SciPost logo

SciPost Submission Page

3D Gravity in a Box

by Per Kraus, Ruben Monten, Richard M. Myers

This Submission thread is now published as

Submission summary

Authors (as registered SciPost users): Per Kraus · Ruben Monten
Submission information
Preprint Link: https://arxiv.org/abs/2103.13398v3  (pdf)
Date accepted: 2021-09-08
Date submitted: 2021-08-30 02:51
Submitted by: Monten, Ruben
Submitted to: SciPost Physics
Ontological classification
Academic field: Physics
Specialties:
  • High-Energy Physics - Theory
Approach: Theoretical

Abstract

The quantization of pure 3D gravity with Dirichlet boundary conditions on a finite boundary is of interest both as a model of quantum gravity in which one can compute quantities which are "more local" than S-matrices or asymptotic boundary correlators, and for its proposed holographic duality to $T \overline{T}$-deformed CFTs. In this work we apply covariant phase space methods to deduce the Poisson bracket algebra of boundary observables. The result is a one-parameter nonlinear deformation of the usual Virasoro algebra of asymptotically AdS$_3$ gravity. This algebra should be obeyed by the stress tensor in any $T\overline{T}$-deformed holographic CFT. We next initiate quantization of this system within the general framework of coadjoint orbits, obtaining - in perturbation theory - a deformed version of the Alekseev-Shatashvili symplectic form and its associated geometric action. The resulting energy spectrum is consistent with the expected spectrum of $T\overline{T}$-deformed theories, although we only carry out the explicit comparison to $\mathcal{O}(1/\sqrt{c})$ in the $1/c$ expansion.

Author comments upon resubmission

This is a resubmission, corresponding to v3 on the arXiv, addressing the referee's comments.

List of changes

- We added a comment in the discussion session about the analog formalism for JT gravity, as suggested by the referee.
- We corrected the typos and changed the definition of the hypersurface volume form in (3.13) so that (3.12) and (B.5) are consistent with it.

Published as SciPost Phys. 11, 070 (2021)

Login to report or comment