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We consider a congruence of null geodesics in the presence of a quantized spacetime metric. The coupling to a quantum metric induces fluctuations in the congruence; we calculate the change in the area of a pencil of geodesics induced by such fluctuations. For the gravitational field in its vacuum state, we find that quantum gravity contributes a correction to the null Raychaudhuri equation which is of the same sign as the classical terms. We thus derive a quantum-gravitational focusing theorem valid for linearized quantum gravity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a covariant method of constructing entire trajectories of physical states in superstring theory in the critical dimension. It is inspired by a recently developed covariant technology of excavating bosonic string trajectories, that is facilitated by the observation that the Virasoro constraints can be written as linear combinations of lowering operators of a bigger algebra, namely a symplectic algebra, which is Howe dual to the spacetime Lorentz algebra. For superstrings, it is the orthosymplectic algebra that appears instead, with its lowest weight states forming the simplest class of physical trajectories in the NS sector. To construct the simplest class in the R sector, the lowest weight states need to be supplemented with other states, which we determine. Deeper trajectories are then constructed by acting with suitable combinations of the raising operators of the orthosymplectic algebra, which we illustrate with several examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the thermodynamics of a near-extremal Kerr black hole, and demonstrate that the geometry behaves as an ordinary quantum system with a vanishingly small degeneracy at low temperatures. This is in contrast with the classical analysis, which instead predicts a macroscopic entropy for the extremal Kerr black hole. Our results follow from a careful analysis of the gravitational path integral. Specifically, the low temperature canonical partition function behaves as Z ∼ T 3 2 e S 0 + c log S 0 , with S0 the classical degeneracy and c a numerical coefficient we compute. This is in line with the general expectations for non-supersymmetric near-extremal black hole thermodynamics, as has been clarified in the recent past, although cases without spherical symmetry have not yet been fully analyzed until now. We also point out some curious features relating to the rotational zero modes of the near-extremal Kerr black hole background that affects the coefficient c. This raises a puzzle when considering similar black holes in string theory. Our results generalize to other rotating black holes, as we briefly exemplify. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neutrinos from the cosmos have proven to be ideal for probing the nature of space-time. Previous studies on high-energy events of IceCube suggested that some of these events might be gamma-ray burst neutrinos, with their speeds varying linearly with their energy, implying also the coexistence of subluminal and superluminal propagation. However, a recent reanalysis of the data, incorporating revised directional information, reveals stronger signals that neutrinos are actually being slowed down compared to previous suggestion of neutrino speed variation. Thus, it is worth discussing its implications for the brane/string inspired framework of space-time foam, which has been used to explain previous observations. We revisit effects on neutrino propagation from specific foam models within the framework, indicating that the implied violation of Lorentz invariance could necessarily cause the neutrino to decelerate. We therefore argue that this sort of model is in agreement with the updated phenomenological indication just mentioned. An extended analysis of the revised IceCube data will further test these observations and stringy quantum gravity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 2022 study, together with Paul McFadden and Kostas Skenderis, I analyzed tree-level 3- and 4-point Witten diagrams (amplitudes) of scalar operators in anti-de Sitter space in momentum space. This paper constitutes its extension to Witten diagrams with bulk interactions involving spacetime derivatives. In d = 3 boundary dimensions the Witten diagrams involving conformally coupled and massless scalars can be evaluated in closed form. Such cases are of interest in holographic cosmology and correspond to dual operators of conformal dimensions ∆ = 2 and 3 respectively. I present explicit formulae for all such amplitudes and provide a Mathematica package serving as the repository of all the results. I discuss renormalization issues and show that, contrary to the expectation, even finite correlators may acquire non-trivial renormalization effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The landscape of six-dimensional supergravities is dramatically constrained by the cancellation of gauge and gravitational anomalies, but the full extent of its implications has not been uncovered. We explore the cancellation of global anomalies of the Dai-Freed type in this setting with abelian and simply laced gauge groups, finding novel constraints. In particular, we exclude arbitrarily large abelian charges in an infinite family of theories for certain types of quadratic refinements, including a specific one defined in the literature. We also show that the Gepner orientifold with no tensor multiplets is anomaly-free for a different choice, as well as a number of heterotic models with and without spacetime supersymmetry in six dimensions. The latter analysis extends previous results in ten dimensions to some lower-dimensional settings in the heterotic landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers a recently-proposed string theory on AdS3 × S3 × T4 with one unit of NS-NS flux (k = 1). We discuss interpretations of the target space, including connections to twistor geometry and a more conventional spacetime interpretation via the Wakimoto representation. We propose an alternative perspective on the role of the Wakimoto formalism in the k = 1 string, for which no large radius limit is required by the inclusion of extra operator insertions in the path integral. This provides an exact Wakimoto description of the worldsheet CFT. We also discuss an additional local worldsheet symmetry, Q(z), that emerges when k = 1 and show that this symmetry plays an important role in the localisation of the path integral to a sum over covering maps. We demonstrate the emergence of a rigid worldsheet translation symmetry in