arXiv subjects

Gary T. Horowitz

Publications and source records attributed to Gary T. Horowitz.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Boundary Causality Violating Metrics in Holography

Even for holographic theories that obey boundary causality, the full bulk Lorentzian path integral includes metrics that violate this condition. This leads to the following puzzle: The commutator of two field theory operators at spacelike-separated points on the boundary must vanish. However, if these points are causally related in a bulk metric, then the bulk calculation of the commutator will be nonzero. It would appear that the integral over all metrics of this commutator must vanish exactly for holography to hold. This is puzzling since it must also be true if the commutator is multiplied by any other operator. Upon a careful treatment of boundary conditions in holography, we show how the bulk path integral leads to a natural resolution of this puzzle.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Diving into a holographic superconductor

Charged black holes in anti-de Sitter space become unstable to forming charged scalar hair at low temperatures $T < T_\text{c}$. This phenomenon is a holographic realization of superconductivity. We look inside the horizon of these holographic superconductors and find intricate dynamical behavior. The spacetime ends at a spacelike Kasner singularity, and there is no Cauchy horizon. Before reaching the singularity, there are several intermediate regimes which we study both analytically and numerically. These include strong Josephson oscillations in the condensate and possible 'Kasner inversions' in which after many e-folds of expansion, the Einstein-Rosen bridge contracts towards the singularity. Due to the Josephson oscillations, the number of Kasner inversions depends very sensitively on $T$, and diverges at a discrete set of temperatures $\{T_n\}$ that accumulate at $T_c$. Near these $T_n$, the final Kasner exponent exhibits fractal-like behavior.

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arXiv2020

Gravitational duals to the grand canonical ensemble abhor Cauchy horizons

The gravitational dual to the grand canonical ensemble of a large $N$ holographic theory is a charged black hole. These spacetimes -- for example Reissner-Nordström-AdS -- can have Cauchy horizons that render the classical gravitational dynamics of the black hole interior incomplete. We show that a (spatially uniform) deformation of the CFT by a neutral scalar operator generically leads to a black hole with no inner horizon. There is instead a spacelike Kasner singularity in the interior. For relevant deformations, Cauchy horizons never form. For certain irrelevant deformations, Cauchy horizons can exist at one specific temperature. We show that the scalar field triggers a rapid collapse of the Einstein-Rosen bridge at the would-be Cauchy horizon. Finally, we make some observations on the interior of charged dilatonic black holes where the Kasner exponent at the singularity exhibits an attractor mechanism in the low temperature limit.

hep-th↗

arXiv2020

Bulk reconstruction of metrics with a compact space asymptotically

Holographic duality implies that the geometric properties of the gravitational bulk theory should be encoded in the dual field theory. These naturally include the metric on dimensions that become compact near the conformal boundary, as is the case for any asymptotically locally $\text{AdS}_n\times\mathbb{S}^k$ spacetime. Almost all previous work on metric reconstruction ignores these dimensions and would thus at most apply to dimensionally-reduced metrics. In this work, we generalize the approach to bulk reconstruction using light-cone cuts and propose a prescription to obtain the full higher-dimensional metric of generic spacetimes up to an overall conformal factor. We first extend the definition of light-cone cuts to include information about the asymptotic compact dimensions, and show that the full conformal metric can be recovered from these extended cuts. We then give a prescription for obtaining these extended cuts from the dual field theory. The location of the usual cuts can still be obtained from bulk-point singularities of correlators, and the new information in the extended cut can be extracted by using appropriate combinations of operators dual to Kaluza-Klein modes of the higher-dimensional bulk fields.

