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Title: Unitarity methods in AdS/CFT

Journal Article · · Journal of High Energy Physics (Online)
 [1];  [1];  [2]
  1. California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Walter Burke Inst. for Theoretical Physics
  2. California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Walter Burke Inst. for Theoretical Physics; Univ. of Kentucky, Lexington, KY (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy

We develop a systematic unitarity method for loop-level AdS scattering amplitudes, dual to non-planar CFT correlators, from both bulk and boundary perspectives. We identify cut operators acting on bulk amplitudes that put virtual lines on shell, and show how the conformal partial wave decomposition of the amplitudes may be efficiently computed by gluing lower-loop amplitudes. A central role is played by the double discontinuity of the amplitude, which has a direct relation to these cuts. We then exhibit a precise, intuitive map between the diagrammatic approach in the bulk using cutting and gluing, and the algebraic, holographic unitarity method of [1] that constructs the non-planar correlator from planar CFT data. Our analysis focuses mostly on four-point, one-loop diagrams — we compute cuts of the scalar bubble, triangle and box, as well as some one-particle reducible diagrams — in addition to the five-point tree and four-point double-ladder. Analogies with S-matrix unitarity methods are drawn throughout.

Research Organization:
California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0011632
OSTI ID:
1802218
Journal Information:
Journal of High Energy Physics (Online), Vol. 2020, Issue 3; ISSN 1029-8479
Publisher:
Springer BerlinCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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