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The partition function of 3-dimensional quantum gravity has been argued to be 1-loop exact. Here, we verify the vanishing of higher-orders in perturbation theory by explicit computation in the second-order, metric formulation at 3-loops. The number of 1-particle irreducible Feynman diagrams involving both gravitons and ghosts turns out to be 17. Using dimensional regularization, we solve all the diagrams. At 2-loops, we find that all such diagrams vanish separately after regularization. At 3-loops, in contrast, a series of remarkable cancellations between different diagrams takes place, with 9 diagrams beautifully conspiring to yield a vanishing result. Our techniques are suitable to be applied to higher loops as well as to similar computations in higher dimensions., Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures, v3 comments and references added

Crossing symmetry (CS) is the main tool in the bootstrap program applied to CFT models. This consists in an equality which imposes restrictions on the CFT data of a model, i.e, the OPE coefficients and the conformal dimensions. Reflection positivity (RP) has also played a role, since this condition lead to the unitary bound and reality of the OPE coefficients. In this paper we show that RP can still reveal more information, showing how RP itself can capture an important part of the restrictions imposed by the full CS equality. In order to do that, we use a connection used by us in a previous work between RP and positive definiteness of a function of a single variable. This allows to write constraints on the OPE coefficients in a concise way, encoding in the conditions that certain functions of the crossratio will be positive defined and in particular completely monotonic. We will consider how the bounding of scalar conformal dimensions and OPE coefficients arise in this RP based approach. We will illustrate the conceptual and practical value of this view trough examples of general CFT models in $d$-dimensions., Comment: 29 pages, comments added

We continue the study of the one-loop partition function of AdS$_3$ gravity with focus on the square-integrability condition on the fluctuating fields. In a previous work we found that the Brown-Henneaux boundary conditions follow directly from the $L^2$ condition. Here we rederive the partition function as a ratio of Laplacian determinants by performing a suitable decomposition of the metric fluctuations. We pay special attention to the asymptotics of the fields appearing in the partition function. We also show that in the usual computation using ghost fields for the de Donder gauge, such gauge condition is accessible precisely for square-integrable ghost fields. Finally, we compute the spectrum of the relevant Laplacians in thermal AdS$_3$, in particular noticing that there are no isolated eigenvalues, only essential spectrum. This last result supports the analytic continuation approach of David, Gaberdiel and Gopakumar. The purely essential spectra found are consistent with the independent results of Lee and Delay of the essential spectrum of the TT rank-2 tensor Lichnerowickz Laplacian on asymptotically hyperbolic spaces., Comment: 25 pages

There has been renewed interest in the path-integral computation of the partition function of AdS3 gravity, both in the metric and Chern-Simons formulations. The one-loop partition function around Euclidean AdS3 turns out to be given by the vacuum character of Virasoro group. This stems from the work of Brown and Henneaux (BH) who showed that, in AdS3 gravity with sensible asymptotic boundary conditions, an infinite group of (improper) diffeomorphisms arises which acts canonically on phase space as two independent Virasoro symmetries. The gauge group turns out to be composed of so-called ``proper'' diffeomorphisms which approach the identity at infinity fast enough. However, it is sometimes far from evident to identify where BH boundary conditions enter in the path integral, and much more difficult to see how the improper diffeomorphisms are left out of the gauge group. In particular, in the metric formulation, Giombi, Maloney and Yin obtained the one-loop partition function around thermal AdS3 resorting to the heat kernel method to compute the determinants coming from the path integral. Here we identify how BH boundary conditions follow naturally from the usual requirement of square-integrability of the metric perturbations. Also, and equally relevant, we clarify how the quotient by only proper diffeomorphisms is implemented, promoting the improper diffeomorphisms to symmetries in the path integral. Our strategy is general enough to apply to other approaches where square integrability is assumed. Finally, we show that square integrability implies that the asymptotic symmetries in higher dimensional AdS gravity are just isometries., Comment: 10 pages

Rindler positivity is a property that holds in any relativistic Quantum Field Theory and implies an infinite set of inequalities involving the exponential of the R\'enyi mutual information $I_n(A_i,\bar{A}_j)$ between $A_i$ and $\bar{A}_j$, where $A_i$ is a spacelike region in the right Rindler wedge and $\bar{A}_j$ is the wedge reflection of $A_j$. We explore these inequalities in order to get local inequalities for $I_n(A,\bar{A})$ as a function of the distance between $A$ and its mirror region $\bar{A}$. We show that the assumption, based on the cluster property of the vacuum, that $I_n$ goes to zero when the distance goes to infinity, implies the more stringent and simple condition that $F_n\equiv{e}^{(n-1)I_n}$ should be a completely monotonic function of the distance, meaning that all the even (odd) derivatives are non-negative (non-positive). In the case of a CFT in 1+1 dimensions, we show that conformal invariance implies stronger conditions, including a sort of monotonicity of the R\'enyi mutual information for pairs of intervals. An application of these inequalities to obtain constraints for the OPE coefficients of the $4-$point function of certain twist operators is also discussed., Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures

