Probing universalities in d > 2 CFTs: from black holes to shockwaves

• Published in: The journal of high energy physics Vol. 2019; no. 11; pp. 1 - 29
• Main Authors: Fitzpatrick, A. Liam, Huang, Kuo-Wei, Li, Daliang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.11.2019; Springer Nature B.V; Springer Berlin; SpringerOpen
• Subjects: AdS-CFT Correspondence; Black Holes; Classical and Quantum Gravitation; CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; Conformal Field Theory; Curvature; Elementary Particles; Gravity; High energy physics; Light; Mathematical analysis; Operators; Operators (mathematics); Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Quantum Field Theories; Quantum Field Theory; Quantum Physics; Regular Article - Theoretical Physics; Relativity Theory; Shock waves; Stress tensors; String Theory; Tensors; AdS-CFT Correspondence; Black Holes; Conformal Field Theory
• ISSN: 1029-8479; 1029-8479
• DOI: 10.1007/JHEP11(2019)139

A bstract Gravitational shockwaves are insensitive to higher-curvature corrections in the action. Recent work found that the OPE coefficients of lowest-twist multi-stress-tensor operators, computed holographically in a planar black hole background, are insensitive as well. In this paper, we analyze the relation between these two limits. We explicitly evaluate the two-point function on a shockwave background to all orders in a large central charge expansion. In the geodesic limit, we find that the ANEC exponentiates in the multi-stress-tensor sector. To compare with the black hole limit, we obtain a recursion relation for the lowest-twist products of two stress tensors in a spherical black hole background, letting us efficiently compute their OPE coefficients and prove their insensitivity to higher curvature terms. After resumming the lowest-twist stress-tensors and analytically continuing their contributions to the Regge limit, we find a perfect agreement with the shockwave computation. We also discuss the role of double-trace operators, global degenerate states, and multi-stress-tensor conformal blocks. These holographic results suggest the existence of a larger universal structure in higher-dimensional CFTs.