arXiv subjects

Xinan Zhou

Publications and source records attributed to Xinan Zhou.

48 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

How to Succeed at Witten Diagram Recursions without Really Trying

Witten diagrams are basic objects for studying dynamics in AdS space, and also play key roles in the analytic functional bootstrap. However, these diagrams are notoriously hard to evaluate, making it extremely difficult to search for recursion relations among them. In this note, we present simple methods to obtain recursion relations for exchange Witten diagrams from conformal block recursion relations. We discover a variety of new relations, including the dimensional reduction formulae for exchange Witten diagrams. In particular, we find a five-term recursion relation relating exchange Witten diagrams in $d$ and $d-2$ dimensions. This gives the holographic analogue of a similar formula for conformal blocks due to Parisi-Sourlas supersymmetry. We also extend the analysis to two-point functions in CFTs with conformal boundaries, and obtain similar results.

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arXiv2019

$20'$ Five-Point Function from $AdS_5\times S^5$ Supergravity

We develop new techniques to compute five-point correlation functions from IIB supergravity on $AdS_5\times S^5$. Our methods rely entirely on symmetry and general consistency conditions, and eschew detailed knowledge of the supergravity effective action. We demonstrate our methods by computing the five-point function of the $\mathbf{20'}$ operator, which is the superconformal primary of the stress tensor multiplet. We also develop systematic methods to compute the five-point conformal blocks in series expansions. Using the explicit expressions of the conformal blocks, we perform a Euclidean OPE analysis of the $\mathbf{20'}$ five-point function. We find expected agreement with non-renormalized quantities and also extract new CFT data at strong coupling.

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arXiv2019

$\mathbf{AdS_3\times S^3}$ Tree-Level Correlators: Hidden Six-Dimensional Conformal Symmetry

We revisit the calculation of holographic correlators in $AdS_3$. We develop new methods to evaluate exchange Witten diagrams, resolving some technical difficulties that prevent a straightforward application of the methods used in higher dimensions. We perform detailed calculations in the $AdS_3 \times S^3 \times K3$ background. We find strong evidence that four-point tree-level correlators of KK modes of the tensor multiplets enjoy a hidden 6d conformal symmetry. The correlators can all be packaged into a single generating function, related to the 6d flat space superamplitude. This generalizes an analogous structure found in $AdS_5 \times S^5$ supergravity.

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arXiv2019

Recursion Relations in Witten Diagrams and Conformal Partial Waves

We revisit the problem of performing conformal block decomposition of exchange Witten diagrams in the crossed channel. Using properties of conformal blocks and Witten diagrams, we discover infinitely many linear relations among the crossed channel decomposition coefficients. These relations allow us to formulate a recursive algorithm that solves the decomposition coefficients in terms of certain seed coefficients. In one dimensional CFTs, the seed coefficient is the decomposition coefficient of the double-trace operator with the lowest conformal dimension. In higher dimensions, the seed coefficients are the coefficients of the double-trace operators with the minimal conformal twist. We also discuss the conformal block decomposition of a generic contact Witten diagram with any number of derivatives. As a byproduct of our analysis, we obtain a similar recursive algorithm for decomposing conformal partial waves in the crossed channel.

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arXiv2018

An Analytic Approach to BCFT$_d$

We develop an analytic approach to Boundary Conformal Field Theory (BCFT), focussing on the two-point function of a general pair of scalar primary operators. The resulting crossing equation can be thought of as a vector equation in an infinite-dimensional space ${\cal V}$ of analytic functions of a single complex variable. We argue that in a unitary theory, functions in ${\cal V}$ satisfy a boundedness condition in the Regge limit. We identify a useful basis for ${\cal V}$, consisting of bulk and boundary conformal blocks with scaling dimensions which appear in OPEs of the mean field theory correlator. Our main achievement is an explicit expression for the action of the dual basis (the basis of liner functionals on ${\cal V}$) on an arbitrary conformal block. The practical merit of our basis is that it trivializes the study of perturbations around mean field theory. Our results are equivalent to a BCFT version of the Polyakov bootstrap. Our derivation of the expressions for the functionals relies on the identification of the Polyakov blocks with (suitably improved) boundary and bulk Witten exchange diagrams in $AdS_{d+1}$. We also provide another conceptual perspective on the Polyakov block expansion and the associated functionals, by deriving a new Lorentzian OPE inversion formula for BCFT.

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arXiv2018

On Superconformal Four-Point Mellin Amplitudes in Dimension $d>2$

We present a universal treatment for imposing superconformal constraints on Mellin amplitudes for $\mathrm{SCFT_d}$ with $3\leq d\leq 6$. This leads to a new technique to compute holographic correlators, which is similar but complementary to the ones introduced in [1,2]. We apply this technique to theories in various spacetime dimensions. In addition to reproducing known results, we obtain a simple expression for next-next-to-extremal four-point functions in $AdS_7\times S^4$. We also use this machinery on $AdS_4\times S^7$ and compute the first holographic one-half BPS four-point function. We extract the anomalous dimension of the R-symmetry singlet double-trace operator with the lowest conformal dimension and find agreement with the 3d $\mathcal{N}=8$ numerical bootstrap bound at large central charge.

