Finite-rank conformal quantum mechanics

Abstract

In this work, we study the simplest example of the landscape of conformal field theories: one-dimensional CFTs with finite-dimensional state space. Following the definition of quantum field theory given by G. Segal, we formulate the condition under which a one-dimensional QFT (quantum mechanics) possesses conformal symmetry, and we give a complete classification of conformal Hamiltonians with finite rank. It turns out that correlation functions in such theories are polynomial functions of the underlying geometric data. Moreover, the one-dimensional conformal Ward identities determine their scaling behavior, so that the correlators of the conformal observables are, in fact, homogeneous polynomials.