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Continuous family of conformal field theories and exactly marginal operators - APS Journals

journals.aps.org

This paper reveals a continuous family of conformal field theories connected by exactly marginal operators — a rare mathematical structure that redraws the boundaries of how physicists classify the universe's fundamental symmetries.

Conformal Field TheoryRenormalization GroupConformal BootstrapSymmetry Breaking

Theory Briefing

  • Komatsu, Kusuki, Meineri, and Ooguri identify exactly marginal operators that deform a conformal field theory without breaking its conformal symmetry — an exceptionally rare theoretical find.
  • The existence of a continuous family of CFTs suggests the space of quantum field theories has a richer, smoother geometry than previously assumed by standard classification frameworks.
  • This result has deep implications for the conformal bootstrap program, potentially unlocking new exact solutions to strongly coupled quantum systems.