Emergent descriptions at large charge: A foray into the structure of conformal field theories and beyond

Abstract

This thesis aims to explore the structure of CFTs with global internal symmetries and beyond via the Large-Charge Expansion (LCE), a semi-classical expansion applicable for states with large global quantum numbers. In the first part of this thesis we study CFT and SSB. We discuss the symmetry-constraints imposed by conformal invariance, introduce the concept of CFT data and the OPE. Concerning SSB, we discuss the existence of NG modes, the general counting rule for the number of NG modes under the spontaneous breaking of global internal symmetries and a generalization of the Goldstone theorem at finite density. In the second part of this thesis we discuss the current state-of-the-art understanding of the LCE and systematically study CFTs with a global O(2) symmetry in the context of the LCE. We discuss the emergence of effective condensed-matter descriptions, in particular superfluids, in correlators involving states with large global quantum numbers. We then use the superfluid EFT description to systematically study two-, three- and four-point functions for CFTs with a global O(2) symmetry. In the last part of this thesis we study CFTs in the double-scaling limit of large charge and large N . We discuss the D = 3 WF fixed point at large N and derive the leading order asymptotics at large charge Q in the double scaling limit Q/N fixed. Next, we use a fixed-charge approach to gain access to the leading order effective potential for the quartic theory, which we then study for spacetime dimensions 2 < D < 6. In D = 3, we reproduce and extend old results originally found by re-summing Feynman diagrams. Finally, we discuss the interacting fixed points of three-dimensional fermionic CFTs in the double-scaling limit. While the GN model exhibits a Fermi-sphere description at large charge, whose fate at finite N is yet to be determined, for the NJL-type models we find a BEC.