Contributor info: Dr Connor Behan

António Antunes, Connor Behan

SciPost Phys. 18, 132 (2025) · published 23 April 2025 | Toggle abstract · pdf

Coupling $N$ large $m$ minimal models and flowing to IR fixed points is a systematic way to build new classes of compact unitary 2d CFTs which are likely to be irrational, and potentially have a positive Virasoro twist gap above the vacuum. In this paper, we build on the construction of [A. Antunes and C. Behan, Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 071602 (2023)], establishing that, for spins less than 10, additional currents transforming in non-trivial irreducible representations of the permutation symmetry $S_N$ are not conserved at the IR fixed points. Along the way, we develop a finer understanding of the spectrum of these theories, of the special properties of the $N=4$ case and of non-invertible symmetries that constrain them. We also discuss variations of the original setup of [A. Antunes and C. Behan, Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 071602 (2023)], some of which can exist for smaller values of the UV central charge.

Connor Behan

SciPost Phys. 12, 149 (2022) · published 6 May 2022 | Toggle abstract · pdf

A common feature of tree-level holography is that a correlator in one theory can serve as a generating function for correlators in another theory with less continuous symmetry. This is the case for a family of 4d CFTs with eight supercharges which have protected operators dual to gluons in the bulk. The most recent additions to this family were defined using S-folds which combine a spatial identification with an action of the S-duality group in type IIB string theory. Differences between these CFTs which have a dynamical origin first become manifest at one loop. To explore this phenomenon at the level of anomalous dimensions, we use the AdS unitarity method to bootstrap a one-loop double discontinuity. Compared to previous studies, the subsequent analysis is performed without any assumption about which special functions are allowed. Instead, the Casimir singular and Casimir regular terms are extracted iteratively in order to move from one Regge trajectory to the next. Our results show that anomalous dimensions in the presence of an S-fold are no longer rational functions of the spin.