the radial direction of the AdS3, for which again the presence of Q(z) is crucial. We conjecture that this radial symmetry plays a key role in understanding, in the case of the k = 1 string, the encoding of the bulk physics on the two-dimensional boundary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sen's action for a p-form gauge field with self-dual field strength coupled to a spacetime metric g involves an explicit Minkowski metric and the presence of this raises questions as to whether the action is coordinate independent and whether it can be used on a general spacetime manifold. A natural generalisation of Sen's action is presented in which the Minkowski metric is replaced by a second metric on spacetime. The theory is covariant and can be formulated on any spacetime. The theory describes a physical sector, consisting of the chiral p-form gauge field coupled to the dynamical metric g, plus a shadow sector consisting of a second chiral p-form and the second metric . The fields in this shadow sector only couple to each other and have no interactions with the physical sector, so that they decouple from the physical sector. The resulting theory is covariant and can be formulated on any spacetime. Explicit expressions are found for the interactions and extensions to include interactions with other physical fields or higher-derivative field equations are given. A spacetime with two metrics has some interesting geometry and some of this is explored here and used in the construction of the interactions. The action has two diffeomorphism-like symmetries, one acting only on the physical sector and one acting only on the shadow sector, with the spacetime diffeomorphism symmetry arising as the diagonal subgroup. This allows a further generalisation in which is not a tensor field but is instead a gauge field whose transition functions involve the usual coordinate transformation together with a shadow sector gauge transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers a recently-proposed string theory on AdS3 × S3 × T4 with one unit of NS-NS flux (k = 1). We discuss interpretations of the target space, including connections to twistor geometry and a more conventional spacetime interpretation via the Wakimoto representation. We propose an alternative perspective on the role of the Wakimoto formalism in the k = 1 string, for which no large radius limit is required by the inclusion of extra operator insertions in the path integral. This provides an exact Wakimoto description of the worldsheet CFT. We also discuss an additional local worldsheet symmetry, Q(z), that emerges when k = 1 and show that this symmetry plays an important role in the localisation of the path integral to a sum over covering maps. We demonstrate the emergence of a rigid worldsheet translation symmetry in the radial direction of the AdS3, for which again the presence of Q(z) is crucial. We conjecture that this radial symmetry plays a key role in understanding, in the case of the k = 1 string, the encoding of the bulk physics on the two-dimensional boundary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider spacetime metrics with a given (but quite generic) dependence on a dimensionful parameter such that in the 0 and ∞ limits of that parameter the metric becomes singular. We study the isometry groups of the original spacetime metrics and of the singular metrics that arise in the limits and the corresponding symmetries of the motion of p-branes evolving in them, showing how the Killing vectors and their Lie algebras can be found in general. We illustrate our general results with several examples which include limits of anti-de Sitter spacetime in which the holographic screen is one of the singular metrics and of pp-waves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the complexity equals volume proposal for planar black holes in anti-de Sitter (AdS) spacetime in 2+1 dimensions, with an end of the world (ETW) brane behind the horizon. We allow for the possibility of intrinsic gravitational dynamics in the form of Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity to be localized on the brane. We compute the asymptotic rate of change of volume complexity analytically and obtain the full time dependence using numerical techniques. We find that the inclusion of JT gravity on the brane leads to interesting effects on time dependence of holographic complexity. We identify the region in parameter space (the brane location and the JT coupling) for which the rate of change of complexity violates the Lloyd bound. In an equivalent description of the model in terms of an asymptotically AdS wormhole, we connect the violation of the Lloyd bound to the violation of a suitable energy condition in the bulk that we introduce. We also compare the Lloyd bound constraints to previously derived constraints on the bulk parameters in this model that are based on bounds on entanglement growth in the dual CFT state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We employ a deep learning method to deduce the bulk spacetime from boundary optical conductivity. We apply the neural ordinary differential equation technique, tailored for continuous functions such as the metric, to the typical class of holographic condensed matter models featuring broken translations: linear-axion models. We successfully extract the bulk metric from the boundary holographic optical conductivity. Furthermore, as an example for real material, we use experimental optical conductivity of UPd2Al3, a representative of heavy fermion metals in strongly correlated electron systems, and construct the corresponding bulk metric. To our knowledge, our work is the first illustration of deep learning bulk spacetime from boundary holographic or experimental conductivity data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dynamical cobordisms implement the swampland cobordism conjecture in the framework of effective field theory, realizing codimension-1 end of the world (ETW) branes as singularities at finite spacetime distance at which scalars diverge to infinite field space distance. ETW brane solutions provide a useful probe of infinity in moduli/field spaces and the associated swampland constraints, such as the distance conjecture. We construct explicit solutions describing intersecting ETW branes in theories with multiple scalars and general potentials, so that different infinite field space limits coexist in the same spacetime, and can be simultaneously probed by paths approaching the ETW brane intersection. Our class of solutions includes physically interesting examples, such as intersections of Witten's