A proof for string three-point functions in AdS3

We study string theory in three-dimensional Anti-de Sitter spacetime in the path integral formalism. We derive expressions for generic spectrally-flowed near-boundary vertex operators in the Wakimoto representation, and relate their correlation functions to covering maps from the worldsheet to the target space boundary. We show that the path integral structurally reproduces correlation functions of the dual symmetric orbifold theory. By rephrasing spectral flow as the introduction of a background gauge field, we provide a path integral derivation of the localisation property of the near boundary theory. We then focus on the case of IIB string theory on AdS3 × S3 × 𝕋4 with k = 1 units of NS-NS flux, where the relationship between correlation functions and covering maps can be made sharp. We also comment on the relation of the k = 1 theory and twistor theory.

Spectral flow and localisation in AdS3 string theory

Knighton,

Seet,

Sriprachyakul

2024

Spectral flow and the exact AdS3/CFT2 chiral ring

Iguri

Kovensky

2023

We compute all worldsheet three-point functions involving spectrally-flowed operators in chiral multiplets of the space-time theory for strings in AdS3×S3×T4, thus completing the analysis of the full AdS3/CFT2 chiral ring. We make use of techniques recently developed for the bosonic sector, based on holomorphic covering maps from the worldsheet to the AdS3 boundary. We highlight the role of the so-called series identifications when dealing with the complications originated by picture-changing spectrally-flowed states. We find an exact agreement with the predictions from the holographic CFT at the symmetric orbifold point.

Spectral flow and the conformal block expansion for strings in AdS3

Iguri,

Kovensky,

Toro

2024

We present a detailed study of spectrally flowed four-point functions in the SL(2,ℝ) WZW model, focusing on their conformal block decomposition. Dei and Eberhardt conjectured a general formula relating these observables to their unflowed counterparts. Although the latter are not known in closed form, their conformal block expansion has been formally established. By combining this information with the integral transform that encodes the effect of spectral flow, we show how to describe a considerable number of s-channel exchanges, including cases with both flowed and unflowed intermediate states. For all such processes, we compute the normalization of the corresponding conformal blocks in terms of products of the recently derived flowed three-point functions with arbitrary spectral flow charges. Our results constitute a highly non-trivial consistency check, thus strongly supporting the aforementioned conjecture, and establishing its computational power.