PIRSA:18020078

Beyond a=c: Gravitational Couplings to Matter and the Stress Tensor OPE

Perlmutter, E. (2018). Beyond a=c: Gravitational Couplings to Matter and the Stress Tensor OPE. Perimeter Institute. https://pirsa.org/18020078

Perlmutter, Eric. Beyond a=c: Gravitational Couplings to Matter and the Stress Tensor OPE. Perimeter Institute, Feb. 06, 2018, https://pirsa.org/18020078 

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:18020078,
            doi = {10.48660/18020078},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/18020078},
            author = {Perlmutter, Eric},
            keywords = {Quantum Fields and Strings},
            language = {en},
            title = {Beyond a=c: Gravitational Couplings to Matter and the Stress Tensor OPE},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2018},
            month = {feb},
            note = {PIRSA:18020078 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }

Eric Perlmutter Princeton University

DOI 10.48660/18020078
Collection
Talk Type Scientific Series
Subject

Abstract

We derive constraints on the operator product expansion of two stress tensors in conformal field theories (CFTs). In large N CFTs with a large gap to single-trace higher spin operators, we show that the coupling of two stress tensors to other single-trace operators ("TTO") is suppressed by powers of the higher spin gap, dual to the mass scale of higher spin particles in AdS. The absence of light higher spin particles is thus a necessary condition for the existence of a consistent truncation to general relativity in AdS. We are led to propose that, in general, the inverse gap scale is the CFT "dual" of an AdS derivative in a classical action. These results are derived by imposing unitarity on mixed systems of spinning four-point functions in the Regge limit. Using the same method, but without imposing a large gap, we derive new inequalities on TTO-type couplings valid in any CFT.