Exact correlators of BPS Operators from the 3d superconformal bootstrap

Shai M. Chester, Jaehoon Lee, Silviu S. Pufu, Ran Yacoby

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

100 Scopus citations

Abstract

Abstract: We use the superconformal bootstrap to derive exact relations between OPE coefficients in three-dimensional superconformal field theories with (Formula presented.) supersymmetry. These relations follow from a consistent truncation of the crossing symmetry equations that is associated with the cohomology of a certain supercharge. In (Formula presented.) SCFTs, the non-trivial cohomology classes are in one-to-one correspondence with certain half-BPS operators, provided that these operators are restricted to lie on a line. The relations we find are powerful enough to allow us to determine an infinite number of OPE coefficients in the interacting SCFT (U(2)2× U(1)−2 ABJ theory) that constitutes the IR limit of O(3) (Formula presented.) super-Yang-Mills theory. More generally, in (Formula presented.) SCFTs with a unique stress tensor, we are led to conjecture that many superconformal multiplets allowed by group theory must actually be absent from the spectrum, and we test this conjecture in known (Formula presented.) SCFTs using the superconformal index. For generic (Formula presented.) SCFTs, we also improve on numerical bootstrap bounds on OPE coefficients of short and semi-short multiplets and discuss their relation to the exact relations between OPE coefficients we derived. In particular, we show that the kink previously observed in these bounds arises from the disappearance of a certain quarter-BPS multiplet, and that the location of the kink is likely tied to the existence of the U(2)2× U(1)−2 AJ theory, which can be argued to not possess this multiplet.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number130
Pages (from-to)1-55
Number of pages55
JournalJournal of High Energy Physics
Volume2015
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 1 2015

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Nuclear and High Energy Physics

Keywords

  • Conformal and W Symmetry
  • Extended Supersymmetry
  • Topological Field Theories

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