HKLL for the Non-Normalizable Mode

Abstract

We discuss various aspects of HKLL bulk reconstruction for the free scalar field in AdS$_{d+1}$. First, we consider the spacelike reconstruction kernel for the non-normalizable mode in global coordinates. We construct it as a mode sum. In even bulk dimensions, this can be reproduced using a chordal Green's function approach that we propose. This puts the global AdS results for the non-normalizable mode on an equal footing with results in the literature for the normalizable mode. In Poincar\'e AdS, we present explicit mode sum results in general even and odd dimensions for both normalizable and non-normalizable kernels. For generic scaling dimension $\Delta$, these can be re-written in a form that matches with the global AdS results via an antipodal mapping, plus a remainder. We are not aware of a general argument in the literature for dropping these remainder terms, but we note that a slight complexification of a boundary spatial coordinate (which we call an $i \epsilon$ prescription) allows us to do so in cases where $\Delta$ is (half-) integer. Since the non-normalizable mode turns on a source in the CFT, our primary motivation for considering it is as a step towards understanding linear wave equations in general spacetimes from a holographic perspective. But when the scaling dimension $\Delta$ is in the Breitenlohner-Freedman window, we note that the construction has some interesting features within AdS/CFT.