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In quantum theory, a conformal field theory (CFT) is a particular type of quantum field theory (QFT, a type of quantum theory that accommodates physical fields such as magnetic fields). The word conformal refers to their use of the mathematical notion of conformal transformations aka conformal mappings, functions mapping one space into another so that angular and orientation relationships remain the same at each point, i.e., virtually the same in a local region around the point, but not (necessarily) preserving distance and curvature. Specifically, a QFT is a CFT if such a conformal transformations leave observables invariant, i.e., do not change them ("invariant" in the same sense as relativistic invariance under a Lorentz transformation).