bubbles of nothing in toroidal compactifications, generalizations in compactifications on products of spheres, and possible flux dressings thereof (hence including charged objects at the ETW branes). From the cobordism perspective, the intersections can be regarded as describing the end of the world for end of the world branes, or as boundary domain walls interpolating between different ETW brane boundary conditions for the same bulk theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A longstanding enigma within AdS/CFT concerns the entanglement entropy of holographic quantum fields in Rindler space. The vacuum of a quantum field in Minkowski spacetime can be viewed as an entangled thermofield double of two Rindler wedges at a temperature T = 1/2π. We can gradually disentangle the state by lowering this temperature, and the entanglement entropy should vanish in the limit T → 0 to the Boulware vacuum. However, holography yields a non-zero entanglement entropy at arbitrarily low T, since the bridge in the bulk between the two wedges retains a finite width. We show how this is resolved by bulk quantum effects of the same kind that affect the entropy of near-extremal black holes. Specifically, a Weyl transformation maps the holographic Boulware states to near-extremal hyperbolic black holes. A reduction to an effective two-dimensional theory captures the large quantum fluctuations in the geometry of the bridge, which bring down to zero the density of entangled states in the Boulware vacuum. Using another Weyl transformation, we construct unentangled Boulware states in de Sitter space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expectation value of a smooth conformal line defect in a CFT is a conformal invariant functional of its path in space-time. For example, in large N holographic theories, these fundamental observables are dual to the open-string partition function in AdS. In this paper, we develop a bootstrap method for studying them and apply it to conformal line defects in Chern-Simons matter theories. In these cases, the line bootstrap is based on three minimal assumptions — conformal invariance of the line defect, large N factorization, and the spectrum of the two lowest-lying operators at the end of the line. On the basis of these assumptions, we solve the one-dimensional CFT on the line and systematically compute the defect expectation value in an expansion around the straight line. We find that the conformal symmetry of a straight defect is insufficient to fix the answer. Instead, imposing the conformal symmetry of the defect along an arbitrary curved line leads to a functional bootstrap constraint. The solution to this constraint is found to be unique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field-theoretic wavefunction has received renewed attention with the goal of better understanding observables at the boundary of de Sitter spacetime and studying the interior of Minkowski or general FLRW spacetime. Understanding the analytic structure of the wavefunction potentially allows us to establish bounds on physical observables. In this paper we develop an "amplitude representation" for the flat space wavefunction, which allow us to write the flat space wavefunction as an amplitude-like Feynman integral integrated over an energy-fixing kernel. With this representation it is possible to separate the wavefunction into an amplitude part and a subleading part which is less divergent as the total energy goes to zero. In turn the singularities of the wavefunction can be classified into two sets: amplitude-type singularities, which can be mapped to singularities found in amplitudes (including anomalous thresholds), and wavefunction-type singularities, which are unique to the wavefunction. As an example we study several tree level and one loop diagrams for scalars, and explore their singularities in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the space of 2 → 2 scattering amplitudes of neutral Goldstone bosons in four space-time dimensions. We establish universal bounds on the first two non-universal Wilson coefficients of the low energy Effective Field Theory (EFT) for such particles. We reconstruct the analytic, crossing-symmetric, and unitary amplitudes saturating our bounds, and we study their physical content. We uncover non-perturbative Regge trajectories by continuing our numerical amplitudes to complex spins. We then explore the consequence of additional constraints arising when we impose the knowledge about the EFT up to the cut-off scale. In the process, we improve on some aspects of the numerical S-matrix bootstrap technology for massless particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop a superspace formulation for N = 3 conformal supergravity in four spacetime dimensions as a gauge theory of the superconformal group SU(2, 2|3). Upon imposing certain covariant constraints, the algebra of conformally covariant derivatives ∇ A = ∇ a ∇ α i ∇ i α ⋅ is shown to be determined in terms of a single primary chiral spinor superfield, the super-Weyl spinor Wα of dimension +1/2 and its conjugate. Associated with Wα is its primary descendant Bij of dimension +2, the super-Bach tensor, which determines the equation of motion for conformal supergravity. As an application of this construction, we present two different but equivalent action principles for N = 3 conformal supergravity. We describe the model for linearised N = 3 conformal supergravity in an arbitrary conformally flat background and demonstrate that it possesses U(1) duality invariance. Additionally, upon degauging certain local symmetries, our superspace geometry is shown to reduce to the U(3) superspace constructed by Howe more than four decades ago. Further degauging proves to lead to a new superspace formalism, called SU(3) superspace, which can also be used to describe N = 3 conformal supergravity. Our conformal superspace setting opens up the possibility to formulate the dynamics of the off-shell N = 3 super Yang-Mills theory coupled to conformal supergravity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In perturbative string theory, one is generally interested in asymptotic observables, such as the S-matrix in flat spacetime, and boundary correlation functions in anti-de Sitter spacetime. However, there are backgrounds in which such observables do not exist. We study examples of such backgrounds in 1 + 1 dimensional string theory. In these examples, the Liouville wall accelerates and can become spacelike in the past and/or future. When that happens, the corresponding null infinity, at which the standard scattering states are