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We study the higher-spin extension of self-dual General Relativity (GR) with cosmological constant, proposed by Krasnov, Skvortsov and Tran. We show that this theory is actually a gauge-fixing of a 6d diffeomorphism-invariant Abelian theory, living on (4d spacetime)x(2d spinor space) modulo a finite group. On the other hand, we point out that the theory respects the 4d geometry of a self-dual GR solution, with no backreaction from the higher-spin fields. We also present a lightcone ansatz that reduces the covariant fields to one scalar field for each helicity. The field equations governing these scalars have only cubic vertices. We compare our lightcone ansatz to Metsaev's lightcone formalism. We conclude with a new perspective on the lightcone formalism in (A)dS spacetime: not merely a complication of its Minkowski-space cousin, it has a built-in Lorentz covariance, and is closely related to Vasiliev's concept of unfolding., Comment: 26 pages

In this paper we study topology-changing spacetimes occurring from pointlike sources. Following an old idea of Penrose, we will opt for a non-Hausdorff model of topology change in which an initial pointlike source is ``doubled" and allowed to propagate along null rays into an eventual cobordism. By appealing to recent developments in non-Hausdorff differential geometry, we will describe and evaluate gravitational actions on these topology-changing spacetimes. Motivated by analogous results for the Trousers space, we describe a sign convention for Lorentzian angles that will ensure the dampening of our non-Hausdorff topology-changing spacetimes within a two-dimensional path integral for gravity., Comment: 43 pages, 9 figures. Ver 2: fixed typos and elaborated on certain points

We study the holographic duality between higher-spin (HS) gravity in 4d and free vector models in 3d, with special attention to the role of N=2 supersymmetry (SUSY). For the type-A bosonic bulk theory, dual to spin-0 fields on the boundary, there exists a twistor-space description; this maps both single-trace boundary operators and linearized bulk fields to spacetime-independent twistor functions, whose HS-algebra products compute all boundary correlators. Here, we extend this description to the type-B bosonic theory (dual to spin-1/2 fields on the boundary), and to the supersymmetric theory containing both. A key role is played by boundary bilocals, which in type-A are dual to the Didenko-Vasiliev 1/2-BPS "black hole". We extend this to an infinite family of linearized 1/2-BPS "black hole" solutions. Remarkably, the full supersymmetric theory (along with the SUSY generators) fits in the same space of twistor functions as the type-A theory. Instead of two sets of bosonic bulk fields, the formalism sees one set of linearized fields, but with both types of boundary data allowed., Comment: 40 pages, 1 figure; v2: JHEP version; restructured bulk discussion for clarity, fixed references

Using Krasnov's formulation of General Relativity (GR), we develop a lightcone ansatz for self-dual gravity (along with linearized anti-self-dual perturbations) in the Poincare patch of de Sitter space. This amounts to a generalization of Plebanski's "second heavenly equation" to non-zero cosmological constant. The only interaction vertices are cubic ones, found previously by Metsaev in a bottom-up lightcone approach. We point out a special feature of these vertices, which leads to "almost conservation" of energy at each successive order in perturbation theory, despite the time-dependent de Sitter background. Since we embed the lightcone variables into a full spacetime metric, the solutions have a clear geometric interpretation. In particular, this allows us to read off boundary data on both the past and future horizons of a causal (static) patch. In this way, we add self-dual GR to the program of defining & computing scattering amplitudes in a causal patch of de Sitter space., Comment: 35 pages; v2: PRD version - expanded discussion and derivations, minor mistakes corrected, appendix added; v3: corrected the kinematics of reading off the final right-handed data

We consider higher-spin gravity in (A)dS_4, defined as the holographic dual of a free O(N) or Sp(N) vector model. At the quartic level, this theory has been judged non-local at distances greater than the (A)dS radius, due to a mismatch of massless (twist=1) exchange-type terms in its boundary OPE behavior. We review the non-locality argument, and note that it relies on a double-lightcone limit, which requires a Lorentzian boundary. In the Euclidean OPE limit, we demonstrate the absence of massless exchange-type non-localities of any spin, by inspecting a known formula for the bulk exchange diagrams in Euclidean AdS, and constructing upper bounds in which the spin-dependence factorizes from the position-dependence. Our results suggest that higher-spin theory is local (at distances greater than the curvature radius) in spacetimes with Euclidean boundary signature. For Lorentzian bulk, this implies locality in de Sitter space, as opposed to anti-de Sitter., Comment: 7 pages

