Bootstrap equations for N=4 SYM with defects

This paper focuses on the analysis of 4dN=4 superconformal theories in the presence of a defect from the point of view of the conformal bootstrap. We will concentrate first on the case of codimension one, where the defect is a boundary that preserves half of the supersymmetry. After studying the constraints imposed by supersymmetry, we will obtain the Ward identities associated to two-point functions of (1/2)-BPS operators and write their solution as a superconformal block expansion. Due to a surprising connection between spacetime and R-symmetry conformal blocks, our results not only apply to 4dN=4 superconformal theories with a boundary, but also to three more systems that have the same symmetry algebra: 4dN=4 superconformal theories with a line defect, 3dN=4 superconformal theories with no defect, and OSP(4^∗|4) superconformal quantum mechanics. The superconformal algebra implies that all these systems possess a closed subsector of operators in which the bootstrap equations become polynomial constraints on the CFT data. We derive these truncated equations and initiate the study of their solutions.