Related papers: Regge's Inferno
We study the positivity properties of the leading Regge trajectory in higher-dimensional, unitary, conformal field theories (CFTs). These conditions correspond to higher spin generalizations of the averaged null energy condition (ANEC). By…
What is the space of weakly-coupled, gravitational theories which contain massive, higher-spin particles? This class of theories is highly constrained and it is conjectured their ultraviolet completion must be string theory. We provide more…
Using conformal field theory (CFT) arguments we derive an infinite number of constraints on the large spin expansion of the anomalous dimensions and structure constants of higher spin operators. These arguments rely only on analiticity,…
We consider unitary CFTs with continuous global symmetries in $d>2$. We consider a state created by the lightest operator of large charge $Q \gg 1$ and analyze the correlator of two light charged operators in this state. We assume that the…
We derive constraints on two-dimensional conformal field theories with higher spin symmetry due to unitarity, modular invariance, and causality. We focus on CFTs with $\mathcal{W}_N$ symmetry in the "irrational" regime, where $c>N-1$ and…
We consider several aspects of unitary higher-dimensional conformal field theories (CFTs). We first study massive deformations that trigger a flow to a gapped phase. Deep inelastic scattering in the gapped phase leads to a convexity…
Every conformal field theory (CFT) above two dimensions contains an infinite set of Regge trajectories of local operators which, at large spin, asymptote to "double-twist" composites with vanishing anomalous dimension. In two dimensions,…
All possible interactions of a point particle with background electromagnetic, gravitational and higher-spin fields is considered in the two-time physics worldline formalism in (d,2) dimensions. This system has a counterpart in a recent…
In this paper, we use crossing symmetry and unitarity constraints to put a lower bound on the central charge of conformal field theories in large space-time dimensions $D$. Specifically, we work with the four-point function of identical…
We generalize Regge theory to correlation functions in conformal field theories. This is done by exploring the analogy between Mellin amplitudes in AdS/CFT and S-matrix elements. In the process, we develop the conformal partial wave…
We analytically solve the conformal bootstrap equations in the Regge limit for large N conformal field theories. For theories with a parametrically large gap, the amplitude is dominated by spin-2 exchanges and we show how the crossing…
We develop a formalism to study the implications of causality on OPE coefficients in conformal field theories with large central charge and a sparse spectrum of higher spin operators. The formalism has the interpretation of a new conformal…
In this paper, we analyze the constraints imposed by unitarity and crossing symmetry on conformal theories in large dimensions. In particular, we show that in a unitary conformal theory in large dimension $D$, the four-point function of…
We show that the coupling of a massive spin-2 field to undeformed N=1 supergravity in four dimensions is unique, leading to a specific non-minimal coupling to the Riemann tensor. The massive spin-2 coupling reproduces the one of an…
We derive constraints on the operator product expansion of two stress tensors in conformal field theories (CFTs), both generic and holographic. We point out that in large $N$ CFTs with a large gap to single-trace higher spin operators, the…
We consider two-dimensional chiral, first-order conformal field theories governing maps from the Riemann sphere to the projective light cone inside Minkowski space -- the natural setting for describing conformal field theories in two fewer…
The pp-wave (Penrose limit) in conformal field theory can be viewed as a special contraction of the unitary representations of the conformal group. We study the kinematics of conformal fields in this limit in a geometric approach where the…
In this work, we classify all the possible local four-point couplings relevant for tree-level flat space $2 \rightarrow 2$ scattering of external massive particles of spin one and spin two which do not grow faster than $s^2$ at large $s$…
We analyze conformal field theory 4-point functions of the form A ~ O_1(x_1) O_2(x_2) O_1(x_3) O_2(x_4), where the operators O_i are scalar primaries. We show that, in the Lorentzian regime, the limit x_1 -> x_3 is dominated by the exchange…
We elaborate on the symmetry breaking pattern involved in the Penrose limit of $AdS_{d+1} \times S^{d+1}$ spacetimes and the corresponding limit of the CFT dual. For d=2 we examine in detail how the symmetries contract to products of…