Effective strings and particles interacting in 3D: the Ising model

Abstract

We study how a fluctuating domain wall in three dimensions modifies bulk observables in a gapped phase. We introduce an effective interaction between the wall and the lightest bulk massive mode, and identify the regime in which this description is controlled: nearly on-shell bulk exchange with small momentum along the wall. In this regime, several observables are controlled by a renormalized dimensionless coupling $\lambda$, including the large-$L_z$ correction to the wall free energy and the large-$|x_\perp|$ tail of two-point functions in the presence of the wall. Other observables, such as one-point functions and two-point functions in the nearby-regime, retain non-universal dependence on operator data and on the bulk spectral density. We test the universal kinematic consequences of wall fluctuations, and find good agreement with the predicted rough-wall broadening and nearby Gaussian behavior in Monte Carlo simulations of the 3D Ising model with anti-periodic boundary conditions.