defined, is shielded by the Liouville wall. We compute scattering and particle production amplitudes in these backgrounds in the region in parameter space where the wall remains timelike, and discuss the continuation of this picture to the spacelike regime. We also discuss the physics from the point of view of the dynamics of free fermions in backgrounds with a time-dependent Fermi surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show that a UV divergence of the propagator integral implies the divergences of the UV/IR mixing in the two-point function at one-loop for a ϕ4-theory on a generic Lie algebra-type noncommutative space-time. The UV/IR mixing is defined as a UV divergence of the planar contribution and an IR singularity of the non-planar contribution, the latter being due to the former UV divergence, and the UV finiteness of the non-planar contribution. Some properties of this general treatment are discussed. The UV finiteness of the non-planar contribution and the renormalizability of the theory are not treated but commented. Applications are performed for the Moyal space, having a UV/IR mixing, and the κ-Minkowski space for which the two-point function at one-loop is finite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the degrees of freedom of R2 gravity in flat spacetime with two approaches. By rewriting the theory a la Stueckelberg, and implementing Lorentz-like gauges to the metric perturbations, we confirm that the pure theory propagates one scalar degree of freedom, while the full theory contains two tensor modes in addition. We then consider the degrees of freedom by directly examining the metric perturbations. We show that the degrees of freedom of the full theory match with those obtained with the manifestly covariant approach. In contrast, we find that the pure R2 gravity has no degrees of freedom. We show that a similar discrepancy between the two approaches appears also in a theory dual to the three-form, and appears due to the Lorentz-like gauges, which lead to the fictitious modes even after the residual gauge redundancy has been taken into account. At first sight, this implies a discontinuity between the full theory and the pure case. By studying the first-order corrections of the full R2 gravity beyond the linear regime, we show that at high-energies, both scalar and tensor degrees of freedom become strongly coupled. This implies that the apparent discontinuity of pure and full R2 gravity is just an artefact of the perturbation theory, and further supports the absence of degrees of freedom in the pure R2 gravity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, building on our recent investigations and motivated by the fuzzball-paradigm, we explore normal modes of a probe massless scalar field in the rotating BTZ-geometry in an asymptotically AdS spacetime and correspondingly obtain the Spectral Form Factor (SFF) of the scalar field. In particular, we analyze the SFF obtained from the single-particle partition function. We observe that, a non-trivial Dip-Ramp-Plateau (DRP) structure, with a Ramp of slope one (within numerical precision) exists in the SFF which is obtained from the grand-canonical partition function. This behaviour is observed to remain stable close to extremality as well. However, at exact extremality, we observe a loss of the DRP-structure in the corresponding SFF. Technically, we have used two methods to obtain our results: (i) An explicit and direct numerical solution of the boundary conditions to obtain the normal modes, (ii) A WKB-approximation, which yields analytic, semi-analytic and efficient numerical solutions for the modes in various regimes. We further re-visit the non-rotating case and elucidate the effectiveness of the WKB-approximation in this case, which allows for an analytic expression of the normal modes in the regime where a level-repulsion exists. This regime corresponds to the lower end of the spectrum as a function of the scalar angular momentum, while the higher end of this spectrum tends to become flat. By analyzing the classical stress-tensor of the probe sector, we further demonstrate that the back-reaction of the scalar field grows fast as the angular momenta of the scalar modes increase in the large angular momenta regime, while the back-reaction remains controllably small in the regime where the spectrum has non-trivial level correlations. This further justifies cutting the spectrum off at a suitable value of the scalar angular momenta, beyond which the scalar back-reaction significantly modifies the background geometry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the charged Vaidya spacetime with conformal symmetry by classifying the horizons and finding its connection to Hawking temperature. We find a conformal Killing vector whose existence requires the mass and electric charge functions to be proportional, as well as linear in time. Solving the Killing equations for the conformally transformed metric from the linear charged Vaidya metric yields the required form of the conformal factor. From the vanishing of the norm of the conformal Killing vector, we find three conformal Killing horizons which, under the transformation, are mapped to the Killing horizons of the associated static spacetime, if the spherical symmetry is maintained. We find that the conformal factor is not uniquely determined, but can take any function of the ratio of the radial coordinate to the dynamical mass. As an example, we illustrate a static spacetime with our choice of the conformal factor and explicitly show that the surface gravity of the conformal Killing horizons, which is conformally invariant, yield the expected Hawking temperature in the static spacetime. This static black hole spacetime contains a cosmological horizon, but it is not asymptotically de Sitter. We also investigate the case when the mass parameter is equal to the constant electric charge. While in this case the standard pair of horizons, the loci of the time component of the metric, degenerate, the conformal Killing horizons do not degenerate. This therefore leads to a non-zero Hawking temperature in the associated static spacetime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been proposed that flux compactifications of supercritical string theories (i.e., with spacetime dimension D > 10) have dS vacua, with large D acting as a control parameter for corrections to the classical spacetime effective action. In this paper, we provide a detailed analysis of the self-consistency of such models, focussing on α′ and backreaction corrections. We first show that all supercritical AdS, Minkowski and