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Nonunitary Lagrangians and unitary non-Lagrangian conformal field theories

4 Pith papers cite this work. Polarity classification is still indexing.

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abstract

In various dimensions, we can sometimes compute observables of interacting conformal field theories (CFTs) that are connected to free theories via the renormalization group (RG) flow by computing protected quantities in the free theories. On the other hand, in two dimensions, it is often possible to algebraically construct observables of interacting CFTs using free fields without the need to explicitly construct an underlying RG flow. In this note, we begin to extend this idea to higher dimensions by showing that one can compute certain observables of an infinite set of unitary strongly interacting four-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ superconformal field theories (SCFTs) by performing simple calculations involving sets of non-unitary free four-dimensional hypermultiplets. These free fields are distant cousins of the Majorana fermion underlying the two-dimensional Ising model and are not obviously connected to our interacting theories via an RG flow. Rather surprisingly, this construction gives us Lagrangians for particular observables in certain subsectors of many "non-Lagrangian" SCFTs by sacrificing unitarity while preserving the full $\mathcal{N}=2$ superconformal algebra. As a byproduct, we find relations between characters in unitary and non-unitary affine Kac-Moody algebras. We conclude by commenting on possible generalizations of our construction.

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representative citing papers

Generalised 4d Partition Functions and Modular Differential Equations

hep-th · 2025-12-01 · unverdicted · novelty 7.0

Generalized Schur partition functions Z_USp(2N)(q; alpha) for 4d N=2 USp(2N) theories satisfy order-(N+1) MLDEs with vanishing Wronskian index, alpha fixing MLDE parameters, with links to RCFT characters and a conjecture on quantum monodromy traces.

Bridging 4D QFTs and 2D VOAs via 3D high-temperature EFTs

hep-th · 2024-09-26 · unverdicted · novelty 6.0

High-temperature limits on higher sheets of the superconformal index for (A1,A2n) Argyres-Douglas theories yield Gang-Kim-Stubbs 3d N=2 theories whose boundaries support Virasoro minimal model VOAs M(2,2n+3) and associated MTCs.

On non-relativistic integrable models and 4d SCFTs

hep-th · 2026-04-21 · unverdicted · novelty 6.0

Generalized Schur indices of N=2 class S theories are expressed using eigenfunctions of non-relativistic elliptic Calogero-Moser models, with extensions claimed for N=1 SCFTs via limits of models like Inozemtsev.

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