Fate of the S-matrix poles and the inelastic phase of the high-temperature Ising field theory: the open problems of Ising Spectroscopy II

The two-dimensional Ising field theory (IFT) — the scaling limit of the Ising model near criticality in a magnetic field — is arguably the simplest nonintegrable massive quantum field theory. At $T>T_c$ its $2\to2$ elastic scattering amplitude $S(\theta)$ interpolates between Zamolodchikov's integrable $E_8$ theory and a weakly coupled massive Majorana fermion, and continues to imaginary magnetic field down to the Yang–Lee edge singularity. In 2013 Zamolodchikov proposed a scenario for the evolution of the real poles of $S(\theta)$ along this path and stated precisely what remains undetermined: the trajectories and ultimate fates of the resonance poles (their possible reappearance on other sheets of the Riemann surface or departure to infinity at finite coupling), the fate of the $A_3$ resonance pair deep in the high-temperature regime, the origin of higher weakly bound multi-particle states, quantitative verification of the weak-binding mass formula and the width scaling $\Gamma_k\sim(\eta-\eta_3)^{2(k-1)}$, and systematic analytic control of the inelastic phase $\Delta(\theta)$.

Background

The Ising field theory (IFT) is the scaling limit of the two-dimensional Ising model near its critical point in a magnetic field: the $c=1/2$ Ising conformal field theory (the theory of a free massless Majorana fermion) deformed by its two relevant primary fields, the energy operator $\varepsilon$ and the spin operator $\sigma$, with couplings $m\sim T_c-T$ and $h$ (the scaled magnetic field). At $m=0$ the theory is integrable and equivalent to the $E_8$ affine Toda theory (an exactly solvable integrable theory associated with the $E_8$ root system): it has eight stable particles whose mass ratios are the components of the Perron–Frobenius eigenvector of the $E_8$ Cartan matrix, with purely elastic, factorized scattering (A. B. Zamolodchikov, 1989). Away from this point the theory is nonintegrable, which makes it the canonical testbed for studying resonances, virtual (antibound) states and particle production nonperturbatively.

At temperatures above criticality ($m<0$) the stable spectrum is simple — one to three particles depending on the coupling ratio. One uses the dimensionless parameters $\xi^2=h^2/(-m)^{15/4}$ or $\eta=2\pi m/|h|^{8/15}$ (real and negative in this regime), with $\eta=0$ the $E_8$ point and $\eta\to-\infty$ the free massive fermion at $h=0$. The natural probe of the particle content is the $2\to2$ elastic amplitude $S(\theta)$ of the lightest particles $A_1$, as a function of the relative rapidity $\theta$ (momenta $p^\mu=M_1(\cosh\theta,\sinh\theta)$). By real analyticity, unitarity and crossing: poles of $S(\theta)$ at $\theta=i\alpha$ with $0<\alpha<\pi$ (physical strip) are stable particles — a stable particle $A_p$ of mass $M_p$ sits at $\theta=i\alpha_p$ with $M_p=2M_1\cos(\alpha_p/2)$ — poles with $-\pi<\alpha<0$ (mirror strip) are virtual states, and complex poles in either strip are resonances; inelastic thresholds generate branch cuts that bound the 'principal sheet' of the Riemann surface of $S(\theta)$, with further sheets lying behind those cuts. The pole content and the analytic remainder are separated by $S(\theta)=\prod_p(\sinh\theta+i\sin\alpha_p)/(\sinh\theta-i\sin\alpha_p)\,\exp(i\Delta(\theta))$, where the 'inelastic phase' $\Delta(\theta)$ vanishes identically in integrable theories and its discontinuity across the inelastic cut is fixed by the total inelastic cross section $\sigma_{\rm tot}(\theta)$ via the 1+1 dimensional optical theorem. Numerical access is provided by the truncated free fermion space approach (TFFSA), a Hamiltonian truncation in the free-fermion basis introduced by Yurov and Zamolodchikov, combined with Lüscher's finite-volume method (which extracts infinite-volume scattering data from the energy levels of the theory on a circle) and its resonance extensions by Pozsgay–Takács.

