Paper detail

Parity-odd surface anomalies and correlation functions on conical defects

We analyse the parity-odd ("type P") surface anomalies of the energy-momentum tensor correlators in conformal field theories, with an emphasis on d=4 and d=3 dimensional spacetimes. Using cohomology analysis we construct the expression for the most general P-type surface trace anomaly on a singular 2-dimensional surface in 4-dimensional bulk spacetimes. As an important example, we specialise to the case when the singular surface is a conical defect and show that the bulk P-type Pontryagin trace anomaly induces such a surface trace anomaly. We show that this conical type P surface trace anomaly is given purely by the outer curvature tensor. In addition, we analyse parity-odd surface contact terms in energy-momentum tensor correlators in the flat spacetime induced by the conical defect by studying two special cases in which the contact terms are induced by, (1) type P trace anomaly in d=4 and, (2) gravitational Chern-Simons Lagrangian term in d=3 spacetime dimensions. In both cases we show that the surface contact terms appear in correlators of the lower rank than the corresponding bulk surface terms.