We explore several aspects of the relation between gravity and entanglement in the context of AdS/CFT, in the simple setting of 3 bulk dimensions. Specifically, we consider small perturbations of the AdS metric and the CFT vacuum state and study what can be learnt about the metric perturbation from the Ryu-Takayanagi (RT) formula alone. It is well-known that, if the RT formula holds for all boundary spacelike segments, then the metric perturbation satisfies the linearized Einstein equations throughout the bulk. We generalize this result by showing that, if the RT formula holds for all spacelike segments contained in a certain boundary region, then the metric perturbation satisfies the linearized Einstein equations in a corresponding bulk region (in fact, it is completely determined in that region). We also argue that the same is true for small perturbations of the planar BTZ black hole and the CFT thermal state. We discuss the relation between our results and the ideas of subregion-subregion duality, and we point out that our argument also serves as a holographic proof of the linearized RT formula for boundary segments., Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures. Matches journal version

We obtain new constraints for the modular energy of general states by using the monotonicity property of relative entropy. In some cases, modular energy can be related to the energy density of states and these constraints lead to interesting relations between energy and entropy. In particular, we derive new quantum energy inequalities that improve some previous bounds for the energy density of states in a conformal field theory. Additionally, the inequalities derived in this manner also lead us to conclude that the entropy of the state further restricts the possible amount of negative energy allowed by the theory., Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures

The revisit the dynamics of a massive scalar field in a BTZ background taking into account the lack of global hyperbolicity of the spacetime. We approach this issue using the strategy of Ishibashi and Wald which finds a unique smooth solution as the causal evolution of initial data, each possible evolution corresponding to a positive self-adjoint extension of certain operator in a Hilbert space on the initial surface. Moreover, solutions obtained this way are the most general ones satisfying a few physically-sensible requirements. This procedure is intimately related to the choice of boundary conditions and the existence of bound states. We find that the scalar field dynamics in the (effective) mass window $-3/4\leq m_e^2\ell^2<0$ can be well-defined within a one-parametric family of distinct boundary conditions ($-3/4$ being the conformally-coupled case), while for $m_e^2\ell^2\geq 0$ the boundary condition is unique (only one self-adjoint extension is possible). It is argued that there is no sensible evolution possible for $m_e^2\ell^2<-1$, and also shown that in the range $m_e^2\ell^2 \in [-1,-3/4)$ there is a U$(1)$ family of allowed boundary conditions, however, the positivity of the self-adjoint extensions is only motivated but not proven. We focus mainly in describing the dynamics of such evolutions given the initial data and all possible boundary conditions, and in particular we show the energy is always positive and conserved., Comment: 22 pages. v2 A few comments and references added. Published version

We compute characters of the BMS group in three dimensions. The approach is the same as that performed by Witten in the case of coadjoint orbits of the Virasoro group in the eighties, within the large central charge approximation. The procedure involves finding a Poisson bracket between classical variables and the corresponding commutator of observables in a Hilbert space, explaining why we call this a quantization. We provide first a pedagogical warm up by applying the method to both SL(2,R) and Poincar\'{e}3 groups. As for BMS3, our results coincide with the characters of induced representations recently studied in the literature. Moreover, we relate the 'coadjoint representations' to the induced representations., Comment: 17 pages. v2: references added. v3: minor changes and published in Nucelar Physics B

We initiate the study of a Chern-Simons action associated to the semi-direct sum of the Virasoro algebra with its coadjoint representation. This model extends the standard Chern-Simons formulation of three dimensional flat gravity and is similar to the higher-spin extension of three dimensional anti-de Sitter or flat gravity. The extension can also be constructed for the exotic but not for the cosmological constant deformation of flat gravity., Comment: 15 pages. Version to appear in J. of Math. Phys