We consider minimal type-A higher-spin (HS) gravity in four dimensions, at tree level. We propose new diagrammatic rules for this theory, involving both Fronsdal fields and Didenko-Vasiliev (DV) particles - linearized versions of HS gravity's "BPS black hole". The vertices include a standard minimal coupling between particle and gauge field, the Sleight-Taronna cubic vertex for HS fields, and a recently introduced vertex coupling two HS fields to a DV particle. We show how these ingredients can be combined to reproduce all n-point functions of the theory's holographic dual - the free O(N) vector model. Our diagrammatic rules interpolate between the usual ones of field theory and those of string theory. Our construction can be viewed as a bulk realization of HS algebra., Comment: 5 pages + 15 pages of appendices, 1 figure + 31 diagrams; v2: PRL version - expanded exposition and examples, corrected some combinatorics

We consider type-A higher-spin gravity in 4 dimensions, holographically dual to a free O(N) vector model. In this theory, the cubic correlators of higher-spin boundary currents are reproduced in the bulk by the Sleight-Taronna cubic vertex. We extend these cubic correlators from local boundary currents to bilocal boundary operators, which contain the tower of local currents in their Taylor expansion. In the bulk, these boundary bilocals are represented by linearized Didenko-Vasiliev (DV) "black holes". We argue that the cubic correlators are still described by local bulk structures, which include a new vertex coupling two higher-spin fields to the "worldline" of a DV solution. As an illustration of the general argument, we analyze numerically the correlator of two local scalars and one bilocal. We also prove a gauge-invariance property of the Sleight-Taronna vertex outside its original range of applicability: in the absence of sources, it is invariant not just within tranverse-traceless gauge, but rather in general traceless gauge, which in particular includes the DV solution away from its "worldline"., Comment: 75 pages, 14 figures; v2: expanded discussion (JHEP version)

We consider type-A higher-spin gravity in AdS_4, holographically dual to a free U(N) vector model on the boundary. We study the linearized version of the Didenko-Vasiliev "BPS black hole", which we view as this theory's equivalent of the fundamental string. The Didenko-Vasiliev solution consists of gauge fields of all spins generated by a particle-like source along a bulk geodesic, and is holographically dual to a bilocal boundary operator at the geodesic's endpoints. Our first main result is a new gauge for this solution, which makes manifest its behavior under the boundary field equation. It can be viewed as an AdS uplift of flat spacetime's de Donder gauge, but is not de Donder in AdS. To our knowledge, this gauge is novel even in the spin-2 sector, and thus provides a new expression for the linearized gravitational field of a massive point particle in (A)dS_4. Our second main result is a proof of the holographic duality between the mutual bulk action of two Didenko-Vasiliev solutions and the CFT correlator of two boundary bilocals. As an intermediate step, we show that in a bilocal->local limit, the Didenko-Vasiliev solution reproduces the standard boundary-bulk propagators of all spins. We work in the "metric-like" language of Fronsdal fields, and use the embedding-space formalism., Comment: 35 pages; v2: JHEP version - expanded discussion/references, fixed sign error in last equation

In the mid-19th century, both the laws of mechanics and thermodynamics were known, and both appeared fundamental. This was changed by Boltzmann and Gibbs, who showed that thermodynamics can be *derived*, by applying mechanics to very large systems, and making simple statistical assumptions about their behavior. Similarly, when Quantum Mechanics (QM) was first discovered, it appeared to require two sets of postulates: one about the deterministic evolution of wavefunctions, and another about the probabilistic measurement process. Here again, the latter is derivable from the former: by applying unitary evolution to large systems (apparatuses, observers and environment), and making simple assumptions about their behavior, one can derive all the features of quantum measurement. We set out to demonstrate this claim, using a simple and explicit model of a quantum experiment, which we hope will be clear and compelling to the average physicist., Comment: 4 pages

