Title: An Analytic Approach to CFTs in General Spacetime Dimension
Speaker: Dr. Xinan Zhou (Princeton)
Time and Venue: 3:30 pm, Dec. 25, 2019, Rm. S401, Teaching building of UCAS

Abstract:

In this talk, I introduce an analytic approach to the four-point crossing equation in CFT, for general spacetime dimension. In a unitary CFT, the crossing equation can be thought of as a vector equation in an infinite-dimensional space of complex analytic functions in two variables, which satisfy a boundedness condition at infinity. We identify a useful basis of functions, consisting of double-twist conformal blocks in mean field theory (and their derivatives with respect to the conformal dimension), in both s- and t-channels. The dual basis is the linear functionals, and I will outline two independent methods to construct them. I will also explain the relation of this work with other analytic approaches, such as the CFT dispersion relation and the Polyakov-Mellin bootstrap.

Reference:

https://arxiv.org/pdf/1910.12855.pdf
see also https://arxiv.org/pdf/1812.09314.pdf for applications in CFTs with boundaries.