We revisit the description of the space of asymptotically AdS3 solutions of pure gravity in three dimensions with a negative cosmological constant as a collection of coadjoint orbits of the Virasoro group. Each orbit corresponds to a set of metrics related by diffeomorphisms which do not approach the identity fast enough at the boundary. Orbits contain more than a single element and this fact manifests the global degrees of freedom of AdS3 gravity, being each element of an orbit what we call boundary graviton. We show how this setup allows to learn features about the classical phase space that otherwise would be quite difficult. Most important are the proof of energy bounds and the characterization of boundary gravitons unrelated to BTZs and AdS3. In addition, it makes manifest the underlying mathematical structure of the space of solutions close to infinity. Notably, because of the existence of a symplectic form in each orbit, being this related with the usual Dirac bracket of the asymptotic charges, this approach is a natural starting point for the quantization of different sectors of AdS3 gravity. We finally discuss previous attempts to quantize coadjoint orbits of the Virasoro group and how this is relevant for the formulation of AdS3 quantum gravity., Comment: 29 pages. Minor corrections. References added. Published version in JHEP

We provide a holographic description of two-dimensional dilaton gravity with Anti-de Sitter boundary conditions. We find that the asymptotic symmetry algebra consists of a single copy of the Virasoro algebra with non-vanishing central charge and point out difficulties with the standard canonical treatment. We generalize our results to higher spin theories and thus provide the first examples of two-dimensional higher spin gravity with holographic description. For spin-3 gravity we find that the asymptotic symmetry algebra is a single copy of the W_3-algebra., Comment: 8pp, v2: added footnotes and references

We consider critical gravity in three dimensions; that is, the New Massive Gravity theory formulated about Anti-de Sitter (AdS) space with the specific value of the graviton mass for which it results dual to a two-dimensional conformal field theory with vanishing central charge. As it happens with Kerr black holes in four-dimensional critical gravity, in three-dimensional critical gravity the Banados-Teitelboim-Zanelli black holes have vanishing mass and vanishing angular momentum. However, provided suitable asymptotic conditions are chosen, the theory may also admit solutions carrying non-vanishing charges. Here, we give simple examples of exact solutions that exhibit falling-off conditions that are even weaker than those of the so-called Log-gravity. For such solutions, we define the quasilocal stress-tensor and use it to compute conserved charges. Despite the drastic deformation of AdS3 asymptotic, these solutions have finite mass and angular momentum., Comment: 7 pages. v3: Typos corrected. Version accepted for publication

During the '70, several relativistic quantum field theory models in $D=1+1$ and also in $D=2+1$ have been constructed in a non-perturbative way. That was done in the so-called {\it constructive quantum field theory} approach, whose main results have been obtained by a clever use of Euclidean functional methods. Although in the construction of a single model there are several technical steps, some of them involving long proofs, the constructive quantum field theory approach contains conceptual insights about relativistic quantum field theory that deserved to be known and which are accessible without entering in technical details. The purpose of this note is to illustrate such insights by providing an oversimplified schematic exposition of the simple case of $\lambda\Phi^4$ (with $m>0$) in $D=1+1$. Because of the absence of ultraviolet divergences in its perturbative version, this simple example -although does not capture all the difficulties in the constructive quantum field theory approach- allows to stress those difficulties inherent to the non-perturbative definition. We have made an effort in order to avoid several of the long technical intermediate steps without missing the main ideas and making contact with the usual language of the perturbative approach., Comment: 63 pages. Typos corrected

We consider scalar field perturbations about asymptotically Lifshitz black holes with dynamical exponent z in D dimensions. We show that, for suitable boundary conditions, these Lifshitz black holes are stable under scalar field perturbations. For z=2, we explicitly compute the quasinormal mode frecuencies, which result to be purely imaginary, and then obtain the damping-off of the scalar field perturbation in these backgrounds. The general analysis includes, in particular, the z=3 black hole solution of three-dimensional massive gravity., Comment: 13 pages, no figures. v2: 14 pages, references added. To appear on PRD

Chiral gravity admits asymptotically AdS3 solutions that are not locally equivalent to AdS3; meaning that solutions do exist which, while obeying the strong boundary conditions usually imposed in General Relativity, happen not to be Einstein spaces. In Topologically Massive Gravity (TMG), the existence of non-Einstein solutions is particularly connected to the question about the role played by complex saddle points in the Euclidean path integral. Consequently, studying (the existence of) non-locally AdS3 solutions to chiral gravity is relevant to understand the quantum theory. Here, we discuss a special family of non-locally AdS3 solutions to chiral gravity. In particular, we show that such solutions persist when one deforms the theory by adding the higher-curvature terms of the so-called New Massive Gravity (NMG). Moreover, the addition of higher-curvature terms to the gravity action introduces new non-locally AdS3 solutions that have no analogues in TMG. Both stationary and time-dependent, axially symmetric solutions that asymptote AdS3 space without being locally equivalent to it appear. Defining the boundary stress-tensor for the full theory, we show that these non-Einstein geometries have associated vanishing conserved charges., Comment: 8 pages. v2 minor typos corrected