We study the scattering problem in the static patch of de Sitter space, i.e. the problem of field evolution between the past and future horizons of a de Sitter observer. We formulate the problem in terms of off-shell fields in Poincare coordinates. This is especially convenient for conformal theories, where the static patch can be viewed as a flat causal diamond, with one tip at the origin and the other at timelike infinity. As an important example, we consider Yang-Mills theory at tree level. We find that static-patch scattering for Yang-Mills is subject to BCFW-like recursion relations. These can reduce any static-patch amplitude to one with N^{-1}MHV helicity structure, dressed by ordinary Minkowski amplitudes. We derive all the N^{-1}MHV static-patch amplitudes from self-dual Yang-Mills field solutions. Using the recursion relations, we then derive from these an infinite set of MHV amplitudes, with arbitrary number of external legs., Comment: 40 pages, 3 figures; v2: JHEP version; expanded discussion, references; v3: corrected the kinematics of reading off the final horizon data

We study the scattering problem in the static patch of de Sitter space, i.e. the problem of field evolution between the past and future horizons of a de Sitter observer. We calculate the leading-order scattering for a conformally massless scalar with cubic interaction, as both the simplest case and a warmup towards Yang-Mills and gravity. Our strategy is to decompose the static-patch evolution problem into a pair of more symmetric evolution problems in two Poincare patches, sewn together by a spatial inversion. To carry this out explicitly, we end up developing formulas for the momentum-space effect of inversions in flat spacetime. The geometric construction of an electron's 4-momentum and spin vectors from a Dirac spinor turns out to be surprisingly relevant., Comment: 40 pages, 2 figures

We consider higher-spin gravity in (Euclidean) AdS_4, dual to a free vector model on the 3d boundary. In the bulk theory, we study the linearized version of the Didenko-Vasiliev black hole solution: a particle that couples to the gauge fields of all spins through a BPS-like pattern of charges. We study the interaction between two such particles at leading order. The sum over spins cancels the UV divergences that occur when the two particles are brought close together, for (almost) any value of the relative velocity. This is a higher-spin enhancement of supergravity's famous feature, the cancellation of the electric and gravitational forces between two BPS particles at rest. In the holographic context, we point out that these "Didenko-Vasiliev particles" are just the bulk duals of bilocal operators in the boundary theory. For this identification, we use the Penrose transform between bulk fields and twistor functions, together with its holographic dual that relates twistor functions to boundary sources. In the resulting picture, the interaction between two Didenko-Vasiliev particles is just a geodesic Witten diagram that calculates the correlator of two boundary bilocals. We speculate on implications for a possible reformulation of the bulk theory, and for its non-locality issues., Comment: 48 pages, 2 figures; v2: JHEP version - expanded discussion and references; v3: amended incorrect statements about gauge dependence, in light of arXiv:2207.07507

We consider the holographic duality between 4d type-A higher-spin gravity and a 3d free vector model. It is known that the Feynman diagrams for boundary correlators can be encapsulated in an HS-algebraic twistorial expression. This expression can be evaluated not just on separate boundary insertions, but on entire finite source distributions. We do so for the first time, and find that the result Z_HS disagrees with the usual CFT partition function. While such disagreement was expected due to contact corrections, it persists even in their absence. We ascribe it to a confusion between on-shell and off-shell boundary calculations. In Lorentzian boundary signature, this manifests via wrong relative signs for Feynman diagrams with different permutations of the source points. In Euclidean, the signs are instead ambiguous, spoiling would-be linear superpositions. Framing the situation as a conflict between boundary locality and HS symmetry, we sacrifice locality and choose to take Z_HS seriously. We are rewarded by the dissolution of a long-standing pathology in higher-spin dS/CFT. Though we lose the connection to the local CFT, the precise form of Z_HS can be recovered from first principles, by demanding a spin-local boundary action., Comment: 72 pages; v2: corrected chronology of the references on bulk non-locality

We consider massless fields of arbitrary spin in de Sitter space. We introduce a spinor-helicity formalism, which encodes the field data on a cosmological horizon. These variables reduce the free S-matrix in an observer's causal patch, i.e. the evolution of free fields from one horizon to another, to a simple Fourier transform. We show how this result arises via twistor theory, by decomposing the horizon<->horizon problem into a pair of (more symmetric) horizon<->twistor problems., Comment: 5 pages; v2: improved references, introduction

