Dimension shifting operators and null states in 2D conformally invariant field theories

Abstract

We discuss the existence and properties of differential operators which transform covariant operators into covariant operators of different weights in two-dimensional conformally invariant field theories. We relate them to null states and the vanishing of the Kac determinant in representations of the conformal algebra, and to the existence of differential equations for Green functions of covariant operators. In this framework, we rederive the essential features of our earlier work on dual models with shifted intercept, which in euclidean space-time gives explicit solutions of the conformal bootstrap equations where all operators are marginal.