Quantum Gravity Microstates from Fredholm Determinants


Abstract in English

A large class of two dimensional quantum gravity theories of Jackiw-Teitelboim form have a description in terms of random matrix models. Such models, treated fully non-perturbatively, can give an explicit and tractable description of the underlying ``microstate degrees of freedom. They play a prominent role in regimes where the smooth geometrical picture of the physics is inadequate. This is shown using a natural tool for extracting the detailed microstate physics, a Fredholm determinant ${rm det}(mathbf{1}{-}mathbf{ K})$. Its associated kernel $K(E,E^prime)$ can be defined explicitly for a wide variety of JT gravity theories. To illustrate the methods, the statistics of the first several energy levels of a non-perturbative definition of JT gravity are constructed explicitly using numerical methods, and the full quenched free energy $F_Q(T)$ of the system is computed for the first time. These results are also of relevance to quantum properties of black holes in higher dimensions.

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