Bulk flows in Virasoro minimal models with boundaries

Abstract

The behaviour of boundary conditions under relevant bulk perturbations is studied for the Virasoro minimal models. In particular, we consider the bulk deformation by the least relevant bulk field which interpolates between the mth and (m − 1)th unitary minimal model. In the presence of a boundary, this bulk flow induces an RG flow on the boundary, which ensures that the resulting boundary condition is conformal in the (m − 1)th model. By combining perturbative RG techniques with insights from defects and results about non-perturbative boundary flows, we determine the endpoint of the flow, i.e. the boundary condition to which an arbitrary boundary condition of the mth theory flows to.