Line defect correlators in fermionic CFTs

Abstract

Scalar-fermion models, such as the Gross-Neveu-Yukawa model, admit natural $1d$ defects given by the exponential of a scalar field integrated along a straight line. In $4-\varepsilon$ dimensions the defect coupling is weakly relevant and the setup defines a non-trivial interacting defect CFT. In this work we study correlation functions on these defect CFTs to order $\varepsilon$. We focus on $1d$ correlators constrained to the line, which include canonical operators like the displacement and the one-dimensional analog of the spin field. These results give access to perturbative CFT data that can be used as input in the numerical bootstrap. We also consider local operators outside the line, in particular two-point functions of scalars whose dynamics are non-trivial due to the presence of the defect.