Soft Algebras in AdS$_4$ from Light Ray Operators in CFT$_3$
Abstract
Flat Minkowski space (M) and AdS can both be conformally mapped to the Einstein cylinder. The maps may be judiciously chosen so that some null generators of the boundary of M coincide with antipodally-terminating null geodesic segments on the boundary of AdS. Conformally invariant nonabelian gauge theories in M have an asymptotic -algebra generated by a tower of soft gluons given by weighted null line integrals on . We show that, under the conformal map to AdS, the leading soft gluons are dual to light transforms of the conserved global symmetry currents in the boundary CFT. The tower of light ray operators obtained from the descendants of this light transform realize a full set of generators of the -algebra in the boundary CFT. This provides a direct connection between holographic symmetry algebras in M and AdS.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2601.00096,
title = {Soft Algebras in AdS$_4$ from Light Ray Operators in CFT$_3$},
author = {Ahmed Sheta and Andrew Strominger and Adam Tropper and Hongji Wei},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.00096},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
24 pages, no figure