2020/03/25 by Dmitry Chicherin, Chicherin, Dmitry, E. Sokatchev +2
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Anomaly (physics) #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Conformal anomaly #Conformal field theory #Conformal map #Conformal symmetry #FOS: Physical sciences #Geometry #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) #Mathematical analysis #Mathematical physics #Mathematics #Operator (biology) #Operator product expansion #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Physics #Primary field #Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions #Quantum mechanics #Scalar (mathematics) #Scalar field #Theoretical physics #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2003.11345
17 pages, 3 figures
arxiv created 2020/03/25 · openalex publication_date 2020/03/25 · arxiv updated 2020/03/26 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
We study the conformal properties of pseudo-scalar (parity-odd) operators in four-dimensional field theory. Such operators include the topological term in a gauge theory and the Yukawa coupling. We show that a single operator of this type cannot be a conformal primary on its own. This is only possible for certain mixtures of pseudo-scalar operators like the chiral Lagrangian of \cal N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory. We examine the detailed mechanism of conformal symmetry breakdown and derive an anomalous conformal Ward identity. We explore a possible link between this conformal anomaly and the axial anomaly.