arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Andrew Strominger.
Dynamics at large redshift near the horizon of an extreme Kerr black hole are governed by an infinite-dimensional conformal symmetry. This symmetry may be exploited to analytically, rather than numerically, compute a variety of potentially observable processes. In this paper we compute and study the conformal transformation properties of the gravitational radiation emitted by an orbiting mass in the large-redshift near-horizon region.
Recently it was conjectured that a certain infinite-dimensional "diagonal" subgroup of BMS supertranslations acting on past and future null infinity (${\mathscr I}^-$ and ${\mathscr I}^+$) is an exact symmetry of the quantum gravity ${\cal S}$-matrix, and an associated Ward identity was derived. In this paper we show that this supertranslation Ward identity is precisely equivalent to Weinberg's soft graviton theorem. Along the way we construct the canonical generators of supertranslations at ${\mathscr I}^\pm$, including the relevant soft graviton contributions. Boundary conditions at the past and future of ${\mathscr I}^\pm$ and a correspondingly modified Dirac bracket are required. The soft gravitons enter as boundary modes and are manifestly the Goldstone bosons of spontaneously broken supertranslation invariance.
Most extreme-mass-ratio-inspirals of small compact objects into supermassive black holes end with a fast plunge from an eccentric last stable orbit. For rapidly rotating black holes such fast plunges may be studied in the context of the Kerr/CFT correspondence because they occur in the near-horizon region where dynamics are governed by the infinite dimensional conformal symmetry. In this paper we use conformal transformations to analytically solve for the radiation emitted from fast plunges into near-extreme Kerr black holes. We find perfect agreement between the gravity and CFT computations.
Plasma-filled magnetospheres can extract energy from a spinning black hole and provide the power source for a variety of observed astrophysical phenomena. These magnetospheres are described by the highly nonlinear equations of force-free electrodynamics, or FFE. Typically these equations can only be solved numerically. In this paper we consider the FFE equations very near the horizon of a maximally spinning black hole, where the energy extraction takes place. Thanks to an enhanced conformal symmetry which appears in this near-horizon region, we are able to analytically obtain several infinite families of exact solutions of the full nonlinear equations.
A scalar field in four-dimensional deSitter spacetime (dS_4) has quasinormal modes which are singular on the past horizon of the south pole and decay exponentially towards the future. These are found to lie in two complex highest-weight representations of the dS_4 isometry group SO(4,1). The Klein-Gordon norm cannot be used for quantization of these modes because it diverges. However a modified `R-norm', which involves reflection across the equator of a spatial S^3 slice, is nonsingular. The quasinormal modes are shown to provide a complete orthogonal basis with respect to the R-norm. Adopting the associated R-adjoint effectively transforms SO(4,1) to the symmetry group SO(3,2) of a 2+1-dimensional CFT. It is further shown that the conventional Euclidean vacuum may be defined as the state annihilated by half of the quasinormal modes, and the Euclidean Green function obtained from a simple mode sum. Quasinormal quantization contrasts with some conventional approaches in that it maintains manifest dS-invariance throughout. The results are expected to generalize to other dimensions and spins.
Asymptotic symmetries of theories with gravity in d=2m+2 spacetime dimensions are reconsidered for m>1 in light of recent results concerning d=4 BMS symmetries. Weinberg's soft graviton theorem in 2m+2 dimensions is re-expressed as a Ward identity for the gravitational S-matrix. The corresponding asymptotic symmetries are identified with 2m+2-dimensional supertranslations. An alternate derivation of these asymptotic symmetries as diffeomorphisms which preserve finite-energy boundary conditions at null infinity and act non-trivially on physical data is given. Our results differ from those of previous analyses whose stronger boundary conditions precluded supertranslations for d>4. We find for all even d that supertranslation symmetry is spontaneously broken in the conventional vacuum and identify soft gravitons as the corresponding Goldstone bosons.
The conventional gravitational memory effect is a relative displacement in the position of two detectors induced by radiative energy flux. We find a new type of gravitational `spin memory' in which beams on clockwise and counterclockwise orbits acquire a relative delay induced by radiative angular momentum flux. It has recently been shown that the displacement memory formula is a Fourier transform in time of Weinberg's soft graviton theorem. Here we see that the spin memory formula is a Fourier transform in time of the recently-discovered subleading soft graviton theorem.
We consider the scattering of massless particles coupled to an abelian gauge field in 2n-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. Weinberg's soft photon theorem is recast as Ward identities for infinitely many new nontrivial symmetries of the massless QED S-matrix, with one such identity arising for each propagation direction of the soft photon. These symmetries are identified as large gauge transformations with angle-dependent gauge parameters that are constant along the null generators of null infinity. Almost all of the symmetries are spontaneously broken in the standard vacuum and the soft photons are the corresponding Goldstone bosons. Our result establishes a relationship between soft theorems and asymptotic symmetry groups in any even dimension.
