Unitarity, Locality, and Scale versus Conformal Invariance in Four Dimensions

In four dimensional unitary scale invariant theories, arguments based on the proof of the a-theorem suggest that the trace of the energy-momentum tensor T vanishes when the momentum is light-like, p^2=0. We show that there exists a local operator O such that the trace is given as T=\partial^2 O, which establishes the equivalence of scale and conformal invariance. We define the operator as O=\partial^{-2} T, and explain why this is a well-defined local operator. Our argument is based on the assumptions that: (1) A kind of crossing symmetry for vanishing matrix elements holds regardless of the existence of the S-matrix. (2) Correlation functions in momentum space are analytic functions other than singularities and branch cuts coming from on-shell processes. (3) The Wightman axioms are sufficient criteria of the locality of an operator.

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