No Arabic abstract
The macroscopic entropy and the attractor equations for BPS black holes in four-dimensional N=2 supergravity theories follow from a variational principle for a certain `entropy function. We present this function in the presence of R^2-interactions and non-holomorphic corrections. The variational principle identifies the entropy as a Legendre transform and this motivates the definition of various partition functions corresponding to different ensembles and a hierarchy of corresponding duality invariant inverse Laplace integral representations for the microscopic degeneracies. Whenever the microscopic degeneracies are known the partition functions can be evaluated directly. This is the case for N=4 heterotic CHL black holes, where we demonstrate that the partition functions are consistent with the results obtained on the macroscopic side for black holes that have a non-vanishing classical area. In this way we confirm the presence of a measure in the duality invariant inverse Laplace integrals. Most, but not all, of these results are obtained in the context of semiclassical approximations. For black holes whose area vanishes classically, there remain discrepancies at the semiclassical level and beyond, the nature of which is not fully understood at present.
We study the torus partition functions of free bosonic CFTs in two dimensions. Integrating over Narain moduli defines an ensemble-averaged free CFT. We calculate the averaged partition function and show that it can be reinterpreted as a sum over topologies in three dimensions. This result leads us to conjecture that an averaged free CFT in two dimensions is holographically dual to an exotic theory of three-dimensional gravity with $U(1)^c times U(1)^c$ symmetry and a composite boundary graviton. Additionally, for small central charge $c$, we obtain general constraints on the spectral gap of free CFTs using the spinning modular bootstrap, construct examples of Narain compactifications with a large gap, and find an analytic bootstrap functional corresponding to a single self-dual boson.
The entropy and the attractor equations for static extremal black hole solutions follow from a variational principle based on an entropy function. In the general case such an entropy function can be derived from the reduced action evaluated in a near-horizon geometry. BPS black holes constitute special solutions of this variational principle, but they can also be derived directly from a different entropy function based on supersymmetry enhancement at the horizon. Both functions are consistent with electric/magnetic duality and for BPS black holes their corresponding OSV-type integrals give identical results at the semi-classical level. We clarify the relation between the two entropy functions and the corresponding attractor equations for N=2 supergravity theories with higher-derivative couplings in four space-time dimensions. We discuss how non-holomorphic corrections will modify these entropy functions.
The type IIA superstring partition function Z_IIA on the euclidean attractor geometry AdS_2 x S^2 x CY_3, computes the modified elliptic genus Z_BH of the associated black hole. The hybrid formalism of superstrings defined as a conformally invariant sigma model on the coset supermanifold PSU(1,1|2)/U(1)xU(1), together with Calabi-Yau and chiral boson CFTs, is used to calculate Z_IIA. The sigma model action on AdS_2 x S^2 is explicitly written in U(1)xU(1) invariant variables. The N=2 generators of AdS_2 x S^2 x CY_3 are enlarged and embedded in an N=4 topological algebra. The world sheet superconformal invariance is then used to construct a nilpotent BRST operator, in contrast to the kappa symmetry analysis used by Beasely et. al. in hep-th/0608021. The sigma model action is explicitly shown to be closed under this BRST operator. Localization arguments are then used to deform the world sheet path integral with the addition of a BRST exact term, where, contributions arise only from the center of AdS_2 and, the north and south poles of S^2. This leads to the OSV result Z_BH = Z_IIA = |Z_top|^2, where |Z_top|^2 is the square of the topological string partition function.
Localization methods have produced explicit expressions for the sphere partition functions of (2,2) superconformal field theories. The mirror symmetry conjecture predicts an IR duality between pairs of Abelian gauged linear sigma models, a class of which describe families of Calabi-Yau manifolds realizable as complete intersections in toric varieties. We investigate this prediction for the sphere partition functions and find agreement between that of a model and its mirror up to the scheme-dependent ambiguities inherent in the definitions of these quantities.
We evaluate the mixed partition function for dyonic BPS black holes using the recently proposed degeneracy formula for the STU model. The result factorizes into the OSV mixed partition function times a proportionality factor. The latter is in agreement with the measure factor that was recently conjectured for a class of N=2 black holes that contains the STU model.