Discreteness and Integrality in Conformal Field Theory

TL;DR

This paper investigates the mathematical constraints of discreteness and integrality in two-dimensional conformal field theories, deriving bounds on operator data and exploring implications for spectral uniqueness and quantum gravity.

Contribution

It provides the first systematic analysis of discreteness and integrality constraints in 2D CFTs, including new theorems, explicit constructions, and bounds relevant to both rational and irrational theories.

Findings

Proves a theorem constraining integral, vector-valued modular functions near the cusp.

Constructs non-holomorphic cuspidal functions satisfying discreteness and integrality.

Establishes bounds on operator spectra and insights into spectral determinacy and black hole physics.

Abstract

Various observables in compact CFTs are required to obey positivity, discreteness, and integrality. Positivity forms the crux of the conformal bootstrap, but understanding of the abstract implications of discreteness and integrality for the space of CFTs is lacking. We systematically study these constraints in two-dimensional, non-holomorphic CFTs, making use of two main mathematical results. First, we prove a theorem constraining the behavior near the cusp of integral, vector-valued modular functions. Second, we explicitly construct non-factorizable, non-holomorphic cuspidal functions satisfying discreteness and integrality, and prove the non-existence of such functions once positivity is added. Application of these results yields several bootstrap-type bounds on OPE data of both rational and irrational CFTs, including some powerful bounds for theories with conformal manifolds, as well as insights into questions of spectral determinacy. We prove that in rational CFT, the spectrum of operator twists $t\geq {c \over 12}$ is uniquely determined by its complement. Likewise, we argue that in generic CFTs, the spectrum of operator dimensions $\Delta > {c-1\over 12}$ is uniquely determined by its complement, absent fine-tuning in a sense we articulate. Finally, we discuss implications for black hole physics and the (non-)uniqueness of a possible ensemble interpretation of AdS$_3$ gravity.