Light-cone modular bootstrap and pure gravity

Abstract

We explore the large spin spectrum in two-dimensional conformal field theories with a finite twist gap, using the modular bootstrap in the light-cone limit. By recursively solving the modular crossing equations associated with different PSL(2,Z) elements, we identify the universal contribution to the density of large spin states from the vacuum in the dual channel. Our result takes the form of a sum over PSL(2,Z) elements, whose leading term generalizes the usual Cardy formula to a wider regime. Rather curiously, the contribution to the density of states from the vacuum becomes negative in a specific limit, which can be canceled by that from a nonvacuum Virasoro primary whose twist is no bigger than c−1/16. This suggests a new upper bound of c−1/16 on the twist gap in any c>1 compact, unitary conformal field theory with a vacuum, which would in particular imply that pure AdS_3 gravity does not exist. We confirm this negative density of states in the pure gravity partition function by Maloney, Witten, and Keller. We generalize our discussion to theories with N=(1,1) supersymmetry and find similar results.