Related papers: Marginal deformations and defect anomalies
Even dimensional defects and boundaries in conformal field theory support type $a$ anomalies on their world-volume. We show that the one-point functions of marginal operators, in the presence of defects and boundaries, are anomalous, and…
Just as exactly marginal operators allow to deform a conformal field theory along the space of theories known as the conformal manifold, appropriate operators on conformal defects allow for deformations of the defects. When a defect breaks…
The existence of an exactly marginal deformation in a conformal field theory is very special, but it is not well understood how this is reflected in the allowed dimensions and OPE coefficients of local operators. To shed light on this…
Conformal symmetry is broken by a flat or spherical defect operator $\mathcal{D}$. We show that this defect operator, may be identified as a pair of twist operators which are inserted at the tips of its causal diamond. Any $k-$point…
Defects play a central role in many contexts, from condensed matter to quantum gravity. The situations in which the bulk theory is conformal and the defect inherits part of this symmetry -- the so-called defect conformal field theories…
The presence of a boundary (or defect) in a conformal field theory allows one to generalize the notion of an exactly marginal deformation. Without a boundary, one must find an operator of protected scaling dimension $\Delta$ equal to the…
In this paper we study the expectation value of deformations of the circular Wilson loop in ${\cal N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory. The leading order deformation, known as the Bremsstrahlung function, can be obtained exactly from…
We consider defect operators in scalar field theories in dimensions $d=4-\epsilon $ and $d=6-\epsilon$ with self-interactions given by a general marginal potential. In a double scaling limit, where the bulk couplings go to zero and the…
We discuss the constraints that a conformal field theory should enjoy to admit exactly marginal deformations, i.e. to be part of a conformal manifold. In particular, using tools from conformal perturbation theory, we derive a sum rule from…
We discuss conformal manifolds for conformal field theories with boundaries or defects. Using conformal perturbation theory we derive constraints on coefficients appearing in the boundary operator product expansion and three-point functions…
We classify possible supersymmetry-preserving relevant, marginal, and irrelevant deformations of unitary superconformal theories in $d \geq 3$ dimensions. Our method only relies on symmetries and unitarity. Hence, the results are model…
We study relevant deformations of conformal field theory on a cylinder using conformal perturbation theory, and in particular the one point function of the deformation operator and the energy in a system after a quench. We do the one point…
This is the first of a series of two papers in which we study the one-dimensional defect CFT defined by insertions of local operators along a $\tfrac{1}{2}$-BPS Wilson line in $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills. In this first paper we focus…
We explore the connection between the global symmetry quantum numbers of line defects and 't Hooft anomalies. Relative to local (point) operators, line defects may transform projectively under both internal and spacetime symmetries. This…
We study the problem of finding exactly marginal deformations of N=1 superconformal field theories in four dimensions. We find that the only way a marginal chiral operator can become not exactly marginal is for it to combine with a…
We make an exact field theoretical computation of the conformal anomaly for two-dimensional submanifold observables. By including a scalar field in the definition for the Wilson surface, as appropriate for a spontaneously broken A_1 theory,…
We discuss consequences of the breaking of conformal symmetry by a flat or spherical extended operator. We adapt the embedding formalism to the study of correlation functions of symmetric traceless tensors in the presence of the defect.…
We initiate the classification of unitary superconformal defects in unitary superconformal field theories (SCFT) of diverse spacetime dimensions $3\leq d \leq 6$. Our method explores general constraints from the defect superconformal…
We study the effect of marginal and irrelevant deformations on the renormalization of operators near a CFT fixed point. New divergences in a given operator are determined by its OPE with the operator D that generates the deformation. This…
We study a D3-D5 system dual to a conformal field theory with a codimension-one defect that separates regions where the ranks of the gauge groups differ by $k$. With the help of this additional parameter, as observed by Nagasaki, Tanida and…