arXiv subjects

Ayan K. Patra

Publications and source records attributed to Ayan K. Patra.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Quantum Solitons

We construct geometries describing the quantum backreaction of thermal fields in AdS$_3$. The solutions are obtained from branes in a four-dimensional AdS C-metric. They can be viewed as solutions of the semiclassical effective theory on the brane, which couples three-dimensional gravity to the CFT dual to the four-dimensional bulk. This brane construction is related by a double analytic continuation to earlier studies of quantum BTZ solutions. There are two families of solutions, labelled by the asymptotic mass. Solutions with negative mass correspond to the back-reaction of a thermal CFT state on global AdS$_3$. Solutions with positive mass have a horizon for zero back-reaction, which is replaced by a smooth origin in the back-reacted solution. We study the thermodynamics and first law on the brane, which we argue is realised in a two-brane setup where we include both the quantum BTZ brane and our quantum soliton brane.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Higher-dimensional BKL dynamics in AdS black holes

Chaotic BKL dynamics provides a canonical description of the approach to spacelike singularities as a sequence of Kasner epochs grouped into eras. While this paradigm is well established for cosmological singularities, explicit realizations inside black holes have been scarce, despite renewed interest from holography. Here, we construct a broad class of asymptotically AdS black holes in $D\ge 4$ whose interiors exhibit bona fide BKL dynamics as the singularity is approached. In the near-singularity regime, the evolution reduces to billiard-like motion in a compact domain that forms a regular $(D-2)$-simplex. We derive closed-form bouncing rules for the Kasner exponents in arbitrary dimension and prove the ensuing chaotic dynamics. A key novelty for $D\ge 5$ is a richer internal organization of eras: inequivalent transitions between epochs lead to distinct Kasner seasons, yielding new patterns of epoch/era structure for both electric and gravitational walls. Finally, we investigate a holographic diagnostic, the thermal $a$-function, whose monotonic flow captures individual epochs and eras and can display near-walking behavior in suitable Kasner regimes.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Cosmology inside a black hole: adding matter on the brane

Braneworlds inside an AdS black hole provide simple models where a closed cosmology can be encoded in a dual field theory. Previous studies have focused on pure-tension branes, where the only matter in the cosmology is that dual to the holographic bulk. We consider models with additional explicit matter fields on the brane. Both for perfect fluid matter and for an axion field on the brane, we show that this can avoid a self-intersection problem in the Euclidean construction of such geometries in higher dimensions.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

Kasner eons with matter: holographic excursions to the black hole singularity

Recent work has shown that introducing higher-curvature terms to the Einstein-Hilbert action causes the approach to a space-like singularity to unfold as a sequence of Kasner eons. Each eon is dominated by emergent physics at an energy scale controlled by higher-curvature terms of a given order, transitioning to higher-order eons as the singularity is approached. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we demonstrate that the inclusion of matter dramatically modifies the physics of eons compared to the vacuum case. We illustrate this by considering a family of quasi-topological gravities of arbitrary order minimally coupled to a scalar field. Second, we investigate Kasner eons in the interior of black holes with field theory duals and analyze their imprints on holographic observables. We show that the behavior of the thermal $a$-function, two-point functions of heavy operators, and holographic complexity can capture distinct signatures of the eons, making them promising tools for diagnosing stringy effects near black hole singularities.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

Diving inside holographic metals

We investigate the gravitational dual of a fermionic field theory at finite temperature and charge density in two spatial dimensions, subject to a deformation by a relevant scalar operator. This makes a $(3+1)$-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell system coupled to a free fermion fluid, known as an electron cloud, undergo a holographic renormalization group flow. The inner (Cauchy) horizon is destroyed and the near-singularity metric instead adopts the form of a positive-$p_t$ Kasner cosmology, signaling the collapse of the Einstein-Rosen bridge. Previous studies have suggested that this collapse hinders direct probing of the singularity. Nonetheless, we propose and compute several CFT observables that characterize the interior and near-singularity geometries. These include the thermal $a$-function, which decays with a specific power of $p_t$ as nearly all CFT degrees of freedom are integrated out, and two-point correlators for neutral and charged operators, with the latter directly probing the singularity despite the positive-$p_t$. We also calculate characteristic velocities related to entanglement and complexity growth in the time-evolved thermofield double state, as well as the butterfly effect indicative of operator spreading. Notably, the deformed electron cloud features a Lifshitz IR fixed point and an additional Kasner trans-IR fixed point, absent in neutral RG flows.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

