Monday 25 March 2019

metric tensor - Simple conceptual question conformal field theory


I come up with this conclusion after reading some books and review articles on conformal field theory (CFT).




CFT is a subset of FT such that the action is invariant under conformal transformation of the fields and coordinate but leave the metric unchanged.



Is this correct?


Let me explain further and take the $\phi^4$ theory in $4$-dim as an example (just discuss classical invariance, I know that loops break the invariance). In $4$-dim consider a scalar field with conformal weight $\Delta=1$ such that \begin{align} x \to x' = \lambda x,\\ \phi'(x')=\phi'(\lambda x) = \lambda^{-1}\phi(x). \end{align} Then the action is unchanged \begin{align} S'& = \int d^4 x' \sqrt{g}\left\{\frac{1}{2}g^{\mu\nu}\partial'_{\mu}\phi'(x')\partial'_{\mu}\phi'(x')-\phi'^4(x')\right\}\\ &= \int d^4 x \lambda^4 \sqrt{g}\left\{\frac{1}{2}g^{\mu\nu}\lambda^{-4}\partial_{\mu}\phi(x)\partial_{\mu}\phi(x)-\lambda^{-4}\phi^4(x)\right\} \\ &= \int d^4 x \sqrt{g} \left\{\frac{1}{2}g^{\mu\nu}\partial_{\mu}\phi(x)\partial_{\mu}\phi(x)-\phi^4(x)\right\}. \end{align} Note that I did not use $g'^{\mu\nu} = \lambda^2g^{\mu\nu}$, all metrics are unprimed. In this example we see that conformal invariance is realized without changing the metric. I was confused at the beginning since all textbooks and articles derive the conformal group and representations by considering the change of the metric.


If we use $g'_{\mu\nu}x'^{\mu}x'^{\nu} = g_{\mu\nu}x^{\mu}x^{\nu}$, the physical distance does not change at all and we are just choosing a new coordinate chart. My interpretation is, as what we meant by a physical scaling or transformation, we really change the distance between two points. Another reasoning is, the metric in CFTs are just background (not being integrated in the path integral) thus we do not change them. If we consider a theory including the metric as a dynamical field (we path integrate it and perhaps quantize it), the actions has to be invariant including the transformation of the metric.


Is the above correct? Please give me some comments and point out the wrong concepts if there is any. Thank you very much.


If you have time, could you please take a look at my other question.




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