No Arabic abstract
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.
We put forward new explicit realisations of dS/CFT that relate ${cal N}=2$ supersymmetric Euclidean vector models with reversed spin-statistics in three dimensions to specific supersymmetric Vasiliev theories in four-dimensional de Sitter space. The partition function of the free supersymmetric vector model deformed by a range of low spin deformations that preserve supersymmetry appears to specify a well-defined wave function with asymptotic de Sitter boundary conditions in the bulk. In particular we find the wave function is globally peaked at undeformed de Sitter space, with a low amplitude for strong deformations. This suggests that supersymmetric de Sitter space is stable in higher-spin gravity and in particular free from ghosts. We speculate this is a limiting case of the de Sitter realizations in exotic string theories.
We study fermionic bulk fields in the dS/CFT dualities relating ${cal N}=2$ supersymmetric Euclidean vector models with reversed spin-statistics in three dimensions to supersymmetric Vasiliev theories in four-dimensional de Sitter space. These dualities specify the Hartle - Hawking wave function in terms of the partition function of deformations of the vector models. We evaluate this wave function in homogeneous minisuperspace models consisting of supersymmetry-breaking combinations of a half-integer spin field with either a scalar, a pseudoscalar or a metric squashing. The wave function appears to be well-behaved and globally peaked at or near the supersymmetric de Sitter vacuum, with a low amplitude for large deformations. Its behavior in the semiclassical limit qualitatively agrees with earlier bulk computations both for massless and massive fermionic fields.
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 Vasilievs 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.
With a view to understanding extended-BMS symmetries in the framework of the $AdS_4/CFT_3$ correspondence, asymptotically AdS geometries are constructed with null impulsive shockwaves involving a discontinuity in superrotation parameters. The holographic dual is proposed to be a two-dimensional Euclidean defect conformal field localized on a particular timeslice in a three-dimensional conformal field theory on de Sitter spacetime. The defect conformal field theory generates a natural action of the Virasoro algebra. The large radius of curvature limit $elltoinfty$ yields spacetimes with nontrivial extended-BMS charges.
We propose a symmetry of $Tbar T$ deformed 2D CFT, which preserves the trace relation. The deformed conformal killing equation is obtained. Once we consider the background metric runs with the deformation parameter $mu$, the deformation contributes an additional term in conformal killing equation, which plays the role of renormalization group flow of metric. The conformal symmetry coincides with the fixed point. On the gravity side, this deformed conformal killing equation can be described by a new boundary condition of AdS$_3$. In addition, based on the deformed conformal killing equation, we derive that the stress tensor of the deformed CFT equals to Brown-Yorks quasilocal stress tensor on a finite boundary with a counterterm. For a specific example, BTZ black hole, we get $Tbar T$ deformed conformal killing vectors and the associated conserved charges are also studied.