In this essay, we discuss the fine-tuning problems of the Higgs mass and the cosmological constant. We argue that these are indeed legitimate problems, as opposed to some other "problems" that are sometimes described using similar vocabulary. We then notice, following Tom Banks, that the problems become less compelling once we recognize that the Universe contains quantum gravity, and thus isn't fundamentally described by bulk QFT. Embracing this "solution" requires a reversal of the standard arrows UV->IR and past->future. The first reversal is familiar from AdS/CFT. The second reversal refers more specifically to our Universe's cosmology, and is clearly in potential conflict with the Second Law of Thermodynamics. In the final part of the essay, we attempt to defuse this conflict, suggesting that the Second Law can arise naturally from de Sitter boundary conditions at future infinity., Comment: 17 pages

We study the dS/CFT duality between minimal type-A higher-spin gravity and the free Sp(2N) vector model. We consider the bulk spacetime as "elliptic" de Sitter space dS_4/Z_2, in which antipodal points have been identified. We apply a technique from arXiv:1509.05890, which extracts the quantum-mechanical commutators (or Poisson brackets) of the linearized bulk theory in an *observable patch* of dS_4/Z_2 directly from the boundary 2-point function. Thus, we construct the Lorentzian commutators of the linearized bulk theory from the Euclidean CFT. In the present paper, we execute this technique for the entire higher-spin multiplet, using a higher-spin-covariant language, which provides a promising framework for the future inclusion of bulk interactions. Aside from its importance for dS/CFT, our construction of a Hamiltonian structure for a bulk causal region should be of interest within higher-spin theory itself. The price we pay is a partial symmetry breaking, from the full dS group (and its higher-spin extension) to the symmetry group of an observable patch. While the boundary field theory plays a role in our arguments, the results can be fully expressed within a boundary *particle mechanics*. Bulk fields arise from this boundary mechanics via a version of second quantization., Comment: 65 pages, 2 figures; v2: JHEP version; slightly expanded discussion and references; v3: corrected minor error in reality conditions; v4: corrected signs, in light of later work on local/twistor dictionary

This is a status report on a research program aimed at obtaining quantum-gravitational physics inside a cosmological horizon through dS/CFT, i.e. through a holographic description at past/future infinity of de Sitter space. The program aims to bring together two main elements. The first is the observation by Anninos, Hartman and Strominger that Vasiliev's higher-spin gravity provides a working model for dS/CFT in 3+1 dimensions. The second is the proposal by Parikh, Savonije and Verlinde that dS/CFT may prove more tractable if one works in so-called "elliptic" de Sitter space - a folded-in-half version of global de Sitter where antipodal points have been identified. We review some relevant progress concerning quantum field theory on elliptic de Sitter space, higher-spin gravity and its holographic duality with a free vector model. We present our reasons for optimism that the approach outlined here will lead to a full holographic description of quantum (higher-spin) gravity in the causal patch of a de Sitter observer., Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure. Conference proceedings contribution for ICGAC-13/IK-15 in Ewha Womans University in Seoul

We consider the holographic duality between type-A higher-spin gravity in AdS_4 and the free U(N) vector model. In the bulk, linearized solutions can be translated into twistor functions via the Penrose transform. We propose a holographic dual to this transform, which translates between twistor functions and CFT sources and operators. We present a twistorial expression for the partition function, which makes global higher-spin symmetry manifest, and appears to automatically include all necessary contact terms. In this picture, twistor space provides a fully nonlocal, gauge-invariant description underlying both bulk and boundary spacetime pictures. While the bulk theory is handled at the linear level, our formula for the partition function includes the effects of bulk interactions. Thus, the CFT is used to solve the bulk, with twistors as a language common to both. A key ingredient in our result is the study of ordinary spacetime symmetries within the fundamental representation of higher-spin algebra. The object that makes these "square root" spacetime symmetries manifest becomes the kernel of our boundary/twistor transform, while the original Penrose transform is identified as a "square root" of CPT., Comment: 82 pages, 1 figure; v2: JHEP version - expanded exposition and references, improved the discussion of contact effects; v3: corrected signs, in light of later work on boundary-local/twistor dictionary

