Conformal collider physics from the lightcone bootstrap

Abstract

Abstract

We analytically study the lightcone limit of the conformal bootstrap equations for 4-point functions containing global symmetry currents and the stress tensor in 3d CFTs. We show that the contribution of the stress tensor to the anomalous dimensions of large spin double-twist states is negative if and only if the conformal collider physics bounds are satisfied. In the context of AdS/CFT these results indicate a relation between the attractiveness of AdS gravity and positivity of the CFT energy flux. We also study the contribution of non-Abelian conserved currents to the anomalous dimensions of double- twist operators, corresponding to the gauge binding energy of 2-particle states in AdS. We show that the representation of the double-twist state determines the sign of the gauge binding energy if and only if the coefficients appearing in the current 3-point function satisfies a similar bound, which is equivalent to an upper bound on the charge flux asymmetry of the CFT.