Resorting to the notion of a stress tensor induced on the boundary of a spacetime, we compute the conserved charges associated to exact solutions of New Massive Gravity that obey weakened versions of AdS_3 asymptotic boundary conditions. The computation requires the introduction of additional counterterms, which play the role of regularizing the semiclassical stress tensor in the boundary theory. We show that, if treated appropriately, different ways of prescribing asymptotically AdS_3 boundary conditions yield finite conserved charges for the solutions. The consistency of the construction manifests itself in that the charges of hairy asymptotically AdS_3 black holes computed by this holography-inspired method exactly match the values required for the Cardy formula to reproduce the black hole entropy. We also consider new solutions to the equations of motion of New Massive Gravity, which happen to fulfill Brown-Henneaux boundary conditions despite not being Einstein manifolds. These solutions are shown to yield vanishing boundary stress tensor. The results obtained in this paper can be regarded as consistency checks for the prescription proposed in arXiv:1001.3598., Comment: 13 pages. v2 minor typos corrected

In the present work the local form of certain Calabi-Yau metrics possessing a local Hamiltonian Killing vector is described in terms of a single non linear equation. The main assumptions are that the complex $(3,0)$-form is of the form $e^{ik}\widetilde{\Psi}$, where $\widetilde{\Psi}$ is preserved by the Killing vector, and that the space of the orbits of the Killing vector is, for fixed value of the momentum map coordinate, a complex 4-manifold, in such a way that the complex structure of the 4-manifold is part of the complex structure of the complex 3-fold. The link with the solution generating techniques of [26]-[28] is made explicit and in particular an example with holonomy exactly SU(3) is found by use of the linearization of [26], which was found in the context of D6 branes wrapping a holomorphic 1-fold in a hyperkahler manifold. But the main improvement of the present method, unlike the ones presented in [26]-[28], does not rely in an initial hyperkahler structure. Additionally the complications when dealing with non linear operators over the curved hyperkahler space are avoided by use of this method., Comment: Version accepted for publication in Phys.Rev. D

We re-examine previously found cosmological solutions to eleven-dimensional supergravity in the light of the E_{10}-approach to M-theory. We focus on the solutions with non zero electric field determined by geometric configurations (n_m, g_3), n\leq 10. We show that these solutions are associated with rank $g$ regular subalgebras of E_{10}, the Dynkin diagrams of which are the (line) incidence diagrams of the geometric configurations. Our analysis provides as a byproduct an interesting class of rank-10 Coxeter subgroups of the Weyl group of E_{10}., Comment: 48 pages, 27 figures, 5 tables, references added, typos corrected

The issue of implementing the principle of general relativity in Einstein equations has been widely discussed, since Kretschmann's well-known criticism stated that general covariance of the Einstein equations is not suffice to express the principle of general relativity (the equivalence of all the coordinate systems). This failure is usually rooted in the fact that metric in Einstein equations is not univocally determined by the matter distribution. We show that the condition of univocal determination of the metric by the matter distribution is stronger than the requirement of equivalence of all coordinate systems. In order to separate the uniqueness problem in Einstein equations from the issue of the principle of general relativity, we define the "equivalence group" instead of the notion of covariance group which is empty of physical content. Moreover, we have complemented in a positive way Kretschmann's objection by supplementing Einstein equations with a sufficient condition for the equivalence of all the coordinate systems., Comment: 10 pages. Minor changes in text. A table was added

We study various aspects of orientifold projections of Type IIB closed string theory on Gepner points in different dimensions. The open string sector is introduced, in the usual constructive way, in order to cancel RR charges carried by orientifold planes. Moddings by cyclic permutations of the internal N=2 superconformal blocks as well as by discrete phase symmetries are implemented. Reduction in the number of generations, breaking or enhancements of gauge symmetries and topology changes are shown to be induced by such moddings. Antibranes sector is also considered; in particular we show how non supersymmetric models with antibranes and free of closed and open tachyons do appear in this context. A systematic study of consistent models in D=8 dimensions and some illustrative examples in D=6 and D=4 dimensions are presented., Comment: 67 pages, no figures References added, typos corrected