Witten diagrams suggests a natural basis of analytic functionals, whose action on the conformal blocks turns the crossing equation into certain sum rules. We test this approach in the canonical example of $ϕ^4$ theory in dimension $d=4-ε$, extracting the CFT data to order $ε^2$. We also check our results by standard field theory methods, both in the large $N$ and $ε$ expansions. Finally, we briefly discuss the relation of our analysis to the problem of construction of local bulk operators in AdS/CFT.

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arXiv2021

Double Copy Relation for AdS

We present a double copy relation in AdS$_5$ which relates tree-level four-point amplitudes of supergravity, super Yang-Mills and bi-adjoint scalars.

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arXiv2021

More on holographic correlators: Twisted and dimensionally reduced structures

Recently four-point holographic correlators with arbitrary external BPS operators were constructively derived in [1,2] at tree-level for maximally superconformal theories. In this paper, we capitalize on these theoretical data, and perform a detailed study of their analytic properties. We point out that these maximally supersymmetric holographic correlators exhibit a hidden dimensional reduction structure à la Parisi and Sourlas. This emergent structure allows the correlators to be compactly expressed in terms of only scalar exchange diagrams in a dimensionally reduced spacetime, where formally both the AdS and the sphere factors have four dimensions less. We also demonstrate the superconformal properties of holographic correlators under the chiral algebra and topological twistings. For $AdS_5\times S^5$ and $AdS_7\times S^4$, we obtain closed form expressions for the meromorphic twisted correlators from the maximally R-symmetry violating limit of the holographic correlators. The results are compared with independent field theory computations in 4d $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM and the 6d $(2,0)$ theory, finding perfect agreement. For $AdS_4\times S^7$, we focus on an infinite family of near-extremal four-point correlators, and extract various protected OPE coefficients from supergravity. These OPE coefficients provide new holographic predictions to be matched by future supersymmetric localization calculations. In deriving these results, we also develop many technical tools which should have broader applicability beyond studying holographic correlators.

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arXiv2021

All Holographic Four-Point Functions in All Maximally Supersymmetric CFTs

We present a constructive derivation of holographic four-point correlators of arbitrary half-BPS operators for all maximally supersymmetric conformal field theories in $d>2$. This includes holographic correlators in 3d ${\cal N}=8$ ABJM theories, 4d ${\cal N}=4$ SYM theory and the 6d ${\cal N}=(2,0)$ theory, dual to tree-level amplitudes in 11D supergravity on $AdS_4 \times S^7$, 10D supergravity on $AdS_5 \times S^5$ and 11D supergravity on $AdS_7 \times S^4$, respectively. We introduce the concept of Maximally R-symmetry Violating (MRV) amplitude, which corresponds to a special configuration in the R-symmetry space. In this limit the amplitude drastically simplifies, but at the same time the entire polar part of the full amplitude can be recovered from this limit. Furthermore, for a specific choice of the polar part, contact terms can be shown to be absent, by using the superconformal Ward identities and the flat space limit.

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arXiv2020

All Tree-Level Correlators for M-theory on $AdS_7 \times S^4$

We present a constructive derivation of all four-point tree-level holographic correlators for eleven dimensional supergravity on $AdS_7 \times S^4$. These correlators correspond to four-point functions of arbitrary one-half BPS operators in the six-dimensional $(2,0)$ theory at large central charge. The crucial observation is that the polar part of the correlators in Mellin space is fully captured by a drastically simpler Maximally R-symmetry Violating (MRV) amplitude, while the contact part is fully fixed by superconformal Ward identities and the flat space limit.

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arXiv2020

Simplicity of AdS Supergravity at One Loop

We demonstrate the simplicity of $AdS_5\times S^5$ IIB supergravity at one loop level, by studying non-planar holographic four-point correlators in Mellin space. We develop a systematic algorithm for constructing one-loop Mellin amplitudes from tree-level data, and obtain a simple closed form answer for the $\langle \mathcal{O}_2^{SG}\mathcal{O}_2^{SG}\mathcal{O}_p^{SG}\mathcal{O}_p^{SG} \rangle$ correlators. The structure of this expression is remarkably simple, containing only simultaneous poles in the Mellin variables. We also study the flat space limit of the Mellin amplitudes, which reproduces precisely the IIB supergravity one-loop amplitude in ten dimensions. Our results provide nontrivial evidence for the persistence of the hidden conformal symmetry at one loop.

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