Casimir Effect, Weyl Anomaly and Displacement Operator in Boundary Conformal Field Theory

TL;DR

This paper explores the interconnections between the Casimir effect, Weyl anomaly, and displacement operator in boundary conformal field theories, revealing universal relations governed by boundary central charges and verified through free and holographic models.

Contribution

It establishes universal relations linking key boundary CFT quantities and provides explicit holographic computations of stress tensor correlators.

Findings

Universal relations between Casimir effect, Weyl anomaly, and displacement operator.

Verification of relations using free and holographic BCFT models.

Holographic two-point function of stress tensor with perpendicular bulk boundary.

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate Casimir effect, Weyl anomaly and displacement operator for boundary conformal field theory in general dimensions. We find universal relations between them. In particular, they are all determined by the central charge of boundary conformal field theory. We verify these relations by studying free BCFTs and holographic BCFTs. As a byproduct, we obtain the holographic two point function of stress tensor when the bulk boundary is perpendicular to the AdS boundary.