dS vacua in this setting have ≳ O 1 curvature and/or field strengths in the string frame. This may be in tension with suppressing α′ corrections unless the coefficients of the higher-derivative terms have a sufficiently strong large-D suppression. We then argue that an additional and more severe problem arises in the dS case due to the backreaction of O-planes. In particular, we argue using a combination of geometric bounds and string-theory constraints that the O-plane backreaction is large in supercritical dS models. This implies that a large part of the naive classical geometry is eaten up by singular holes and thus indicates a breakdown of the classical description. Our finding resonates with several other recent results suggesting that string theory does not admit dS vacua in regimes where string and backreaction corrections are under control. As byproducts of our analysis, we derive a number of technical results that are useful beyond the specific applications in this paper. In particular, we compute the leading backreaction corrections to the smeared solution in a general flux compactification from D to d dimensions for an arbitrary distribution of O-planes and D-branes. We further argue for a general estimate for Green's functions on compact manifolds (and therefore for the backreaction corrections) in terms of their diameter, volume and dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study two-point functions of symmetric traceless local operators in the bulk of de Sitter spacetime. We derive the Källén-Lehmann spectral decomposition for any spin and show that unitarity implies its spectral densities are nonnegative. In addition, we recover the Källén-Lehmann decomposition in Minkowski space by taking the flat space limit. Using harmonic analysis and the Wick rotation to Euclidean Anti de Sitter, we derive an inversion formula to compute the spectral densities. Using the inversion formula, we relate the analytic structure of the spectral densities to the late-time boundary operator content. We apply our technical tools to study two-point functions of composite operators in free and weakly coupled theories. In the weakly coupled case, we show how the Källén-Lehmann decomposition is useful to find the anomalous dimensions of the late-time boundary operators. We also derive the Källén-Lehmann representation of two-point functions of spinning primary operators of a Conformal Field Theory on de Sitter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distances in the conformal manifold, the space of CFTs related by marginal deformations, can be measured in terms of the Zamolodchikov metric. Part of the CFT Distance Conjecture posits that points in this manifold where part of the spectrum becomes free, called higher-spin points, can only be at infinite distance from the interior. There, an infinite tower of operators become conserved currents, and the conformal symmetry is enhanced to a higher-spin algebra. This proposal was initially motivated by the Swampland Distance Conjecture, one of pillars of the Swampland Program. In this work, we show that the conjecture can be tackled using only methods from the conformal toolkit, and without relying on the existence of a weakly-coupled gravity dual. Via conformal perturbation theory combined with properties of correlators and of the higher-spin algebra, we establish that higher-spin points are indeed at infinite distance in the conformal manifold. We make no assumptions besides the usual properties of local CFTs, such as unitarity and the existence of an energy-momentum tensor. In particular, we do not rely on a specific dimension of spacetime (although we assume d > 2), nor do we require the presence of supersymmetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the natural norm on the space of solutions to the Wheeler-DeWitt equation in an asymptotically de Sitter spacetime. We propose that the norm is obtained by integrating the squared wavefunctional over field configurations and dividing by the volume of the diff-and-Weyl group. We impose appropriate gauge conditions to fix the diff- and-Weyl redundancy and obtain a finite expression for the norm using the Faddeev-Popov procedure. This leads to a ghost action that has zero modes corresponding to a residual conformal subgroup of the diff-and-Weyl group. By keeping track of these zero modes, we show that Higuchi's norm for group-averaged states emerges from our prescription in the nongravitational limit. We apply our formalism to cosmological correlators and propose that they should be understood as gauge-fixed observables. We identify the symmetries of these observables. In a nongravitational theory, it is necessary to specify such correlators everywhere on a Cauchy slice to identify a state in the Hilbert space. In a theory of quantum gravity, we demonstrate a version of the principle of holography of information: cosmological correlators in an arbitrarily small region suffice to completely specify the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an evaluation of the wave function coefficients for conformally coupled scalars at both one and two-loop levels at leading order in the coupling constant, in momentum space. We take cues from time-dependent interactions in flat spacetime and under suitable approximations, these can also be used to study the wave function coefficients for general cosmologies. We make use of recursion relations developed in [20] to regularize certain bulk-point integrals and express the wave function coefficients in a form that simplifies the loop integrals. We utilize hard-cutoff regularization to regularize the loop integrals and further provide a discussion on their renormalization. Our results can also be analytically continued to obtain answers for transition amplitudes in AdS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum complexity has already shed light on CFT states dual to bulk geometries containing spacelike singularities [1–3]. In this work, we turn our attention to the quantum complexity of CFT/quantum gravity states which are dual to bulk geometries containing a naked timelike singularity. The appearance of naked timelike singularities in semiclassical gravity is allowed in string theory, particularly in the context of holography, so long as they satisfy the Gubser criterion [4-5] — those naked timelike singularities which arise as the extremal limits of geometries containing cloaked singularities are admissible. In this work, we use holographic complexity as a probe on geometries containing naked timelike singularities and explore potential relation to the Gubser criterion