Curricular Unit
Advanced Physics Topics 1
Module
Boundary Conformal Field Theory
Type
Tutorial: Reading and Study assignment
Contact hours
18
Professor/Researcher in charge
Miguel Costa and João Penedones , U. Porto
Summary of Contents
A boundary conformal field theory (BCFT) is a conformal field theory (CFT) in the presence of a boundary. BCFTs describe surface phenomena in systems near criticality, with surface critical exponents related to the conformal dimensions of the boundary operators. In string theory, two-dimensional worldsheet BCFTs are interpreted as D-branes.
The goal of this project is to summarize the state of the art regarding BCFTs. The focus should be on comparing what is know for general spacetime dimension (d>2) to what is known in the well established two dimensional case (d=2).
The best
reference for d>2 is "The Bootstrap Program for Boundary
CFT_d"
Pedro Liendo, Leonardo Rastelli, Balt C. van Rees
Published in JHEP 1307 (2013) 113
e-Print: arXiv:1210.4258
[hep-th]. A good review about the d=2 case is "Boundary
conformal field theory” John L. Cardy , e-Print: hep-th/0411189.
Evaluation
The student is expected to present a written report summarizing his understanding of the subject, followed by oral presentation.
References
The Bootstrap Program for Boundary CFT_d, Pedro Liendo, Leonardo Rastelli, Balt C. van Rees P JHEP 1307 (2013) 113, arXiv:1210.4258 [hep-th]
Boundary conformal field theory. John L. Cardy, e-Print: hep-th/0411189