We outline a program for interpreting the higher-spin dS/CFT model in terms of physics in the causal patch of a dS observer. The proposal is formulated in "elliptic" de Sitter space dS_4/Z_2, obtained by identifying antipodal points in dS_4. We discuss recent evidence that the higher-spin model is especially well-suited for this, since the antipodal symmetry of bulk solutions has a simple encoding on the boundary. For context, we test some other (free and interacting) theories for the same property. Next, we analyze the notion of quantum field states in the non-time-orientable dS_4/Z_2. We compare the physics seen by different observers, with the outcome depending on whether they share an arrow of time. Finally, we implement the marriage between higher-spin holography and observers in dS_4/Z_2, in the limit of free bulk fields. We succeed in deriving an observer's operator algebra and Hamiltonian from the CFT, but not her S-matrix. We speculate on the extension of this to interacting higher-spin theory., Comment: 58 pages + 7 pages of appendices, 3 figures; v2: corrected minor errors in normalization factors

We demonstrate that for general conformal field theories (CFTs), the entanglement for small perturbations of the vacuum is organized in a novel holographic way. For spherical entangling regions in a constant time slice, perturbations in the entanglement entropy are solutions of a Klein-Gordon equation in an auxiliary de Sitter (dS) spacetime. The role of the emergent time-like direction in dS is played by the size of the entangling sphere. For CFTs with extra conserved charges, e.g., higher spin charges, we show that each charge gives rise to a separate dynamical scalar field in dS., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures. v2: reference added, title changed by journal, matches published version

We study Vasiliev's higher-spin gravity in 3+1d. We formulate the theory in the so-called compensator formalism, where the local isometry group SO(4,1) is reduced to the Lorentz group SO(3,1) by a choice of spacelike direction in an internal 4+1d space. We present a consistent extension of Vasiliev's equations that allows this internal direction to become spacetime-dependent. This allows a new point of view on the theory, where spacetime is identified with the de Sitter space of possible internal directions. We thus obtain an interacting theory of higher-spin massless gauge fields on a fixed, maximally symmetric background spacetime. We expect implications for the physical interpretation of higher-spin gravity, for the search for a Lagrangian formulation and/or quantization, as well as for higher-spin holography., Comment: 17 pages + 3 pages of appendix; v2: generalized to include the full interaction ambiguity, added explicit analysis of the equations' consistency; v3: standardized normalization conventions between papers; v4: expanded the comparison with the standard Vasiliev equations by presenting an intermediate formulation

We consider field quantization on an arbitrary null hypersurface in curved spacetime. We discuss the de Sitter horizon as the simplest example, relating the horizon quantization to the standard Fock space in the cosmological patch. We stress the universality of null-hypersurface kinematics, using it to generalize the Unruh effect to vacuum or thermal states with respect to null "time translations" on arbitrary (e.g. non-stationary) horizons. Finally, we consider a general pure state on a null hypersurface, which is divided into past and future halves, as when a bifurcation surface divides an event horizon. We present a closed-form recipe for reducing such a pure state into a mixed state on each half-hypersurface. This provides a framework for describing entanglement between spacetime regions directly in terms of their causal horizons. To illustrate our state-reduction recipe, we use it to derive the Unruh effect., Comment: 6 pages; v2: expanded discussion, added references

We study a quantum field in elliptic de Sitter space dS_4/Z_2 - the spacetime obtained from identifying antipodal points in dS_4. We find that the operator algebra and Hilbert space cannot be defined for the entire space, but only for observable causal patches. This makes the system into an explicit realization of the horizon complementarity principle. In the absence of a global quantum theory, we propose a recipe for translating operators and states between observers. This translation involves information loss, in accordance with the fact that two observers see different patches of the spacetime. As a check, we recover the thermal state at the de Sitter temperature as a state that appears the same to all observers. This thermal state arises from the same functional that, in ordinary dS_4, describes the Bunch-Davies vacuum., Comment: 23 pages + 5 pages of appendices, 6 figures; v2: PRD version, minor corrections