Shock waves, black hole interiors and holographic RG flows

We study holographic renormalization group (RG) flows perturbed by a shock wave in dimensions $d\geq 2$. The flows are obtained by deforming a holographic conformal field theory with a relevant operator, altering the interior geometry from AdS-Schwarzschild to a more general Kasner universe near the spacelike singularity. We introduce null matter in the form of a shock wave into this geometry and scrutinize its impact on the near-horizon and interior dynamics of the black hole. Using out-of-time-order correlators, we find that the scrambling time increases as we increase the strength of the deformation, whereas the butterfly velocity displays a non-monotonic behavior. We examine other observables that are more sensitive to the black hole interior, such as the thermal $a$-function and the entanglement velocity. Notably, the $a$-function experiences a discontinuous jump across the shock wave, signaling an instantaneous loss of degrees of freedom due to the infalling matter. This jump is interpreted as a `cosmological time skip' which arises from an infinitely boosted length contraction. The entanglement velocity exhibits similar dependence to the butterfly velocity as we vary the strength of the deformation. Lastly, we extend our analyses to a model where the interior geometry undergoes an infinite sequence of bouncing Kasner epochs.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Entangled universes in dS wedge holography

We develop a new setting in the framework of braneworld holography to describe a pair of coupled and entangled uniformly accelerated universes. The model consists of two branes embedded into AdS space capping off the UV and IR regions, giving rise to a notion of dS wedge holography. Specializing in a three-dimensional bulk, we show that dS JT gravity can emerge as an effective braneworld theory, provided that fluctuations transverse to the brane are included. We study the holographic entanglement entropy between the branes as well as the holographic complexity within the `complexity=anything' proposal. We reproduce a Page curve with respect to an observer collecting radiation on the UV brane, as long as we take the limit where gravity decouples in that universe, thus acting as a non-gravitating bath. The Page curve emerges due to momentum-space (UV/IR) entanglement and can be understood as analogous to the `confinement-deconfinement' transition in theories with a mass gap. Moreover, the analysis of complexity shows that the hyperfast growth phenomenon is displayed within a set of proposals, while late-time linear growth can be recovered for a different set. Our framework thus provides new test grounds for understanding quantum information concepts in dS space and dS holography.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Holographic complexity of Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity from Karch-Randall braneworld

Recently, it has been argued in [1] that Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity can be naturally realized in the Karch-Randall braneworld in $(2+1)$ dimensions. Using the `complexity=volume' proposal, we studied this model and computed the holographic complexity of the JT gravity from the bulk perspective. We find that the complexity grows linearly with boundary time at late times, and the leading order contribution is proportional to the $φ_0$, similar to the answer found in [2]. However, in addition, we find subleading corrections to the complexity solely arising from the fluctuations of these Karch-Randall branes.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Reparametrization mode Ward Identities and chaos in higher-pt. correlators in CFT$_2$

Recently introduced reparametrization mode operators in CFTs have been shown to govern stress tensor interactions $via$ the shadow operator formalism and seem to govern the effective dynamics of chaotic systems. We initiate a study of Ward identities of reparametrization mode operators $i.e.$ how two dimensional CFT Ward identities govern the behaviour of insertions of reparametrization modes $ε$ in correlation functions: $\langleεεϕϕ\rangle$. We find that in the semi-classical limit of large $c$ they dictate the leading $\mathcal{O}(c^{-1})$ behaviour. While for the $4$pt function this reproduces the same computation as done by Heahl, Reeves \& Rozali in \cite{Haehl:2019eae}, in the case of 6pt function of pair-wise equal operators this provides an alternative way of computing the Virasoro block in stress-tensor comb channel. We compute a maximally out of time ordered correlation function in a thermal background and find the expected behaviour of an exponential growth governed by Lyapunov index $λ_L=2π/β$ lasting for twice the scrambling time of the system $t^*=\fracβ{2π}\log\,c$ for the maximally braided type of $out$-$of$-$time$-$ordering$. However when only the internal operators of the comb channel are \emph{out-of-time-ordered}, the correlator sees no exponential behaviour despite the inclusion of the Virasoro contribution. From a bulk perspective for the \emph{out-of-time-ordered} $4$pt function we find that the Casimir equation for the stress tensor block reproduces the linearised back reaction in the bulk.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

Trans-IR Flows to Black Hole Singularities

We study analytic continuations of holographic renormalization group (RG) flows beyond their infrared (IR) fixed points. Such "trans-IR" flows are a natural framework for describing physics inside of black holes. First, we construct a monotonic holographic $a$-function which counts degrees of freedom along a trans-IR flow. Using this function, we argue that the degrees of freedom "thin out" and vanish when flowing to a trans-IR endpoint, represented by a Kasner singularity. We then recast well-studied quantum information probes in the language of trans-IR flows, finding that entanglement and complexity from volume generally fail to fully probe the trans-IR while 2-point correlations and complexity from action generally do so in a complementary manner.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