for detecting allowable naked timelike singularities. We study three specific cases of naked timelike singularities, namely the negative mass Schwarzschild-AdS spacetime, the timelike Kasner-AdS [6] and Einstein-dilaton system [7]. The first two cases are outright ruled out by the Gubser criterion while the third case is more subtle — according to the Gubser criterion the singularity switches from forbidden to admissible as the parameter α is dialed in the range [0, 1] across the transition point at α = 1 / 3 . We probe all three geometries using two holographic complexity prescriptions, namely CA and CV. For the case of the negative mass SAdS and timelike Kasner-AdS4 the complexities display no sign of pathology (both receive finite contribution from the naked singularity). For the Einstein-Dilaton case, action-complexity does display a sharp transition from physical positive values to patholgical negative divergent values (arising from the singularity) as one transcends the Gubser bound. Our study suggests that neither action-complexity (CA) nor volume-complexity (CV) can serve as a sensitive tool to investigate (naked) timelike singularities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of diagrammatic "cutting rules" have recently been developed for the wavefunction of the Universe which determines cosmological correlation functions. These leverage perturbative unitarity to relate particular "discontinuities" in Feynman-Witten diagrams (with cosmological boundary conditions) to simpler diagrams, in much the same way that the Cutkosky rules relate different scattering amplitudes. In this work, we make use of a further causality condition to derive new cutting rules for Feynman-Witten diagrams on any time-dependent spacetime background. These lead to the cosmological analogue of Feynman's tree theorem for amplitudes, which can be used to systematically expand any loop diagram in terms of (momentum integrals of) tree-level diagrams. As an application of these new rules, we show that certain singularities in the wavefunction cannot appear in equal-time correlators due to a cancellation between "real" and "virtual" contributions that closely parallels the KLN theorem. Finally, when combined with the Bunch-Davies condition that certain unphysical singularities are absent, these cutting rules completely determine any tree-level exchange diagram in terms of simpler contact diagrams. Altogether, these results remove the need to ever perform nested time integrals when computing cosmological correlators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We determine the Tomita-Takesaki modular data for CFTs in double cone and light cone regions in conformally flat spacetimes. This includes in particular the modular Hamiltonian for diamonds in the de Sitter spacetime. In the limit where the diamonds become large, we show that the modular automorphisms become time translations in the static patch. As preparation, we also provide a pedagogical rederivation of the known results for Minkowski spacetime. With our results and using the Araki formula, it becomes possible to compute relative entanglement entropies for CFTs in these regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a covariant technique to excavate physical bosonic string states by entire trajectories rather than individually. The approach is based on Howe duality: the string's spacetime Lorentz algebra commutes with a certain inductive limit of sp(•), with the Virasoro constraints forming a subalgebra of the Howe dual algebra sp(•). There are then infinitely many simple trajectories of states, which are lowest-weight representations of sp(•) and hence of the Virasoro algebra. Deeper trajectories are recurrences of the simple ones and can be probed by suitable trajectory-shifting operators built out of the Howe dual algebra generators. We illustrate the formalism with a number of subleading trajectories and compute a sample of tree-level amplitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show that in Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity, late-time two-point functions can get a leading non-decaying contribution from a spacetime with the topology of a Möbius strip (a disk with one crosscap). There is an interesting interplay between this contribution and the standard "plateau". The two can add together or cancel, depending on topological weighting factors. We match this behavior to Random Matrix Theory (RMT) and the N mod 8 periodicity of Sachdev-Kitaev-Ye (SYK) results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study two accelerating Unruh-DeWitt detectors coupled linearly or quadratically with a scalar field, by using an approach different from previous ones. We use Rindler frame, and integrate over the spacetime coordinates before over the momenta. In this way, the divergent problem previously encountered is avoided. We show that entanglement between the detectors can be created by coupling with the field, and is divergent only in the limit that the two detectors coincide in spacetime. For linear coupling, entanglement increases monotonically with the decrease of acceleration, as previously found, while for quadratic coupling, entanglement behaves non-monotonically, as noted for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we investigate the localization of spinor fields in braneworld models by reducing a Dirac spinor in 2n + 2-dimensional spacetime to spinors in 2n dimensions. The high-dimensional Dirac can be reduced to low-dimensional spinors including Weyl or Dirac. In conformally flat extra-dimensional spacetime, fermions cannot be localized through minimal coupling with gravity. To achieve the localization of spinor fields, we introduce a tensor coupling term given by Ψ ¯ Γ M Γ N Γ P ⋯ T MNP ⋯ Ψ , which ensures SO(n, 1) symmetry. For a tensor TMNP⋯ of odd order, the left and right chiralities of high-dimensional spinors are decoupled. We find that a special form of tensor coupling Ψ ¯ Γ M ∂ M F ϕ R R μν R μν ⋯ Ψ may facilitate the localization of the spinor field when F(ϕ) = ϕn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have shown that the Hawking effect always destroys quantum correlations and the fidelity of quantum teleportation in the Schwarzschild black hole. Here, we investigate the fidelity of quantum teleportation of Dirac fields between users in Schwarzschild spacetime. We find that, with the increase of the Hawking temperature, the fidelity of quantum teleportation can monotonically increase, monotonically decrease, or non-monotonically increase, depending on the choice of the initial state, which means that the