In 'Ising Spectroscopy II' (arXiv:1310.4821) Zamolodchikov used TFFSA waypoints to propose a scenario for the evolution of the real poles as $\eta$ runs from the $E_8$ point towards the free-fermion limit and, for pure imaginary $h$, down to the Yang–Lee edge singularity (the nonunitary critical point of the Ising model at imaginary magnetic field; Fisher 1978). For example: $A_3$ reaches the two-particle threshold $2M_1$ at $\eta_3=-0.138(6)$ and becomes a virtual state; its pole collides with a mirror pole at $\eta_{33}=-0.51(2)$ (where $M_3/M_1=\sqrt2$) and the pair moves off the imaginary axis as a complex resonance; $A_2$ becomes virtual at $\eta_2=-2.08(2)$, its pole approaching the fixed zero at $-i\pi/3$ as $\eta\to-\infty$; and along imaginary field all poles except the $A_1$ s- and u-channel poles disappear at the Yang–Lee point. He also observed that near $\eta_3$, where $A_3$ is a weakly bound $A_1A_1$ state (binding energy $\varepsilon_2=2M_1-M_3\to0$), weak-binding arguments predict a tower of narrow $k$-particle bound states with masses $(k-(k^3-k)\alpha_3^2/24)M_1$ and widths $\Gamma_k\sim(\eta-\eta_3)^{2(k-1)}$ — in the domain $\eta_3<\eta<0$ the source identifies the $k=3,4,5$ members with the resonances $A_5,A_7,A_8$, with $A_3$ itself the $k=2$ state. The companion study of the confined (low-temperature) regime, where mesons form a tower well described by a Bethe–Salpeter-type two-particle equation, is Fonseca–Zamolodchikov 'Ising spectroscopy I'. The scenario of arXiv:1310.4821 was, however, explicitly left incomplete in five respects, which together constitute the present problem.

Problem Statement

Determine the analytic structure of the $A_1A_1$ elastic scattering amplitude $S(\theta)$ of the high-temperature Ising field theory as a function of the scaling parameter — over the real-field path from the $E_8$ point ($\eta=0$) to the free-fermion limit ($\eta\to-\infty$) and along the imaginary-field path down to the Yang–Lee edge singularity — beyond the real-pole scenario proposed in arXiv:1310.4821. With the conventions above, the problem comprises five linked facets of this single objective:

1. Resonance pole trajectories and fates. Determine the trajectories of the resonance poles of $S(\theta)$ beyond the first detachment of each pole from the imaginary rapidity axis, and their ultimate fates: whether each pole merges with the inelastic thresholds, reappears on further sheets of the Riemann surface, or moves to infinity at a finite value of $\xi^2$; and determine the analytic properties of $S(\theta)$ on those further sheets.

2. Fate of the $A_3$ pair. Decide the fate of the self-cross-conjugated resonance pair descended from $A_3$ — the $A_3$ pole and its crossing conjugate, which after colliding at $\eta_{33}$ move off the imaginary axis as a pair exchanged by crossing symmetry $\theta\mapsto i\pi-\theta$ — at $\eta$ substantially below $\eta_{33}$; in particular whether, and at which intermediate value of $\xi^2$ between $0$ and $\xi_{33}^2$, it departs to infinity, as suggested but not established by weak-field perturbation theory.

3. Origin of the higher weakly bound states. Explain why only finitely many weakly bound $k$-particle states are observed (at $\eta=0$ the tower terminates at $k=5$: $A_3,A_5,A_7,A_8$ realize $k=2,3,4,5$, and no bound states with $k>5$ are seen), and determine how the additional $k$-particle bound states expected as the binding energy $\varepsilon_2=2M_1-M_3\to0$ at $\eta\to\eta_3^+$ emerge (e.g. whether they materialize from the resonance sector).

4. Quantitative verification of the weak-binding predictions. Provide controlled numerical (or analytic) tests of the predicted $k$-particle binding energies $(k-(k^3-k)\alpha_3^2/24)M_1$, with $\alpha_3$ the $A_3$ pole position ($M_3=2M_1\cos(\alpha_3/2)$), and of the width scaling $\Gamma_k\sim(\eta-\eta_3)^{2(k-1)}$ near $\eta_3$, and of the proposed reinterpretation of $A_4$ and $A_6$ as weakly coupled three- and four-particle bound states with $\bar{M}_4$ just below $3M_1$ and $\bar{M}_6$ just below $4M_1$ near $\eta_2$ (where $\bar{M}_n$ denotes the real part of the complex mass of the resonance $A_n$) — which requires TFFSA-type analyses with quantified control of finite-size and truncation effects and direct extraction of resonance parameters.

5. Inelastic phase. Establish systematic analytic control of the inelastic phase $\Delta(\theta)$ — equivalently of the total inelastic cross section $\sigma_{\rm tot}(\theta)$ through the 1+1 dimensional optical theorem and its dispersion relation — away from the integrable point and the weak-coupling limit, including the high-energy behavior of the amplitude.

These facets jointly support one objective — the pole-and-phase content of the simplest nonintegrable S-matrix as a function of its single scaling parameter — and an answer is complete only insofar as it fixes this analytic structure (pole positions, sheet assignments, and $\Delta(\theta)$) with controlled errors over the stated parameter domain; partial determinations covering only a restricted parameter range or only the real poles do not close the problem.

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