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$T \bar{T}$-deformed 2D Quantum Field Theories

It was noticed many years ago, in the framework of massless RG flows, that the irrelevant composite operator $T \bar{T}$, built with the components of the energy-momentum tensor, enjoys very special properties in 2D quantum field theories, and can be regarded as a peculiar kind of integrable perturbation. Novel interesting features of this operator have recently emerged from the study of effective string theory models.In this paper we study further properties of this distinguished perturbation. We discuss how it affects the energy levels and one-point functions of a general 2D QFT in finite volume through a surprising relation with a simple hydrodynamic equation. In the case of the perturbation of CFTs, adapting a result by Lüscher and Weisz we give a compact expression for the partition function on a finite-length cylinder and make a connection with the exact $g$-function method. We argue that, at the classical level, the deformation naturally maps the action of $N$ massless free bosons into the Nambu-Goto action in static gauge, in $N+2$ target space dimensions, and we briefly discuss a possible interpretation of this result in the context of effective string models.