High Energy Theory Seminar

https://caltech.zoom.us/j/795527605

Reparametrization modes provide one way of describing universal physics of energy-momentum exchanges in CFTs. Drawing inspiration from the effective field theory of quantum chaos and the SYK model, I will argue that this perspective offers a useful computational and conceptual framework. For example, stress tensor contributions to conformal blocks can be systematically organized in terms of reparametrization mode exchanges, thus leading to a simple and efficient diagrammatic perturbation theory at large central charge. To illustrate this method, I will discuss some known stress tensor conformal blocks in various dimensions, and will also present a new result regarding the six-point "identity block" in 2d CFTs. I will also mention applications to thermal physics in higher dimensions and argue that the theory of reparametrization modes provides useful intuition for the physics underlying quantum chaos in Rindler space