The Higgs low-energy theorem gives a simple and elegant way to estimate the couplings of the Higgs boson to massless gluons and photons induced by loops of heavy particles. We extend this theorem to take into account possible nonlinear Higgs interactions as well as new states resulting from a strong dynamics at the origin of the breaking of the electroweak symmetry. We show that, while it approximates with an accuracy of order a few percents single Higgs production, it receives corrections of order 50% for double Higgs production. A full one-loop computation of the gg → hh cross section is explicitly performed in MCHM5, the minimal composite Higgs model based on the SO(5)/SO(4) coset with the Standard Model fermions embedded into the fundamental representation of SO(5). In particular we take into account the contributions of all fermionic resonances, which give sizeable (negative) corrections to the result obtained considering only the Higgs nonlinearities. Constraints from electroweak precision and flavor data on the top partners are analyzed in detail, as well as direct searches at the LHC for these new fermions called to play a crucial role in the electroweak symmetry breaking dynamics.

This paper presents two methods to compute scale anomaly coefficients in conformal field theories (CFTs), such as the c anomaly in four dimensions, in terms of the CFT data. We first use Euclidean position space to show that the anomaly coefficient of a four-point function can be computed in the form of an operator product expansion (OPE), namely a weighted sum of OPE coefficients squared. We compute the weights for scale anomalies associated with scalar operators and show that they are not positive. We then derive a different sum rule of the same form in Minkowski momentum space where the weights are positive. The positivity arises because the scale anomaly is the coefficient of a logarithm in the momentum space four-point function. This logarithm also determines the dispersive part, which is a positive sum over states by the optical theorem. The momentum space sum rule may be invalidated by UV and/or IR divergences, and we discuss the conditions under which these singularities are absent. We present a detailed discussion of the formalism required to compute the weights directly in Minkowski momentum space. A number of explicit checks are performed, including a complete example in an 8-dimensional free field theory.

In conformal field theory in Minkowski momentum space, the 3-point correlation functions of local operators are completely fixed by symmetry. Using Ward identities together with the existence of a Lorentzian operator product expansion (OPE), we show that the Wightman function of three scalar operators is a double hypergeometric series of the Appell $$F_4$$ F 4 type. We extend this simple closed-form expression to the case of two scalar operators and one traceless symmetric tensor with arbitrary spin. Time-ordered and partially-time-ordered products are constructed in a similar fashion and their relation with the Wightman function is discussed.

We study the momentum-space 4-point correlation function of identical scalar operators in conformal field theory. Working specifically with null momenta, we show that its imaginary part admits an expansion in conformal blocks. The blocks are polynomials in the cosine of the scattering angle, with degree ℓ corresponding to the spin of the intermediate operator. The coefficients of these polynomials are obtained in a closed-form expression for arbitrary spacetime dimension d > 2. If the scaling dimension of the intermediate operator is large, the conformal block reduces to a Gegenbauer polynomial C (d−2)/2 ℓ . If on the contrary the scaling dimension saturates the unitarity bound, the block is different Gegenbauer polynomial C (d−3)/2 ℓ

We investigate the a theorem for nonsupersymmetric gauge-Yukawa theories beyond the leading order in perturbation theory. The exploration is first performed in a modelindependent manner and then applied to a specific relevant example. Here, a rich fixed point structure appears including the presence of a merging phenomenon between nontrivial fixed points for which the a theorem has not been tested so far.

At high energy the standard model possesses conformal symmetry at the classical level. This is reflected at the quantum level by relations between the different β functions of the model. These relations are known as the Weyl consistency conditions. We show that it is possible to satisfy them order by order in perturbation theory, provided that a suitable coupling constant counting scheme is used. As a direct phenomenological application, we study the stability of the standard model vacuum at high energies and compare with previous computations violating the Weyl consistency conditions.

4D CFTs have a scale anomaly characterized by the coefficient c, which appears as the coefficient of logarithmic terms in momentum space correlation functions of the energy-momentum tensor. By studying the CFT contribution to 4-point graviton scattering amplitudes in Minkowski space we derive a sum rule for c in terms of T T O OPE coefficients. The sum rule can be thought of as a version of the optical theorem, and its validity depends on the existence of the massless and forward limits of the T T T T correlation functions that contribute. The finiteness of these limits is checked explicitly for free scalar, fermion, and vector CFTs. The sum rule gives c as a sum of positive terms, and therefore implies a lower bound on c given any lower bound on T T O OPE coefficients. We compute the coefficients to the sum rule for arbitrary operators of spin 0 and 2, including the energy-momentum tensor.arXiv:1801.05807v2 [hep-th]

We define form factors and scattering amplitudes in Conformal Field Theory as the coefficient of the singularity of the Fourier transform of time-ordered correlation functions, as p2 → 0. In particular, we study a form factor F(s, t, u) obtained from a four-point function of identical scalar primary operators. We show that F is crossing symmetric, analytic and it has a partial wave expansion. We illustrate our findings in the 3d Ising model, perturbative fixed points and holographic CFTs.