arXiv subjects

Paolo Arnaudo

Publications and source records attributed to Paolo Arnaudo.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

On quivers, spectral networks and black holes

It was recently found that connection coefficients of the Heun equation can be derived in closed form using crossing symmetry in two-dimensional Liouville theory via the Nekrasov-Shatashvili functions. In this work, we systematize this approach to second-order linear ODEs of Fuchsian type, which arise in the description of $\mathcal{N}=2$, four-dimensional quiver gauge theories. After presenting the general procedure, we focus on the specific case of Fuchsian equations with five regular singularities and present some applications to black hole perturbation theory. First, we consider a massive scalar perturbation of the Schwarzschild black hole in AdS$_7$. Next, we analyze vector type perturbations of the Reissner-Nordström-AdS$_5$ black hole. We also discuss the implications of our results in the context of the AdS/CFT correspondence and present explicit results in the large spin limit, where we make connection with the light-cone bootstrap. Furthermore, using the spectral network technology, we identify the region of the moduli space in Seiberg-Witten theory that is relevant for the study of black hole quasinormal modes. Our results suggest that, in some cases, this region corresponds to the strong-coupling regime, highlighting the potential applicability of the conformal GMN TBA framework to address scenarios where the gravitational dictionary implies that the instanton counting parameters are not parametrically small.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

OPE = QNM

At microscopic scales the linear response of thermal states of large-$N$ CFTs is governed by a thermal operator product expansion (OPE), while at large scales response is governed by collective excitations known as quasinormal modes (QNM). We show that the OPE and QNM representations of the retarded correlator in mixed time and spatial momentum coordinates have an overlapping region of convergence in the complex time plane, giving a map between OPE and QNM data. We show that large-overtone QNM asymptotics are related to OPE singularities, while low-overtone QNM data appear in analytic continuation from short to large times. Using this approach we obtain new analytic results for QNM asymptotics, and numerically obtain low-overtone QNMs from OPE data for the Schwarzschild-AdS$_5$ black brane. We further show that the OPE spectrum is intimately related to QNM data through a set of sum rules which we derive in Mellin space. Finally, using the lightcone OPE, we argue that stress tensor correlators at large spatial momentum thermalise slower as the conformal collider bounds approach saturation. This work points to a new thermal bootstrap programme where OPE and QNM data constrain each other.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Analytic approaches to perturbations of strongly coupled Yang-Mills plasma

We study perturbations of Yang-Mills plasma, represented by scalar quasinormal modes of AdS black branes, as functions of the wave number $q$ in the entire range from zero to infinity. At finite $q$, these modes can be computed by classical spectral methods based on truncating the boundary value problem. We show that this truncation admits a natural analytic interpretation in terms of quantum Seiberg--Witten periods in the Nekrasov--Shatashvili limit, with the spectral condition organised as an instanton expansion around small values of the counting parameter. The physical black-brane problem corresponds to evaluating this series at a finite value of the counting parameter, and the Seiberg--Witten formulation provides a systematic way to analyse when the truncation is under control. In particular, it reveals that, as $q$ or the mode number $N$ increases, the physical point approaches the boundary of the domain of convergence of the instanton expansion, limiting the validity of the truncation approach. We overcome this limitation through an exact WKB analysis in which $q^{-1}$ acts as the expansion parameter. The resulting exact quantisation conditions, expressed in terms of period integrals and the associated Stokes geometry, incorporate both perturbative and non-perturbative corrections. The resummed quasinormal modes remain accurate far beyond the strict large-$q$ regime and can be analytically continued all the way to $q=0$, notably by using the Seiberg--Witten approach, providing a consistent description of the QNM spectrum.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Bouncing singularities in Schwarzschild: a geometric origin of the QNM convergence region

We show analytically that the convergence of the QNM expansion of the retarded Green's function of the Schwarzschild spacetime is set by a singularity in the complex time plane. The singularity has a simple geometric origin: it is an example of a `bouncing singularity' in the language of AdS/CFT literature, caused by a null geodesic which bounces from the black hole singularity. Our work explains why the QNM convergence region at real times is bounded by null ray which scatters from the gravitational potential at a seemingly unremarkable point ($r_* = 0$ in the conventions of previous work) -- this ray is the same distance from the origin as the bouncing singularity in the relevant complex plane. The same set of singularities are responsible for an annular region of convergence for the Matsubara mode sum which describes the early time behaviour of the Schwarzschild Green's function for perturbations close to the horizon.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2026

