Transformers reconstruct the constituent RCFTs in tensor-product theories from low-energy spectra, reaching 98% accuracy on WZW models and generalizing to larger central charges with few out-of-domain examples.
Descending into the Modular Bootstrap
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abstract
In this paper, we attempt to explore the landscape of two-dimensional conformal field theories (2d CFTs) by efficiently searching for numerical solutions to the modular bootstrap equation using machine-learning-style optimization. The torus partition function of a 2d CFT is fixed by the spectrum of its primary operators and its chiral algebra, which we take to be the Virasoro algebra with $c>1$. We translate the requirement that this partition function is modular invariant into a loss function, which we then minimize to identify possible primary spectra. Our approach involves two technical innovations that facilitate finding reliable candidate CFTs. The first is a strategy to estimate the uncertainty associated with truncating the spectrum to the lowest dimension operators. The second is the use of a new singular-value-based optimizer (Sven) that is more effective than gradient descent at navigating the hierarchical structure of the loss landscape. We numerically construct candidate truncated CFT partition functions with central charges between 1 and $\frac{8}{7}$, a range devoid of known examples, and argue that these candidates likely come from a continuous space of modular bootstrap solutions. We also provide evidence for a more stringent constraint on the spectral gap near $c = 1$ than the existing bound of $\Delta_{\rm gap} \le \frac{c}{6} + \frac{1}{3}$.
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A prototype successfully upgrades low-order extremal flow solutions to high numerical order for gap maximization in a simple spinning modular bootstrap test case.
Simple feed-forward neural networks trained on crossing symmetry plus a single anchor value reproduce CFT correlators to percent-level accuracy, and the authors conjecture this works because physical correlators are the smoothest allowed functions.
citing papers explorer
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Reconstructing conformal field theoretical compositions with Transformers
Transformers reconstruct the constituent RCFTs in tensor-product theories from low-energy spectra, reaching 98% accuracy on WZW models and generalizing to larger central charges with few out-of-domain examples.
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Upgrading Extremal Flows in the Space of Derivatives
A prototype successfully upgrades low-order extremal flow solutions to high numerical order for gap maximization in a simple spinning modular bootstrap test case.
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Neural Spectral Bias and Conformal Correlators I: Introduction and Applications
Simple feed-forward neural networks trained on crossing symmetry plus a single anchor value reproduce CFT correlators to percent-level accuracy, and the authors conjecture this works because physical correlators are the smoothest allowed functions.