High Energy Theory Seminar

Conformal bootstrap equations have demonstrated a strong constraining power in various spacetime dimensions. However, the most exciting results concerning the low-lying spectrum of operators have only been derived using extensive numerics. It is therefore very important to develop the corresponding analytic understanding. I will report on progress in this direction in the context of one and two spacetime dimensions. I will define and study a new basis for functionals acting on crossed conformal blocks which makes the origin of the bootstrap bound more transparent. In several cases, I will use this basis to find an analytic expression for the functional leading to the optimal bootstrap bound. I will comment on a possible extension of this approach to three or more spacetime dimensions.