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arXiv2018

Comments on Abelian Higgs Models and Persistent Order

A natural question about Quantum Field Theory is whether there is a deformation to a trivial gapped phase. If the underlying theory has an anomaly, then symmetric deformations can never lead to a trivial phase. We discuss such discrete anomalies in Abelian Higgs models in 1+1 and 2+1 dimensions. We emphasize the role of charge conjugation symmetry in these anomalies; for example, we obtain nontrivial constraints on the degrees of freedom that live on a domain wall in the VBS phase of the Abelian Higgs model in 2+1 dimensions. In addition, as a byproduct of our analysis, we show that in 1+1 dimensions the Abelian Higgs model is dual to the Ising model. We also study variations of the Abelian Higgs model in 1+1 and 2+1 dimensions where there is no dynamical particle of unit charge. These models have a center symmetry and additional discrete anomalies. In the absence of a dynamical unit charge particle, the Ising transition in the 1+1 dimensional Abelian Higgs model is removed. These models without a unit charge particle exhibit a remarkably persistent order: we prove that the system cannot be disordered by either quantum or thermal fluctuations. Equivalently, when these theories are studied on a circle, no matter how small or large the circle is, the ground state is non-trivial.

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arXiv2018

Holographic Four-Point Functions in the (2, 0) Theory

We revisit the calculation of holographic correlators for eleven-dimensional supergravity on $AdS_7\times S^4$. Our methods rely entirely on symmetry and eschew detailed knowledge of the supergravity effective action. By an extension of the position space approach developed in [1, 2] for the $AdS_5\times S^5$ background, we compute four-point correlators of one-half BPS operators for identical weights $k=2, 3, 4$. The $k=2$ case corresponds to the four-point function of the stress-tensor multiplet, which was already known, while the other two cases are new. We also translate the problem in Mellin space, where the solution of the superconformal Ward identity takes a surprisingly simple form. We formulate an algebraic problem, whose (conjecturally unique) solution corresponds to the general one-half BPS four-point function.

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arXiv2018

How to Succeed at Holographic Correlators Without Really Trying

We give a detailed account of the methods introduced in [1] to calculate holographic four-point correlators in IIB supergravity on $AdS_5 \times S^5$. Our approach relies entirely on general consistency conditions and maximal supersymmetry. We discuss two related methods, one in position space and the other in Mellin space. The position space method is based on the observation that the holographic four-point correlators of one-half BPS single-trace operators can be written as finite sums of contact Witten diagrams. We demonstrate in several examples that imposing the superconformal Ward identity is sufficient to fix the parameters of this ansatz uniquely, avoiding the need for a detailed knowledge of the supergravity effective action. The Mellin space approach is an "on-shell method" inspired by the close analogy between holographic correlators and flat space scattering amplitudes. We conjecture a compact formula for the four-point correlators of one-half BPS single-trace operators of arbitrary weights. Our general formula has the expected analytic structure, obeys the superconformal Ward identity, satisfies the appropriate asymptotic conditions and reproduces all the previously calculated cases. We believe that these conditions determine it uniquely.

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arXiv2018

On Mellin Amplitudes in SCFTs with Eight Supercharges

We extend the Mellin space techniques of [1] for computing holographic four-point correlation functions in maximally superconformal theories to theories with only eight Poincaré supercharges. The one-half BPS operators in these correlators are taken to be the superconformal primary in the $\mathcal{D}[k]$ multiplet (with $k=2$ corresponding to the flavor current multiplet), and transform in the adjoint representation of a flavor group $G$. Because of the smaller R-symmetry group $SU(2)$, each individual superconformal Ward identity is less powerful. On the other hand, the constraining power is compensated in number by the different flavor channels in the four-point function. As concrete test cases, we study the Seiberg theories in five dimensions and E-string theory in six dimensions at the large $N$ limit. We show that the flavor current multiplet four-point functions are fixed by superconformal symmetry up to two free parameters, which are proportional to the squared OPE coefficients for the flavor current multiplet and the stress tensor multiplet.

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arXiv2017

The Mellin Formalism for Boundary CFT$_d$

We extend the Mellin representation of conformal field theory (CFT) to allow for conformal boundaries and interfaces. We consider the simplest holographic setup dual to an interface CFT - a brane filling an $AdS_{d}$ subspace of $AdS_{d+1}$ - and perform a systematic study of Witten diagrams in this setup. As a byproduct of our analysis, we show that geodesic Witten diagrams in this geometry reproduce interface CFT$_d$ conformal blocks, generalizing the analogous statement for CFTs with no defects.

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arXiv2016

Mellin amplitudes for $AdS_5\times S^5$

We revisit the calculation of holographic correlation functions in IIB supergravity on $AdS_5\times S^5$. Results for four-point functions simplify drastically when expressed in Mellin space. We conjecture a compact formula for the four-point functions of one-half BPS single-trace operators of arbitrary weight. Our methods rely on general consistency conditions and eschew detailed knowledge of the supergravity effective action.

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