We study gauge fields of arbitrary spin in de Sitter space. These include Yang-Mills fields and gravitons, as well as the higher-spin fields of Vasiliev theory. We focus on antipodally symmetric solutions to the field equations, i.e. ones that live on "elliptic" de Sitter space dS_4/Z_2. For free fields, we find spanning sets of such solutions, including boundary-to-bulk propagators. We find that free solutions on dS_4/Z_2 can only have one of the two types of boundary data at infinity, meaning that the boundary 2-point functions vanish. In Vasiliev theory, this property persists order by order in the interaction, i.e. the boundary n-point functions in dS_4/Z_2 all vanish. This implies that a higher-spin dS/CFT based on the Lorentzian dS_4/Z_2 action is empty. For more general interacting theories, such as ordinary gravity and Yang-Mills, we can use the free-field result to define a well-posed perturbative initial value problem in dS_4/Z_2., Comment: 37 pages; v3: major rewrite - added boundary-to-bulk propagators, concluded that all higher-spin n-point functions in dS/Z_2 are singular, retracted the CFT model accordingly; v4: JHEP version, slightly expanded presentation; v5: corrected some propagator normalizations; v6: standardized normalization conventions between papers; v7: further correction to propagator normalizations

We develop the basics of twistor theory in de Sitter space, up to the Penrose transform for free massless fields. We treat de Sitter space as fundamental, as one does for Minkowski space in conventional introductions to twistor theory. This involves viewing twistors as spinors of the de Sitter group SO(4,1). When attached to a spacetime point, such a twistor can be reinterpreted as a local SO(3,1) Dirac spinor. Our approach highlights the antipodal map in de Sitter space, which gives rise to doublings in the standard relations between twistors and spacetime. In particular, one can generate a field with both handedness signs from a single twistor function. Such fields naturally live on antipodally-identified de Sitter space dS_4/Z_2, which has been put forward as the ideal laboratory for quantum gravity with positive cosmological constant., Comment: 27 pages; v2: standardized normalization conventions between different papers

In non-gravitational quantum field theory, the entanglement entropy across a surface depends on the short-distance regularization. Quantum gravity should not require such regularization, and it's been conjectured that the entanglement entropy there is always given by the black hole entropy formula evaluated on the entangling surface. We show that these statements have precise classical counterparts at the level of the action. Specifically, we point out that the action can have a non-additive imaginary part. In gravity, the latter is fixed by the black hole entropy formula, while in non-gravitating theories, it is arbitrary. From these classical facts, the entanglement entropy conjecture follows by heuristically applying the relation between actions and wavefunctions., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures

We consider convex spacelike polyhedra oriented in Minkowski space. These are the classical analogues of spinfoam intertwiners. We point out a parametrization of these shapes using null face normals, with no constraints or redundancies. Our construction is dimension-independent. In 3+1d, it provides the spacetime picture behind a well-known property of the loop quantum gravity intertwiner space in spinor form, namely that the closure constraint is always satisfied after some SL(2,C) rotation. As a simple application of our variables, we incorporate them in a 4-simplex action that reproduces the large-spin behavior of the Barrett-Crane vertex amplitude., Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure; v2: references fixed and added

Area Regge calculus is a candidate theory of simplicial gravity, based on the Regge action with triangle areas as the dynamical variables. It is characterized by metric discontinuities and vanishing deficit angles. Area Regge calculus arises in the large-spin limit of the Barrett-Crane spinfoam model, but not in the newer EPRL/FK model. We address the viability of area Regge calculus as a discretization of General Relativity. We argue that when all triangles are spacelike and all tetrahedra have the same signature, non-trivial solutions of the area calculus are associated with a nonzero Ricci scalar. Our argument rests on a seemingly natural regularization of the metric discontinuities. It rules out the Euclidean area calculus, as well as the Lorentzian sector with all tetrahedra spacelike - the two setups usually considered in spinfoam models. On the other hand, we argue that the area calculus has attractive properties from the point of view of finite-region observables in quantum gravity., Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures

We study the imaginary part of the Lorentzian gravitational action for bounded regions, as described in arXiv:1301.7041. By comparing to a Euclidean calculation, we explain the agreement between the formula for this imaginary part and the formula for black hole entropy. We also clarify the topological structure of the imaginary part in Lovelock gravity. We then evaluate the action's imaginary part for some special regions. These include cylindrical slabs spanning the exterior of a stationary black hole spacetime, 'maximal diamonds' in various symmetric spacetimes, as well as local near-horizon regions. In the first setup, the black hole's entropy and conserved charges contribute to the action's imaginary and real parts, respectively. In the other two setups, the imaginary part coincides with the relevant entropy., Comment: 34 pages, 10 figures; v2: slightly expanded presentation, close to the PRD version