The transit of a gravitating radiation pulse past arrays of detectors stationed near future null infinity in the vacuum is considered. It is shown that the relative positions and clock times of the detectors before and after the radiation transit differ by a BMS supertranslation. An explicit expression for the supertranslation in terms of moments of the radiation energy flux is given. The relative spatial displacement found for a pair of nearby detectors reproduces the well-known and potentially measurable gravitational memory effect. The displacement memory formula is shown to be equivalent to Weinberg's formula for soft graviton production.
Holographic inflation posits that the inflationary deSitter era of our universe is approximately described by a dual three-dimensional Euclidean CFT living on the spatial slice at the end of inflation. We point out that the BICEP2 results determine the central charge of this putative CFT to be given by $C_T=1.2 \times 10^9$.
It was shown by F. Low in the 1950s that the subleading terms of soft photon S-matrix elements obey a universal linear relation. In this paper we give a new interpretation to this old relation, for the case of massless QED, as an infinitesimal symmetry of the S-matrix. The symmetry is shown to be locally generated by a vector field on the conformal sphere at null infinity. Explicit expressions are constructed for the associated charges as integrals over null infinity and shown to generate the symmetry. These charges are local generalizations of electric and magnetic dipole charges.
It is shown that the tree-level S-matrix for quantum gravity in four-dimensional Minkowski space has a Virasoro symmetry which acts on the conformal sphere at null infinity.
The single-soft-graviton limit of any quantum gravity scattering amplitude is given at leading order by the universal Weinberg pole formula. Gauge invariance of the formula follows from global energy-momentum conservation. In this paper evidence is given for a conjectured universal formula for the finite subleading term in the expansion about the soft limit, whose gauge invariance follows from global angular momentum conservation. The conjecture is non-trivially verified for all tree-level graviton scattering amplitudes using a BCFW recursion relation. One hopes to understand this infinity of new soft relations as a Ward identity for a new superrotation Virasoro symmetry of the quantum gravity S-matrix.
Massive objects orbiting a near-extreme Kerr black hole quickly plunge into the horizon after passing the innermost stable circular orbit. The plunge trajectory is shown to be related by a conformal map to a circular orbit. Conformal symmetry of the near-horizon region is then used to compute the gravitational radiation produced during the plunge phase.
BMS+ transformations act nontrivially on outgoing gravitational scattering data while preserving intrinsic structure at future null infinity (I+). BMS- transformations similarly act on ingoing data at past null infinity (I-). In this paper we apply - within a suitable finite neighborhood of the Minkowski vacuum - results of Christodoulou and Klainerman to link I+ to I- and thereby identify "diagonal" elements BMS0 of (BMS+)X(BMS-). We argue that BMS0 is a nontrivial infinite-dimensional symmetry of both classical gravitational scattering and the quantum gravity S-matrix. It implies the conservation of net accumulated energy flux at every angle on the conformal S2 at I+. The associated Ward identity is shown to relate S-matrix elements with and without soft gravitons. Finally, BMS0 is recast as a U(1) Kac-Moody symmetry and an expression for the Kac-Moody current is given in terms of a certain soft graviton operator on the boundary of null infinity.
Asymptotic symmetries at future null infinity (I+) of Minkowski space for electrodynamics with massless charged fields, as well as non-Abelian gauge theories with gauge group G, are considered at the semiclassical level. The possibility of charge/color flux through I+ suggests the symmetry group is infinite-dimensional. It is conjectured that the symmetries include a G Kac-Moody symmetry whose generators are "large" gauge transformations which approach locally holomorphic functions on the conformal two-sphere at I+ and are invariant under null translations. The Kac-Moody currents are constructed from the gauge field at the future boundary of I+. The current Ward identities include Weinberg's soft photon theorem and its colored extension.
We conjecture that the level k U(N) Chern-Simons theory coupled to free anticommuting scalar matter in the fundamental is dual to non-minmal higher-spin Vasiliev gravity in dS4 with parity-violating phase \theta0 = πN/2k and Neumann boundary conditions for the scalar. Related conjectures are made for fundamental commuting spinor matter and critical theories. This generalizes a recent conjecture relating the minimal Type A Vasiliev theory in dS4 to the Sp(N) model with fundamental real anti-commuting scalars.
New chiral boundary conditions are found for quantum gravity with matter on AdS3. The associated asymptotic symmetry group is generated by a single right-moving U(1) Kac-Moody-Virasoro algebra with c_R = 3l/2G. The Kac-Moody zero mode generates global left-moving translations and equals, for a BTZ black hole, the sum of the total mass and spin. The level is positive about the global vacuum and negative in the black hole sector, corresponding to ergosphere formation. Realizations arising in Chern-Simons gravity and string theory are analyzed. The new boundary conditions are shown to naturally arise for warped AdS3 in the limit that the warp parameter is taken to zero.