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arxiv: 2211.14335 · v3 · pith:USMEHMT4new · submitted 2022-11-25 · ✦ hep-th

Boundaries in Free Higher Derivative Conformal Field Theories

Adam Chalabi , Christopher P. Herzog , Krishnendu Ray , Brandon Robinson , Jacopo Sisti , Andreas Stergiou This is my paper
classification ✦ hep-th
keywords boundarytheoriesconformalfreeconditionsderivativeflowshigher
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We consider free higher derivative theories of scalars and Dirac fermions in the presence of a boundary in general dimension. We establish a method for finding consistent conformal boundary conditions in these theories by removing certain boundary primaries from the spectrum. A rich set of renormalization group flows between various conformal boundary conditions is revealed, triggered by deformations quadratic in the boundary primaries. We compute the free energy of these theories on a hemisphere, and show that the boundary $a$-theorem is generally violated along boundary flows as a consequence of bulk non-unitarity. We further characterize the boundary theory by computing the two-point function of the displacement operator.

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