The Cosmological Bootstrap: Weight-Shifting Operators and Scalar Seeds
Journal
Journal of High Energy Physics
Journal Volume
2020
Journal Issue
12
Date Issued
2019-10-31
Author(s)
Abstract
A key insight of the bootstrap approach to cosmological correlations is the
fact that all correlators of slow-roll inflation can be reduced to a unique
building block---the four-point function of conformally coupled scalars,
arising from the exchange of a massive scalar. Correlators corresponding to the
exchange of particles with spin are then obtained by applying a spin-raising
operator to the scalar-exchange solution. Similarly, the correlators of
massless external fields can be derived by acting with a suitable
weight-raising operator. In this paper, we present a systematic and highly
streamlined derivation of these operators (and their generalizations) using
tools of conformal field theory. Our results greatly simplify the theoretical
foundations of the cosmological bootstrap program.
Subjects
Conformal Field Theory | Cosmology of Theories beyond the SM | Models of Quantum Gravity | Space-Time Symmetries; High Energy Physics - Theory; High Energy Physics - Theory; astro-ph.CO; General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology; High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Description
53 pages, 5 figures; V2: minor corrections and references added
Type
journal article