Near conformal perturbation theory in SYK type models

Abstract We present a systematic procedure to extract the dynamics of the low energy soft mode in SYK type models with a single energy scale J and emergent reparametrization symmetry in the IR. This is given in the framework of the perturbative scheme of arXiv:1608.07567 based on a specific (off-shell) breaking of conformal invariance in the UV, adjusted to yield the exact large-N saddle point. While this breaking term formally vanishes on-shell, it has a non-trivial effect on correlation functions and the effective action. In particular, it leads to the Schwarzian action with a specific coupling to bi-local matter. The method is applied to the evaluation of O(1) corrections to the correlation function of bi-locals. As a byproduct we confirm precise agreement with the explicit, symmetry breaking procedure. We provide a verification in the large q limit (Liouville theory), where the correlators can be calculated exactly at all length scales. In this case, our scheme illuminates how the enhanced O(J) and the subleading O(1) contributions originate from the Schwarzian dynamics of the soft mode and its interaction with h = 2 (bi-local) matter.