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arXiv · 2309.05734

Black hole excited states from broken translations in Euclidean time

Christiana Pantelidou·Benjamin Withers
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Abstract

We prepare an excited finite temperature state in ${\cal N}=4$ SYM by means of a Euclidean path integral with a relevant deformation. The deformation explicitly breaks imaginary-time translations along the thermal circle whilst preserving its periodicity. We then study how the state relaxes to thermal equilibrium in real time. Computations are performed using real-time AdS/CFT, by constructing novel mixed-signature black holes in numerical relativity corresponding to Schwinger-Keldysh boundary conditions. These correspond to deformed cigar geometries in the Euclidean, glued to a pair of dynamical spacetimes in the Lorentzian. The maximal extension of the Lorentzian black hole exhibits a `causal shadow', a bulk region which is spacelike separated from both boundaries. We show that causal shadows are generic in path-integral prepared states where imaginary-time translations along the thermal circle are broken.

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Christiana Pantelidou, Benjamin Withers. 2023-09-11. Black hole excited states from broken translations in Euclidean time. https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.05734

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