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Crosscap Defects

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

2 Pith papers citing it
abstract

We introduce a novel class of defects, termed crosscap defects, in conformal field theory (CFT) in general dimensions. These arise from quotienting the spacetime by a $Z_2$ automorphism, and provide higher-codimension generalisations of CFT on real projective space ($RP^{d}$). Crosscap defects extend along a $p$-dimensional fixed locus of the $Z_2$ action and preserve an $SO(p+1,1)\times PO(d-p)$ subgroup of the conformal group. The two-point functions of operators in this setup exhibit three operator product expansion channels: bulk, image, and defect. These lead to several crosscap crossing equations, which we present. We analyse conformal block decompositions and show that the blocks are identical to defect CFT blocks up to a redefinition of cross ratios. As concrete examples, we study crosscap defects in the $O(N)$ model at the Gaussian and Wilson--Fisher fixed points in the $\varepsilon$-expansion. We compute explicitly the associated CFT data as a function of $p$ and find that, unlike standard defects, displacement and tilt operators are absent for generic $p$. They provide examples of defect conformal manifolds without exactly marginal operators.

fields

hep-th 2

years

2026 2

verdicts

UNVERDICTED 2

representative citing papers

Aspects of Witten Diagrams for Holographic Defects

hep-th · 2026-06-16 · unverdicted · novelty 6.0

Derives explicit OPE coefficients for contact and exchange Witten diagrams and closed-form defect-to-bulk crossing kernels for zero- and surface defects in specific dimensions.

Thermal conformal partial waves from flat-space and defect CFT

hep-th · 2026-05-26 · unverdicted · novelty 6.0

Establishes correspondence between flat, thermal, and defect conformal partial waves via shadow formalism, obtaining thermal blocks from flat four-point and defect two-point functions and reducing the Casimir equation diagonally.

citing papers explorer

Showing 2 of 2 citing papers.

  • Aspects of Witten Diagrams for Holographic Defects hep-th · 2026-06-16 · unverdicted · none · ref 83 · internal anchor

    Derives explicit OPE coefficients for contact and exchange Witten diagrams and closed-form defect-to-bulk crossing kernels for zero- and surface defects in specific dimensions.

  • Thermal conformal partial waves from flat-space and defect CFT hep-th · 2026-05-26 · unverdicted · none · ref 83 · internal anchor

    Establishes correspondence between flat, thermal, and defect conformal partial waves via shadow formalism, obtaining thermal blocks from flat four-point and defect two-point functions and reducing the Casimir equation diagonally.