Hawking effect can create net fidelity of quantum teleportation. This striking result banishes the extended belief that the Hawking effect of the black hole can only destroy the fidelity of quantum teleportation. We also find that quantum steering cannot fully guarantee the fidelity of quantum teleportation in Schwarzschild spacetime. This new unexpected source may provide a new idea for the experimental evidence of the Hawking effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study a decoupling limit of M-theory where the three-form gauge potential becomes critical. This limit leads to nonrelativistic M-theory coupled to a non-Lorentzian spacetime geometry. Nonrelativistic M-theory is U-dual to M-theory in the discrete light cone quantization, a non-perturbative approach related to the Matrix theory description of M-theory. We focus on the compactification of nonrelativistic M-theory over a two-torus that exhibits anisotropic behaviors due to the foliation structure of the spacetime geometry. We develop a frame covariant formalism of the toroidal geometry, which provides a geometrical interpretation of the recently discovered polynomial realization of SL(2 , ℤ) duality in nonrelativistic type IIB superstring theory. We will show that the nonrelativistic IIB string background fields transform as polynomials of an effective Galilean "boost velocity" on the two-torus. As an application, we construct an action principle describing a single M5-brane in nonrelativistic M-theory and study its compactification over the anisotropic two-torus. This procedure leads to a D3-brane action in nonrelativistic IIB string theory that makes the SL(2 , ℤ) invariance manifest in the polynomial realization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Classical gravity coupled to a CFT4 (matter) is considered. The effect of the quantum dynamics of matter on gravity is studied around maximally symmetric spaces (flat, de Sitter and Anti de Sitter). The structure of the graviton propagator is modified and non-trivial poles appear due to matter quantum effects. The position and residues of such poles are mapped as a function of the relevant parameters, the central charge of the CFT4, the two R2 couplings of gravity as well as the curvature of the background space-time. The instabilities induced are determined. Such instabilities can be important in cosmology as they trigger the departure from de Sitter space and in some regions of parameters are more important than the well-known scalar instabilities. It is also determined when the presence of such instabilities is unreliable if the associated scales are larger than the "species" cutoff of the gravitational theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We argue that at finite energies, double-scaled SYK has a semiclassical approximation controlled by a coupling λ in which all observables are governed by a non-trivial saddle point. The Liouville description of double-scaled SYK suggests that the correlation functions define a geometry in a two-dimensional bulk, with the 2-point function describing the metric. For small coupling, the fluctuations are highly suppressed, and the bulk describes a rigid (A)dS spacetime. As the coupling increases, the fluctuations become stronger. We study the correction to the curvature of the bulk geometry induced by these fluctuations. We find that as we go deeper into the bulk the curvature increases and that the theory eventually becomes strongly coupled. In general, the curvature is related to energy fluctuations in light operators. We also compute the entanglement entropy of partially entangled thermal states in the semiclassical limit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the realm of lower-dimensional accelerating spacetimes, it is well-established that the presence of domain walls, which are co-dimension one topological defects, is a necessary condition for their construction. We expand upon the geometric framework employed in the generation of such spacetime solutions by incorporating a conformally coupled scalar field within the matter sector. This endeavor leads to the identification of several new families of three-dimensional accelerating spacetimes with asymptotically locally anti-de Sitter (AdS) behavior. Notably, one of these solutions showcases a hairy generalization of the accelerating BTZ black hole. This solution is constructed at both slow and rapid phases of acceleration, and its connection with established vacuum spacetime models is explicitly elucidated. The inclusion of the scalar field imparts a non-constant Ricci curvature to the domain wall, thereby rendering these configurations particularly suitable for the construction of two-dimensional quantum black holes. To establish a well-posed variational principle in the presence of the domain wall, two essential steps are undertaken. First, we extend the conventional renormalized AdS3 action to accommodate the presence of the scalar field. Second, we explicitly incorporate the Gibbons-Hawking-York term associated with the internal boundaries of our geometries and account for the tension of the domain wall in the action. This dual step process enables us to derive the domain wall field equations via the variational principle. Consequently, the action furnishes the appropriate quantum statistical relation. We engage in holographic computations, thereby determining the explicit form of the holographic stress tensor. In this context, the stress tensor can be expressed as that of a perfect fluid situated on a curved background. Additionally, it paves the road to ascertain the spacetime mass. Finally, we close by demonstrating the existence of three-dimensional accelerating spacetimes with asymptotically locally flat and asymptotically locally de Sitter geometries, particularly those embodying black holes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We derive an effective action for charged plasmas with an anomalous (abelian) global current charge current using holography. The holographic description is captured by the dynamics of an Einstein-Maxwell-Chern-Simons theory in an asymptotically AdS spacetime. The 't Hooft anomaly contribution, which is encoded in the Chern-Simons term, contributes at the Gaussian order in the effective action only in the momentum diffusion sector, where it leads to chiral shear waves. However, as we demonstrate, beyond the Gaussian order, there is non-trivial imprint of the parity-violating anomaly term in sound and charge diffusion dynamics as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We construct a Lorentz invariant massive particle