Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 iii Paper 354 1 a Solution 2026-09-28
Under the state–operator correspondence, let be the state of the antisymmetric conformal primary operator . In radial quantization , while primarity gives . The norm of the level-one descendant obtained by taking a divergence is therefore determined by the conformal algebra commutatorUsing the two-form action of gives, up to a positive normalization,Positivity of norm yields the two-form conformal unitarity boundAt saturation the descendant is null, and the operator obeys the conservation equation .
In , Hodge duality turns the two-form into the vector primary . The vector divergence descendant has norm proportional to . Consequently the stronger bound israther than the formal two-form value .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 354 1 b i Solution 2026-09-28
At spacelike separation , conformal symmetry fixes the scalar-primary two-point function toApplying the d'Alembertian at givesaway from contact terms. Thus, up to a real multiplicative constant, . The scalar conformal unitarity bound makes the coefficient nonnegative and makes it vanish when the bound is saturated, as expected for the null free-field equation of motion.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 354 1 a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Let be the state associated with a scalar conformal primary operator of scaling dimension . In radial quantization,and . The norm of a level-one conformal descendant isUnitarity first gives . If , every is null, so the local operator is translation invariant and belongs to the identity conformal family. Excluding the identity therefore gives .
Now consider the scalar level-two descendant . The conformal algebra and the scalar-primary conditions giveApplying the second and summing over yieldsPositivity of this norm, together with , proves the scalar conformal unitarity boundAt equality the level-two descendant is null; in position space this is the free scalar equation of motion.