$$ T\overline{T} $$ deformations through BRST symmetry

A bstract We study the $$ T\overline{T} $$ T T ¯ deformation using its formulation as a CFT coupled to two-dimensional dynamical gravity. Working within the BRST formalism, we apply the intertwiner operator method to obtain a unitary “dressing” map between undeformed CFT operators and elements of the BRST cohomology of the deformed theory. We identify the resulting “dressed” operators corresponding to CFT primaries as the physical observables of the deformed theory and show that they arise from a field-dependent change of coordinates, in agreement with what is expected for the $$ T\overline{T} $$ T T ¯ deformation. We then give a non-perturbative definition of deformed correlation functions as BRST-invariant expectation values of dressed operators in the gauge theory. Finally, we verify that our construction reproduces known structural and perturbative results.