TASI lectures on AdS/CFT

We introduce the AdS/CFT correspondence as a natural extension of QFT in a fixed AdS background. We start by reviewing some general concepts of CFT, including the embedding space formalism. We then consider QFT in a fixed AdS background and show that one can define boundary operators that enjoy very similar properties as in a CFT, except for the lack of a stress tensor. Including a dynamical metric in AdS generates a boundary stress tensor and completes the CFT axioms. We also discuss some applications of the bulk geometric intuition to strongly coupled QFT. Finally, we end with a review of the main properties of Mellin amplitudes for CFT correlation functions and their uses in the context of AdS/CFT.Comment: 63 pages, 7 figure

String scattering in flat space and a scaling limit of Yang-Mills correlators

We use the flat space limit of the AdS/CFT correspondence to derive a simple relation between the 2 to 2 scattering amplitude of massless string states in type IIB superstring theory on ten-dimensional Minkowski space and a scaling limit of the N=4 super Yang-Mills four point functions. We conjecture that this relation holds non-perturbatively and at arbitrarily high energy.Comment: 13 page

Colliders and conformal interfaces

We set up a scattering experiment of matter against an impurity which separates two generic one-dimensional critical quantum systems. We compute the flux of reflected and transmitted energy, thus defining a precise measure of the transparency of the interface between the related two-dimensional conformal field theories. If the largest symmetry algebra is Virasoro, we find that the reflection and transmission coefficients are independent of the details of the initial state, and are fixed in terms of the central charges and of the two-point function of the displacement operator. The situation is more elaborate when extended symmetries are present. Positivity of the total energy flux at infinity imposes bounds on the coefficient of the two-point function of the displacement operator, which controls the free-energy cost of a small deformation of the interface. Finally, we study out-of-equilibrium steady states of a critical system connecting two reservoirs at different temperatures. In the absence of extended symmetries, our result implies that the energy flux across an impurity is proportional to the difference of the squared temperatures and controlled by the reflection coefficient.Comment: 32+10 pages, 14 figures, a discussion on non-equilibrium steady states adde

Bootstrapping QCD: the Lake, the Peninsula and the Kink

We consider the S-matrix bootstrap of four dimensional scattering amplitudes with $O(3)$ symmetry and no bound-states. We explore the allowed space of scattering lengths which parametrize the interaction strength at threshold of the various scattering channels. Next we consider an application of this formalism to pion physics. A signature of pions is that they are derivatively coupled leading to (chiral) zeros in their scattering amplitudes. In this work we explore the multi-dimensional space of chiral zeros positions, scattering length values and resonance mass values. Interestingly, we encounter lakes, peninsulas and kinks depending on which sections of this intricate multi-dimensional space we consider. We discuss the remarkable location where QCD seems to lie in these plots, based on various experimental and theoretical expectations.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure

Spinning AdS Propagators

We develop the embedding formalism to describe symmetric traceless tensors in Anti-de Sitter space. We use this formalism to construct the bulk-to-bulk propagator of massive spin J fields and check that it has the expected short distance and massless limits. We also and a split representation for the bulk-to-bulk propagator, by writing it as an integral over the boundary of the product of two bulk-to-boundary propagators. We exemplify the use of this representation with the computation of the conformal partial wave decomposition of Witten diagrams. In particular, we determine the Mellin amplitude associated to AdS graviton exchange between minimally coupled scalars of general dimension, including the regular part of the amplitude.Comment: 48 pages, 6 figure

The role of leading twist operators in the Regge and Lorentzian OPE limits

We study two kinematical limits, the Regge limit and the Lorentzian OPE limit, of the four-point function of the stress-tensor multiplet in Super Yang-Mills at weak coupling. We explain how both kinematical limits are controlled by the leading twist operators. We use the known expression of the four-point function up to three loops, to extract the pomeron residue at next-to-leading order. Using this data and the known form of pomeron spin up to next-to-leading order, we predict the behaviour of the four-point function in the Regge limit at higher loops. Specifically, we determine the leading log behaviour at any loop order and the next-to-leading log at four loops. Finally, we check the consistency of our results with conformal Regge theory. This leads us to predict the behaviour around $J=1$ of the OPE coefficient of the spin $J$ leading twist operator in the OPE of two chiral primary operators.Comment: 22+14 page