Mapping relativistic to ultra/non-relativistic conformal symmetries in 2D and finite $$ \sqrt{T\overline{T}} $$ deformations

Abstract

Abstract The conformal symmetry algebra in 2D (Diff(S1)⊕Diff(S1)) is shown to be related to its ultra/non-relativistic version (BMS3≈GCA2) through a nonlinear map of the generators, without any sort of limiting process. For a generic classical CFT2, the BMS3 generators then emerge as composites built out from the chiral (holomorphic) components of the stress-energy tensor, T and $$ \overline{T} $$ T ¯ , closing in the Poisson brackets at equal time slices. Nevertheless, supertranslation generators do not span Noetherian symmetries. BMS3 becomes a bona fide symmetry once the CFT2 is marginally deformed by the addition of a $$ \sqrt{T\overline{T}} $$ T T ¯ term to the Hamiltonian. The generic deformed theory is manifestly invariant under diffeomorphisms and local scalings, but it is no longer a CFT2 because its energy and momentum densities fulfill the BMS3 algebra. The deformation can also be described through the original CFT2 on a curved metric whose Beltrami differentials are determined by the variation of the deformed Hamiltonian with respect to T and $$ \overline{T} $$ T ¯ . BMS3 symmetries then arise from deformed conformal Killing equations, corresponding to diffeomorphisms that preserve the deformed metric and stress-energy tensor up to local scalings. As an example, we briefly address the deformation of N free bosons, which coincides with ultra-relativistic limits only for N = 1. Furthermore, Cardy formula and the S-modular transformation of the torus become mapped to their corresponding BMS3 (or flat) versions.