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Title: Semiclassical Virasoro blocks from AdS3 gravity

Abstract

We present a unified framework for the holographic computation of Virasoro conformal blocks at large central charge. In particular, we provide bulk constructions that correctly reproduce all semiclassical Virasoro blocks that are known explicitly from conformal field theory computations. The results revolve around the use of geodesic Witten diagrams, recently introduced in [1], evaluated in locally AdS3 geometries generated by backreaction of heavy operators. We also provide an alternative computation of the heavy-light semiclassical block — in which two external operators become parametrically heavy — as a certain scattering process involving higher spin gauge fields in AdS3; this approach highlights the chiral nature of Virasoro blocks. Finally, these techniques may be systematically extended to compute corrections to these blocks and to interpolate amongst the different semiclassical regimes.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  2. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States). Dept. of Physics
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1437225
Grant/Contract Number:  
FG02-91ER40671; PHY-1313986; PHY11-25915
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of High Energy Physics (Online)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 2015; Journal Issue: 12; Journal ID: ISSN 1029-8479
Publisher:
Springer Berlin
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; 72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS; AdS-CFT Correspondence; Conformal and W Symmetry

Citation Formats

Hijano, Eliot, Kraus, Per, Perlmutter, Eric, and Snively, River. Semiclassical Virasoro blocks from AdS3 gravity. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1007/JHEP12(2015)077.
Hijano, Eliot, Kraus, Per, Perlmutter, Eric, & Snively, River. Semiclassical Virasoro blocks from AdS3 gravity. United States. https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP12(2015)077
Hijano, Eliot, Kraus, Per, Perlmutter, Eric, and Snively, River. 2015. "Semiclassical Virasoro blocks from AdS3 gravity". United States. https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP12(2015)077. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1437225.
@article{osti_1437225,
title = {Semiclassical Virasoro blocks from AdS3 gravity},
author = {Hijano, Eliot and Kraus, Per and Perlmutter, Eric and Snively, River},
abstractNote = {We present a unified framework for the holographic computation of Virasoro conformal blocks at large central charge. In particular, we provide bulk constructions that correctly reproduce all semiclassical Virasoro blocks that are known explicitly from conformal field theory computations. The results revolve around the use of geodesic Witten diagrams, recently introduced in [1], evaluated in locally AdS3 geometries generated by backreaction of heavy operators. We also provide an alternative computation of the heavy-light semiclassical block — in which two external operators become parametrically heavy — as a certain scattering process involving higher spin gauge fields in AdS3; this approach highlights the chiral nature of Virasoro blocks. Finally, these techniques may be systematically extended to compute corrections to these blocks and to interpolate amongst the different semiclassical regimes.},
doi = {10.1007/JHEP12(2015)077},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1437225}, journal = {Journal of High Energy Physics (Online)},
issn = {1029-8479},
number = 12,
volume = 2015,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Dec 14 00:00:00 EST 2015},
month = {Mon Dec 14 00:00:00 EST 2015}
}

Journal Article:
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Cited by: 94 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: The spectrum of gravity duals of large c Virasoro blocks. Operator dimensions increase from bottom to top; hi and hp denote external and internal holomorphic operator dimensions, respectively. In the limit of xed dimensions, the Virasoro block becomes the global block, represented by a geodesic Witten diagram. Uponmore » ramping up two external dimensions to enter the heavy-light regime, the bulk dual becomes a geodesic Witten diagram evaluated in a conical defect geometry. Further taking the remaining dimensions to scale with c, albeit perturbatively, one minimizes the worldline action of a cubic vertex of geodesics in the presence of the defect. This is equivalent to making a saddle-point approximation to the heavy-light geodesic Witten diagram. Not shown is the fully non-perturbative Virasoro block for all heavy operators, whose form is unknown.« less

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Works referencing / citing this record:

Holographic interpretation of 1-point toroidal block in the semiclassical limit
journal, June 2016


Entanglement, holography and causal diamonds
journal, August 2016


Probing thermality beyond the diagonal
journal, December 2018


Higher-point conformal blocks and entanglement entropy in heavy states
text, January 2016


Probing thermality beyond the diagonal
text, January 2018


Hawking from Catalan
text, January 2015


Higher-point conformal blocks and entanglement entropy in heavy states
text, January 2016


On Information Loss in AdS$_3$/CFT$_2$
preprint, January 2016


A Stereoscopic Look into the Bulk
text, January 2016


The Conformal Bootstrap: Theory, Numerical Techniques, and Applications
text, January 2018


Figures/Tables have been extracted from DOE-funded journal article accepted manuscripts.