English

Constraints on Flavored 2d CFT Partition Functions

High Energy Physics - Theory 2018-05-08 v3

Abstract

We study the implications of modular invariance on 2d CFT partition functions with abelian or non-abelian currents when chemical potentials for the charges are turned on, i.e. when the partition functions are "flavored". We begin with a new proof of the transformation law for the modular transformation of such partition functions. Then we proceed to apply modular bootstrap techniques to constrain the spectrum of charged states in the theory. We improve previous upper bounds on the state with the greatest "mass-to-charge" ratio in such theories, as well as upper bounds on the weight of the lightest charged state and the charge of the weakest charged state in the theory. We apply the extremal functional method to theories that saturate such bounds, and in several cases we find the resulting prediction for the occupation numbers are precisely integers. Because such theories sometimes do not saturate a bound on the full space of states but do saturate a bound in the neutral sector of states, we find that adding flavor allows the extremal functional method to solve for some partition functions that would not be accessible to it otherwise.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1709.01533,
  title  = {Constraints on Flavored 2d CFT Partition Functions},
  author = {Ethan Dyer and A. Liam Fitzpatrick and Yuan Xin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1709.01533},
  year   = {2018}
}

Comments

45 pages, 16 Figures v3: typos corrected, expanded appendix on numeric implementation

R2 v1 2026-06-22T21:33:58.532Z