Boundaries and defects in conformal field theories at finite temperature

Abstract

We consider conformal boundaries and defects in Euclidean conformal field theory (CFT) at finite temperature and infinite volume. We distinguish defects that wrap the thermal circle and defects that are localised at a point on it. In both set-ups, and for any dimension and co-dimension, we classify bulk one-point functions of scalar, vector and spin-2 primaries. We relate the low-temperature expansion of bulk scalar one-point functions to zero-temperature defect CFT data and new finite-temperature data of defect primaries. For localised defects, we derive one-point bootstrap sum rules using periodicity and the defect operator expansion. We consider several examples in free bulk CFTs: unitary and non-unitary boundary CFTs, a wrapping monodromy defect, and a localised magnetic line. We determine thermal defect CFT data in all examples. For defects wrapping the thermal circle, we compute thermodynamic observables. For localised defects, we observe a Hurwitz zeta function decomposition of one-point functions suggestive of an underlying dispersion relation.

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BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{artico2026boundaries,
  title = {{Boundaries and defects in conformal field theories at finite temperature}},
  author = {Daniele Artico and Adam Chalabi},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.38130},
  eprint = {2609.38130},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.38130},
  note = {CC BY-NC-SA 4.0},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Boundaries and defects in conformal field theories at finite temperature
AU  - Daniele Artico
AU  - Adam Chalabi
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/28
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.38130
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.38130
AB  - We consider conformal boundaries and defects in Euclidean conformal field theory (CFT) at finite temperature and infinite volume. We distinguish defects that wrap the thermal circle and defects that are localised at a point on it. In both set-ups, and for any dimension and co-dimension, we classify bulk one-point functions of scalar, vector and spin-2 primaries. We relate the low-temperature expansion of bulk scalar one-point functions to zero-temperature defect CFT data and new finite-temperature data of defect primaries. For localised defects, we derive one-point bootstrap sum rules using periodicity and the defect operator expansion. We consider several examples in free bulk CFTs: unitary and non-unitary boundary CFTs, a wrapping monodromy defect, and a localised magnetic line. We determine thermal defect CFT data in all examples. For defects wrapping the thermal circle, we compute thermodynamic observables. For localised defects, we observe a Hurwitz zeta function decomposition of one-point functions suggestive of an underlying dispersion relation.
ER  -

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