Hidden conformal invariance of scalar effective field theories

Abstract

We argue that conformal invariance is a common thread linking several scalar effective field theories that appear in the double copy and scattering equations. For a derivatively coupled scalar with a quartic O(p⁴) vertex, classical conformal invariance dictates an infinite tower of additional interactions that coincide exactly with Dirac-Born-Infeld theory analytically continued to spacetime dimension D=0. For the case of a quartic O(p⁶) vertex, classical conformal invariance constrains the theory to be the special Galileon in D=−2 dimensions. We also verify the conformal invariance of these theories by showing that their amplitudes are uniquely fixed by the conformal Ward identities. In these theories, conformal invariance is a much more stringent constraint than scale invariance.