Physics (Internal)

An integral approach to the conformal bootstrap

This event is part of the HET Seminar Series.

Recent years have seen a revival of the bootstrap approach to studying conformally invariant quantum theories. By now the conformal bootstrap has become a powerful method that has been used to compute critical exponents to extremely high accuracy. The conventional bootstrap works by analyzing four-point functions in position space. In this talk I will discuss an orthogonal approach that makes use of Sturm-Liouville theory; effectively, it “integrates out” position space. I will focus on D=1 CFTs, and on CFTs in the presence of a boundary/crosscap.