The N=4 Superconformal Bootstrap

TL;DR

This paper applies the conformal bootstrap to four-dimensional N=4 superconformal field theories, deriving bounds on operator dimensions and identifying spectra consistent with supergravity and S-duality invariance.

Contribution

It implements the bootstrap for N=4 SCFTs, providing new bounds on operator dimensions and proposing a spectrum at finite central charge related to N=4 SYM.

Findings

Upper bounds on unprotected operator dimensions as functions of central charge

Identification of an extremal spectrum compatible with supergravity at large central charge

Conjecture of an S-duality invariant spectrum at finite central charge

Abstract

We implement the conformal bootstrap for N=4 superconformal field theories in four dimensions. Consistency of the four-point function of the stress-energy tensor multiplet imposes significant upper bounds for the scaling dimensions of unprotected local operators as functions of the central charge of the theory. At the threshold of exclusion, a particular operator spectrum appears to be singled out by the bootstrap constraints. For large values of the central charge, this extremal spectrum is compatible with that of supergravity in AdS_5 x S^5. For finite central charge, we conjecture that the extremal spectrum is that of N=4 SYM at an S-duality invariant value of the complexified gauge coupling.