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arXiv2020

Consequences of Analytic Boundary Conditions in AdS

We investigate the effects of an analytic boundary metric for smooth asymptotically anti-de Sitter gravitational solutions. The boundary dynamics is then completely determined by the initial data due to corner conditions that all smooth solutions must obey. We perturb a number of familiar static solutions and explore the boundary dynamics that results. We find evidence for a nonlinear asymptotic instability of the planar black hole in four and six dimensions. In four dimensions we find indications of at least exponential growth, while in six dimensions, it appears that a singularity may form in finite time on the boundary. This instability extends to pure AdS (at least in the Poincare patch). For the class of perturbations we consider, there is no sign of this instability in five dimensions.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2019

Gravitational Corner Conditions in Holography

Contrary to popular belief, asymptotically anti-de Sitter solutions of gravitational theories cannot be obtained by taking initial data (satisfying the constraints) on a spacelike surface, and choosing an arbitrary conformal metric on the timelike boundary at infinity. There are an infinite number of corner conditions that also must be satisfied where the initial data surface hits the boundary. These are well known to mathematical relativists, but to make them more widely known we give a simple explanation of why these conditions exist and discuss some of their consequences. An example is given which illustrates their power. Some implications for holography are also mentioned.

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arXiv2019

Testing the Weak Gravity -- Cosmic Censorship Connection

A surprising connection between the weak gravity conjecture and cosmic censorship has recently been proposed. In particular, it was argued that a promising class of counterexamples to cosmic censorship in four-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell-$Λ$ theory would be removed if charged particles (with sufficient charge) were present. We test this idea and find that indeed if the weak gravity conjecture is true, one cannot violate cosmic censorship this way. Remarkably, the minimum value of charge required to preserve cosmic censorship appears to agree precisely with that proposed by the weak gravity conjecture.

hep-th↗

arXiv2019

Further evidence for the weak gravity -- cosmic censorship connection

We have recently shown that a class of counterexamples to (weak) cosmic censorship in anti-de Sitter spacetime is removed if the weak gravity conjecture holds. Surprisingly, the minimum value of the charge to mass ratio necessary to preserve cosmic censorship is precisely the weak gravity bound. To further explore this mysterious connection, we investigate two generalizations: adding a dilaton or an additional Maxwell field. Analogous counterexamples to cosmic censorship are found in these theories if there is no charged matter. Even though the weak gravity bound is modified, we show that in each case it is sufficient to remove these counterexamples. In most cases it is also necessary.

hep-th↗

arXiv2019

Creating a Traversable Wormhole

We argue that one can nucleate a traversable wormhole via a nonperturbative process in quantum gravity. To support this, we construct spacetimes in which there are instantons giving a finite probability for a test cosmic string to break and produce two particles on its ends. One should be able to replace the particles with small black holes with only small changes to the spacetime away from the horizons. The black holes are then created with their horizons identified, so this is an example of nucleating a wormhole. Unlike previous examples where the created black holes accelerate apart, in our case they remain essentially at rest. This is important since wormholes become harder and harder to make traversable as their mouths become widely separated, and since traversability can be destroyed by Unruh radiation. In our case, back-reaction from quantum fields can make the wormhole traversable.

hep-th↗

arXiv2019

A Holographic Argument for the Penrose Inequality in AdS

We give a holographic argument in favor of the AdS Penrose inequality, which conjectures a lower bound on the total mass in terms of the area of apparent horizons. This inequality is often viewed as a test of cosmic censorship. We further find a connection between the area law for apparent horizons and the Penrose inequality. Finally, we show that the argument also applies to solutions with charge, resulting in a charged Penrose inequality in AdS.

hep-th↗

arXiv2018

Attempts at vacuum counterexamples to cosmic censorship in AdS

We consider vacuum solutions of four dimensional general relativity with $Λ< 0$. We numerically construct stationary solutions that asymptotically approach a boundary metric with differential rotation. Smooth solutions only exist up to a critical rotation. We thus argue that increasing the differential rotation by a finite amount will cause the curvature to grow without bound. This holds for both zero and nonzero temperature, and both compact and noncompact boundaries. However, the boundary metric always develops an ergoregion before reaching the critical rotation, which probably means that the energy is unbounded from below for these counterexamples to cosmic censorship.