We outline how the Wald entropy formula naturally arises in loop quantum gravity based on recently introduced dimension-independent connection variables. The key observation is that in a loop quantization of a generalized gravity theory, the analog of the area operator turns out to measure, morally speaking, the Wald entropy rather than the area. We discuss the explicit example of (higher-dimensional) Lanczos-Lovelock gravity and comment on recent work on finding the correct numerical prefactor of the entropy by comparing it to a semiclassical effective action., Comment: 23 pages. v2: journal version. Details added, discussion clarified

It was recently noted that the on-shell Einstein-Hilbert action with York-Gibbons-Hawking boundary term has an imaginary part, proportional to the area of the codimension-2 surfaces on which the boundary normal becomes null. We discuss the extension of this result to first-order formulations of gravity. As a side effect, we settle the issue of the Holst modification vs. the Nieh-Yan density by demanding a variational principle with suitable boundary conditions. We then set out to find the imaginary action in the large-spin 4-simplex limit of the Lorentzian EPRL/FK spinfoam. It turns out that the spinfoam's effective action indeed has the correct imaginary part, but only if the Barbero-Immirzi parameter is set to +/- i after the quantum calculation. We point out an agreement between this effective action and a recent black hole state-counting calculation in the same limit. Finally, we propose that the large-spin limit of loop quantum gravity can be viewed as a high-energy 'transplanckian' regime., Comment: 23 pages, 5 figures; v2: journal version, section 3 rewritten, minor clarifications

As observed recently in arXiv:1212.2922, the action of General Relativity (GR) in finite spacetime regions has an imaginary part that resembles the Bekenstein entropy. In this paper, we expand on that argument, with attention to different causal types of boundaries. This property of the GR action may open a new approach to the puzzles of gravitational entropy. In particular, the imaginary action can be evaluated for non-stationary finite regions, where the notion of entropy is not fully understood. As a first step in constructing the precise relationship between the imaginary action and entropy, we focus on stationary black hole spacetimes. There, we identify a class of bounded regions for which the action's imaginary part precisely equals the black hole entropy. As a powerful test on the validity of the approach, we also calculate the imaginary action for Lovelock gravity. The result is related to the corresponding entropy formula in the same way as in GR., Comment: 37 pages, 8 figures; v2: sign error corrected; v3: refined the treatment of Lovelock gravity, added section 3 with expanded discussion, added references

We argue that finite-region observables in quantum gravity are best approached in terms of boundary data on null hypersurfaces. This has far-reaching effects on the basic notions of classical and quantum mechanics, such as Hamiltonians and canonical conjugates. Such radical properties are not unexpected in finite-region quantum gravity. We are thus motivated to reformulate field theory in terms of null boundary data. As a starting point, we consider the on-shell action functional for classical field theory in finite null-bounded regions. Closed-form results are obtained for free scalars and for Maxwell fields. The action of classical gravity is also discussed, to the extent possible without solving the field equations. These action functionals exhibit non-locality and, in special cases, a "holographic" reduction of the degrees of freedom. Also, they cannot be used to define global charges. Whereas for ordinary field theory these are just artifacts of a restrictive formalism, in quantum gravity they are expected to be genuine features. This further supports a connection between quantum gravity and null-boundary observables. In our treatment of the GR action, we identify a universal imaginary term that reproduces the Bekenstein entropy formula., Comment: 39 pages, 3 figures; v2: fixed minor errors, added refs. to subsequent work on the imaginary part of the GR action

We consider polyhedra and 4-polytopes in Minkowski spacetime - in particular, null polyhedra with zero volume, and 4-polytopes that have such polyhedra as their hyperfaces. We present the basic properties of several classes of null-faced 4-polytopes: 4-simplices, "tetrahedral diamonds" and 4-parallelotopes. We propose a "most regular" representative of each class. The most-regular parallelotope is of particular interest: its edges, faces and hyperfaces are all congruent, and it features both null hyperplanes and null segments. A tiling of spacetime with copies of this polytope can be viewed alternatively as a lattice with null edges, such that each point is at the intersection of four lightrays in a tetrahedral pattern. We speculate on the relevance of this construct for discretizations of curved spacetime and for quantum gravity., Comment: 24 pages, 6 figures; submitted to Geometriae Dedicata; v2: added references