Page Curves and Bath Deformations

We study the black hole information problem within a semiclassically gravitating AdS$_d$ black hole coupled to and in equilibrium with a $d$-dimensional thermal conformal bath. We deform the bath state by a relevant scalar deformation, triggering a holographic RG flow whose "trans-IR" region deforms from a Schwarzschild geometry to a Kasner universe. The setup manifests two independent scales which control both the extent of coarse-graining and the entanglement dynamics when counting Hawking degrees of freedom in the bath. In tuning either, we find nontrivial changes to the Page time and Page curve. We consequently view the Page curve as a probe of the holographic RG flow, with a higher Page time manifesting as a result of increased coarse-graining of the bath degrees of freedom.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Bath deformations, islands and holographic complexity

Considering a doubly holographic model, we study the evolution of holographic subregion complexity corresponding to deformations of bath state by a relevant scalar operator, which corresponds to a renormalization group flow from the AdS-Schwarzschild to the Kasner universe in the bulk. The subregion complexity shows a discontinuous jump at Page time at a fixed perturbation, where the discontinuity depends solely on the system's parameters. We show that the amount of discontinuity decreases with the perturbation as well as with the scaling dimension of the relevant scalar operator.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Partial islands and subregion complexity in geometric secret-sharing model

We compute the holographic subregion complexity of a radiation subsystem in a geometric secret-sharing model of Hawking radiation in the "complexity = volume" proposal. The model is constructed using multiboundary wormhole geometries in AdS$_{3}$. The entanglement curve for secret-sharing captures a crossover between two minimal curves in the geometry apart from the usual eternal Page curve present for the complete radiation entanglement. We compute the complexity dual to the secret-sharing minimal surfaces and study their "time" evolution. When we have access to a small part of the radiation, the complexity shows a jump at the secret-sharing time larger than the Page time. Moreover, the minimal surfaces do not have access to the entire island region for this particular case. They can only access it partially. We describe this inaccessibility in the context of "classical" Markov recovery.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Warped Information and Entanglement Islands in AdS/WCFT

We use the notion of double holography to study Hawking radiation emitted by the eternal BTZ black hole in equilibrium with a thermal bath, but in the form of warped CFT$_2$ degrees of freedom. In agreement with the literature, we find entanglement islands and a phase transition in the entanglement surface, but our results differ significantly from work in AdS/CFT in three major ways: (1) the late-time entropy decreases in time, (2) island degrees of freedom exist at all times, and not just at late times, with the phase transition changing whether or not these degrees of freedom include the black hole interior, and (3) the physics involves a field-theoretic IR divergence, emerging when the boundary interval is too big relative to the black hole's inverse temperature. This behavior in the entropy appears to be consistent with the non-unitarity of holographic warped CFT$_2$ and demonstrates that the islands are not a phenomenon restricted to black hole information in unitary setups.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Islands and complexity of eternal black hole and radiation subsystems for a doubly holographic model

We study the entanglement islands and subsystem volume complexity corresponding to the left/ right entanglement of a conformal defect in $d$-dimensions in Randall-Sundrum (RS) braneworld model with subcritical tension brane. The left and right modes of the defect mimic the eternal black hole and radiation system respectively. Hence the entanglement entropy between the two follows an eternal black hole Page curve which is unitarity compatible. We compute the volumes corresponding to the left and right branes with preferred Ryu-Takanayagi (RT) surfaces at different times, which provide a probe of the subregion complexity of the black hole and the radiation states respectively. An interesting jump in volume is found at Page time, where the entanglement curve is saturated due to the inclusion of the island surfaces. We explain various possibilities of this phase transition in complexity at Page time and argue how these results match with a covariant proposal qualitatively.

hep-th↗

arXiv2020

A Killing Vector Treatment of Multiboundary Wormholes

The two-sided BTZ black hole has been instrumental in elucidating several aspects of AdS/CFT. Similarly, multiboundary wormholes provide a useful and rich arena in which probing questions of quantum gravity can be posed and explored. In this work, we find the explicit forms of the Killing vectors needed to construct three-boundary wormholes, with and without rotation, as quotients of AdS$_3$. We ensure that our method captures the full moduli space of such wormholes and elaborate on the generalization of our procedure to more exotic multiboundary spaces, including higher genus.

hep-th↗