The Cosmological Bootstrap: Weight-Shifting Operators and Scalar Seeds

Abstract

A key insight of the bootstrap approach to cosmological correlations is the fact that all correlators of slow-roll inflation can be reduced to a unique building block---the four-point function of conformally coupled scalars, arising from the exchange of a massive scalar. Correlators corresponding to the exchange of particles with spin are then obtained by applying a spin-raising operator to the scalar-exchange solution. Similarly, the correlators of massless external fields can be derived by acting with a suitable weight-raising operator. In this paper, we present a systematic and highly streamlined derivation of these operators (and their generalizations) using tools of conformal field theory. Our results greatly simplify the theoretical foundations of the cosmological bootstrap program.

arXiv comment53 pages, 5 figures; V2: minor corrections and references added

References in corpus (2)

• EPFL Lectures on Conformal Field Theory in D>= 3 Dimensions
• CMB from CFT

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