nLab Liouville theory

Contents

Context

Quantum Field Theory

algebraic quantum field theory (perturbative, on curved spacetimes, homotopical)

Introduction

Concepts

field theory:

Lagrangian field theory

quantization

quantum mechanical system, quantum probability

free field quantization

gauge theories

interacting field quantization

renormalization

Theorems

States and observables

Operator algebra

Local QFT

Perturbative QFT

Contents

Idea

In the context of quantum field theory, Liouville theory is the name of a certain type of 2d CFT.

Properties

Relation to 3d quantum gravity

An argument (via Chern-Simons gravity, but see the caveats there) that 3d quantum gravity with negative cosmological constant has as boundary field theory 2d Liouville theory is due to (Coussaert-Henneaux-vanDriel 95). See also at AdS3-CFT2 and CS-WZW correspondence.

References

On the non-critical bosonic string via Liouville theory (cf. Polyakov action):

Review and survey:

See also:

Rigorous construction of the path integral, the DOZZ formula, and the conformal bootstrap for Liouville theory:

Construction as a functorial field theory following Segal 1988

Review in:

An argument (via Chern-Simons gravity, but see the caveats there) that 3d quantum gravity with negative cosmological constant has as boundary field theory 2d Liouville theory is due to

  • O. Coussaert, Marc Henneaux, P. van Driel, The asymptotic dynamics of three-dimensional Einstein gravity with a negative cosmological constant, Class. Quant. Grav. 12 (1995) 2961-2966 (arXiv:gr-qc/9506019)

  • Leon A. Takhtajan, Lee-Peng Teo, Liouville action and Weil-Petersson metric on deformation spaces, global Kleinian reciprocity and holography, Commun.Math.Phys. 239 (2003) 183-240 (arXiv:math/0204318)

    Abstract: We rigorously define the Liouville action functional for finitely generated, purely loxodromic quasi-Fuchsian group using homology and cohomology double complexes naturally associated with the group action. We prove that the classical action - the critical point of the Liouville action functional, considered as a function on the quasi-Fuchsian deformation space, is an antiderivative of a 1-form given by the difference of Fuchsian and quasi-Fuchsian projective connections. This result can be considered as global quasi-Fuchsian reciprocity which implies McMullen’s quasi-Fuchsian reciprocity. We prove that the classical action is a Kahler potential of the Weil-Petersson metric. We also prove that Liouville action functional satisfies holography principle, i.e., it is a regularized limit of the hyperbolic volume of a 3-manifold associated with a quasi-Fuchsian group. We generalize these results to a large class of Kleinian groups including finitely generated, purely loxodromic Schottky and quasi-Fuchsian groups and their free combinations.

The relation to quantum Teichmüller theory is discussed/reviewed in:

Relation to the SL(2,)SL(2,\mathbb{R})-gauged WZW-model and analytically continued Wess-Zumino-Witten theory:

Further discussion:

  • Pavel Haman, Alfredo Iorio, Classical gravitational anomalies of Liouville theory [arXiv:2306.09825]

On conformal blocks for Liouville theory:

category: physics

Last revised on February 14, 2024 at 06:56:46. See the history of this page for a list of all contributions to it.