model in (2+1) space-time with an enlarged set of symmetries which includes Bondi-Metzner-Sachs (BMS) translations (supertranslations), using the non-linear realization framework. The Hamiltonian formalism for the resulting Lagrangian is constructed, and the infinite phase-space constraints and the set of gauge transformations are analysed. We also compute the massless limit of the theory in phase-space. After eliminating the gauge degrees of freedom, the physical reduced space is left only with the degrees of freedom of a standard Poincaré particle but with a residual set of symmetries that we prove to be BMS. A similar result for the massless limit, including in this case superrotations, is pointed out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inflationary spacetimes have been argued to be past geodesically incomplete in many situations. However, whether the geodesic incompleteness implies the existence of an initial spacetime curvature singularity or whether the spacetime may be extended (potentially into another phase of the universe) is generally unknown. Both questions have important physical implications. In this paper, we take a closer look at the geometrical structure of inflationary spacetimes and investigate these very questions. We first classify which past inflationary histories have a scalar curvature singularity and which might be extendible and/or non-singular in homogeneous and isotropic cosmology with flat spatial sections. Then, we derive rigorous extendibility criteria of various regularity classes for quasi-de Sitter spacetimes that evolve from infinite proper time in the past. Finally, we show that beyond homogeneity and isotropy, special continuous extensions respecting the Einstein field equations with a perfect fluid must have the equation of state of a de Sitter universe asymptotically. An interpretation of our results is that past-eternal inflationary scenarios are most likely physically singular, except in situations with very special initial conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We reduce the gravitational theory in an asymptotically flat spacetime to future null infinity. We compute the Poincaré flux operators at future null infinity and construct the supertranslation and superrotation generators. The generators are shown to form a closed symmetry algebra by including a generalized gravitational duality operator. We could regard all the generators as the Hamiltonians with respect to the symmetry transformation in the boundary field theory. Our construction of the generators may relate to the BMS fluxes defined in the literature by adding counterterms to the Bondi mass and angular momentum aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A long-standing and intriguing question is: does the holographic principle apply to cosmologies like de Sitter spacetime? In this work, we consider a half dS spacetime wherein a timelike boundary encloses the bulk spacetime, presenting a version of de Sitter holography. By analyzing the holographic entanglement entropy in this space and comparing it with that in AdS/CFT, we argue that gravity on a half dSd+1 is dual to a highly non-local field theory residing on dSd boundary. This non-locality induces a breach in the subadditivity of holographic entanglement entropy. Remarkably, this observation can be linked to another argument that time slices in global de Sitter space overestimate the degrees of freedom by redundantly counting the same Hilbert space multiple times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show that the Killing tensor of the Kerr spacetime has an analogue in the Kerr gauge theory solution related to it by the classical double copy. This hidden symmetry of Kerr leads to an additional constant of motion for color-charged point particles moving in it, implying integrability of the equation of motion. These are the gauge theory counterparts to the Carter constant and the integrability of the geodesic equation in a Kerr background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We find, in the AdS/CFT, a source on the boundary which generates one wave packet drawing a null geodesic inside the bulk. Once such a wave packet dives into the bulk, it comes back to the boundary after a specific time, at which the expectation value of the corresponding boundary operator finally stands up. Since this behavior strongly reflects the existence of the holographic spacetime, our technique will be helpful in identifying holographic materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We define a perturbative S-matrix in a local patch of de Sitter background in the limit when the curvature length scale (ℓ) is large and study the 'soft' behavior of the scalar QED amplitudes in de Sitter spacetime in generic dimensions. We obtain the leading and subleading perturbative corrections to flat space soft photon theorems in the large ℓ limit, and comment on the universality of these corrections. We compare our results with the electromagnetic memory tails obtained earlier in d = 4 using classical radiation analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We employ a manifestly covariant formalism to compute the tree-level amputated Green's function of non-minimally coupled scalar fields in quadratic gravity in a de Sitter background. We study this Green's function in the adiabatic limit, and construct the classical Newtonian potential. At short distances, the flat-spacetime Yukawa potential is reproduced, while the curvature gives rise to corrections to the potential at large distances. Beyond the Hubble radius, the potential vanishes identically, in agreement with the causal structure of de Sitter spacetime. For sub-Hubble distances, we investigate whether the modifications to the potential reproduce Modified Newtonian Dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We derive a massive double copy construction within string theory. To this end, we use massive vectors of the open string spectrum that appear in compactifications to four dimensions and construct massive spin-2 tensors as closed string states, thereby mimicking the structure of the massless graviton. We then compute three-point amplitudes for the scattering of massless and massive spin-2 closed string states and reveal the double copy structure of the latter. With these results being finite in the string scale, we are further able to reproduce the cubic Lagrangian of ghost-free bimetric theory around flat spacetime for bulk massive spin-2 states originating in products of vectors of extended brane supersymmetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]