We propose, in the framework of the fluid/gravity correspondence, a definition for a local horizon entropy current for higher-curvature gravitational theories. The current is well-defined to first order in fluid gradients for general gravity actions with an algebraic dependence on the Riemann tensor. As a detailed example, we consider five-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell theory with a mixed gauge-gravitational Chern-Simons term. In this theory, we construct the proposed entropy current on a charged black-brane background, and show that it has a non-negative divergence. Moreover, a complete correspondence between the charged black-brane horizon's dynamics and the hydrodynamics of an anomalous four-dimensional field theory is established. Our proposed entropy current is then found to coincide with the entropy current of the anomalous field theory fluid., Comment: 44 pages

We study the parity behavior of the Lorentzian EPRL spinfoam model. We demonstrate that the vertex amplitude does not depend on the sign of the Immirzi parameter. We present numerical results for the transition amplitude and the graviton propagator in the large-spin 4-simplex approximation. The results suggest a simple relation between the contributions of the two parity-related critical points. Finally, we observe that the graviton propagator is not invariant under parity-odd permutations of equivalent nodes. Thus, the Lorentzian model has the same chirality problem as the Euclidean., Comment: 24 pages, 2 figures; Python code included in ancillary files; v3: added figures and elaborated some of the arguments

This is a brief report of work performed in arXiv:1106.3576. We consider the chiral transport terms in a relativistic charged superfluid, and their relation to triangle anomalies. The terms allowed by the Second Law of thermodynamics have been worked out. A simplified form is proposed on heuristic grounds, from an analysis of the better-understood chiral effects in normal fluids. We point out the appearance of a "chiral electric conductivity", and relate it through an educated guess to the axial anomaly coefficient., Comment: 4 pages. Submitted to the Proceedings of the Blois-2011 conference on "Particle Physics and Cosmology"

We analyze the chiral transport terms in relativistic superfluid hydrodynamics. In addition to the spontaneously broken symmetry current, we consider an arbitrary number of unbroken symmetries and extend the results of arXiv:1105.3733. We suggest an interpretation of some of the new transport coefficients in terms of chiral and gravitational anomalies. In particular, we show that with unbroken gauged charges in the system, one can observe a chiral electric conductivity - a current in a perpendicular direction to the applied electric field. We present a motivated proposal for the value of the associated transport coefficient, linking it to the triangle anomaly. Along the way we present new arguments regarding the interpretation of the anomalous transport coefficients in normal fluids. We propose a natural generalization of the chiral transport terms to the case of an arbitrary number of spontaneously broken symmetry currents., Comment: 30 pages; v2: Onsager-relations argument corrected, references added; v3: fixed missing line in eq. (38)

We discuss recent work showing that in certain cases the membrane paradigm equations governing the dynamics of black hole horizons can be recast as relativistic conservation law equations. In the context of gauge/gravity dualities, these equations are interpreted as defining the viscous hydrodynamics of a holographically dual relativistic field theory. Using this approach, one can derive the viscous transport coefficients and the form of the entropy current for field theories dual to gravity plus matter fields., Comment: 4 pages, prepared for the proceedings of ERE2010 (Granada, Spain)

We consider the hydrodynamic regime of gauge theories with general triangle anomalies, where the participating currents may be global or gauged, abelian or non-abelian. We generalize the argument of arXiv:0906.5044, and construct at the viscous order the stress-energy tensor, the charge currents and the entropy current., Comment: 13 pages, Revtex

We analyze the dynamics of a four-dimensional null hypersurface in a five-dimensional bulk spacetime with Einstein-Yang-Mills fields. In an appropriate ansatz, the projection of the field equations onto the hypersurface takes the form of conservation laws for relativistic hydrodynamics with global non-abelian charges. A Chern-Simons term in the bulk action corresponds to anomalies in the global charges, with a vorticity term arising in the hydrodynamics. We derive the entropy current and obtain unique expressions for some of the leading-order transport coefficients (in the abelian case, all of them) for arbitrary equations of state. As a special case and a concrete example, we discuss the event horizon of a boosted Einstein-Yang-Mills black brane in an asymptotically Anti-de-Sitter spacetime. The evolution equations in that case describe the hydrodynamic limit of a conformal field theory with anomalous global non-abelian charges on the Anti-de-Sitter boundary., Comment: 46 pages, 1 appendix; v2: fixed typos