hep-th↗

arXiv2018

Deforming black holes in AdS

We investigate how changes in the boundary metric affect the shape of AdS black holes. Most of our work is analytic and based on the AdS C-metric. Both asymptotically hyperbolic and compact black holes are studied. It has recently been shown that the AdS C-metric contains configurations of highly deformed black holes, and we show that these deformations are usually the result of similar deformations of the boundary metric. However, quite surprisingly, we also find cases where the horizon is insensitive to certain large changes in the boundary geometry. This motivates the search for a new family of black hole solutions with the same boundary geometry in which the horizon does respond to the changes in the boundary. We numerically construct these solutions and we (numerically) explore how the horizon response to boundary deformations depends on temperature.

hep-th↗

arXiv2017

Detachable circles and temperature-inversion dualities for CFT$_d$

We use a Weyl transformation between $S^1 \times S^{d-1}$ and $S^1 \times \mathcal{H}^{d-1}/\mathbb{Z}$ to relate a conformal field theory at arbitrary temperature on $S^{d-1}$ to itself at the inverse temperature on $\mathcal{H}^{d-1}/\mathbb{Z}$. We use this equivalence to deduce a confining phase transition at finite temperature for large-$N$ gauge theories on hyperbolic space. In the context of gauge/gravity duality, this equivalence provides new examples of smooth bulk solutions which asymptote to conically singular geometries at the AdS boundary. We also discuss implications for the Eguchi-Kawai mechanism and a high-temperature/low-temperature duality on $S^{d-1}$.

hep-th↗

arXiv2017

Comments on Black Holes in Bubbling Spacetimes

In five-dimensional minimal supergravity, there are spherical black holes with nontrivial topology outside the horizon which have the same conserved charges at infinity as the BMPV solution. We show that some of these black holes have greater entropy than the BMPV solution. These spacetimes are all asymptotically flat, stationary, and supersymmetric. We also show that there is a limit in which the black hole shrinks to zero size and the solution becomes a nonsingular "bubbling" geometry. Thus, these solutions provide explicit analytic examples of placing black holes inside solitons.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

Recovering the spacetime metric from a holographic dual

We review our recent proposal to use certain spatial cross-sections of the boundary at infinity -- light-cone cuts -- to recover the conformal metric in the bulk. We discuss some extensions of this work, including how to obtain the conformal metric near the horizon of a collapsing black hole. We also show how to obtain the conformal factor under certain conditions.

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arXiv2016

Towards a Reconstruction of General Bulk Metrics

We prove that the metric of a general holographic spacetime can be reconstructed (up to an overall conformal factor) from distinguished spatial slices - "light-cone cuts" - of the conformal boundary. Our prescription is covariant and applies to bulk points in causal contact with the boundary. Furthermore, we describe a procedure for determining the light-cone cuts corresponding to bulk points in the causal wedge of the boundary in terms of the divergences of correlators in the dual field theory. Possible extensions for determining the conformal factor and including the cuts of points outside of the causal wedge are discussed. We also comment on implications for subregion/subregion duality.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

New Insights into Quantum Gravity from Gauge/gravity Duality

Using gauge/gravity duality, we deduce several nontrivial consequences of quantum gravity from simple properties of the dual field theory. These include: (1) a version of cosmic censorship, (2) restrictions on evolution through black hole singularities, and (3) the exclusion of certain cosmological bounces. In the classical limit, the latter implies a new singularity theorem.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

Evidence for an Electrifying Violation of Cosmic Censorship

We present a plausible counterexample to cosmic censorship in four dimensional Einstein-Maxwell theory with asymptotically anti-de Sitter boundary conditions. Smooth initial data evolves to a region of arbitrarily large curvature that is visible to distant observers. Our example is based on a holographic model of an electrically charged, localised defect which was previously studied at zero temperature. We partially extend those results to nonzero temperatures.

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