Shear mode transport coefficients from multiple polylogarithms

We present an analytical study of the transport coefficients associated with the shear sector of gravitational perturbations around asymptotically anti-de Sitter black branes. In the long-wavelength, low-frequency limit, the wave solutions admit a structure that is fully described in terms of multiple polylogarithms in several variables. We focus primarily on computing the transport coefficients for $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM, by performing a bulk computation in the five-dimensional black hole background up to order $\mathfrak{q}^{10}$, which extends the results previously available in the literature. We then generalise the procedure to $d+1$ dimensions, characterising the mathematical structure of the resulting transport coefficient expressions.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Analytic structure of holographic thermal correlators from Fourier series

We compute the holographic Euclidean two-point function of scalar operators in a thermal state. We work directly using the Fourier series on the thermal circle. The Fourier series does not converge as a function, but instead converges as a distribution, consistent with QFT expectations. The result is manifestly periodic and consistent with analyticity in the strip $0<\mathfrak{Re}(τ)<β$. Expanding in $τ$ we obtain all OPE coefficients, including the double-trace sector. Thus our approach has an advantage compared to recent work where double-traces were bootstrapped from stress-tensor data. Bouncing singularities appear as non-perturbative sectors in the transseries for Fourier coefficients, but their transseries parameters are all zero in the case of the Euclidean correlator.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Price's law from quasinormal modes

We show that Price's power-law tail for perturbations of Schwarzschild, $t^{-2\ell-3}$ as $t\to \infty$, can be obtained from a sum of Schwarzschild-de Sitter quasinormal modes in the limit $Λ\to 0^+$.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2025

Beyond quasinormal modes: a complete mode decomposition of black hole perturbations

We show that retarded Green's functions of black hole spacetimes can be expressed as a convergent mode sum everywhere in spacetime. At late times a quasinormal mode sum converges, while at early times a Matsubara (or, Euclidean) mode sum converges. The two regions are separated by a lightcone which scatters from the black hole potential. The Matsubara sum is a Fourier series on the Euclidean thermal circle associated to the early time region. We illustrate our results for Pöschl-Teller, BTZ, and Schwarzschild. In the case of Schwarzschild, we express the branch cut contribution as a convergent sum of de Sitter quasinormal modes as $Λ\to 0^+$, and exploit recent exact solutions to the Heun connection problem. In each case we analytically show convergence by studying the asymptotics of residue sums and also provide numerical demonstrations.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2025

QNM orthogonality relations for AdS black holes

We present orthogonality relations for quasinormal modes of a wide class of asymptotically AdS black holes. The definition is obtained from a standard product, modified by a CPT operator and placed on a complex radial contour which avoids branch points of the modes. They are inspired by existing constructions for de Sitter and Kerr spacetimes. The CPT operator is needed to map right eigenfunctions of the Hamiltonian into left eigenfunctions. The radial contour connects two copies of the dual QFT on a thermal Schwinger-Keldysh contour, making contact with real-time holography and the double cone wormhole.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

One loop corrections to the thermodynamics of near-extremal Kerr-(A)dS black holes from Heun equation

We compute one-loop corrections to the euclidean gravitational path integral of near-extremal (anti-)de Sitter-Kerr black hole in terms of the connection coefficients of the Heun equation describing the black hole linear perturbations in the Teukolsky formalism. We show that different near-extremal limits lead to distinct physical properties of the gravitational configuration, as they get described by distinct limiting differential equations. As a result, the light modes emerging in the limit determine different scaling properties in the temperature of the one-loop determinants. We show that the cold case displays distinctive universal log(T) corrections to the entropy of the system, including the ultracold regime. On the contrary, these do not appear in the limit in which the event horizon superimposes onto the cosmological one. In the Schwarzschild-de Sitter case, a further check is performed by comparison with the Denef-Hartnoll-Sachdev formula.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

One loop effective actions in Kerr-(A)dS Black Holes

We compute new exact analytic expressions for one-loop scalar effective actions in Kerr (A)dS black hole (BH) backgrounds in four and five dimensions. These are computed by the connection coefficients of the Heun equation via a generalization of the Gelfand-Yaglom formalism to second-order linear ODEs with regular singularities. The expressions we find are in terms of Nekrasov-Shatashvili special functions, making explicit the analytic properties of the one-loop effective actions with respect to the gravitational parameters and the precise contributions of the quasi-normal modes. The latter arise via an associated integrable system. In particular, we prove asymptotic formulae for large angular momenta in terms of hypergeometric functions and give a precise mathematical meaning to Rindler-like region contributions. Moreover we identify the leading terms in the large distance expansion as the point particle approximation of the BH and their finite size corrections as encoding the BH tidal response. We also discuss the exact properties of the thermal version of the BH effective actions by providing a proof of the DHS formula and explicitly computing it for new relevant cases. Although we focus on the real scalar field in dS-Kerr and (A)dS-Schwarzschild in four and five dimensions, similar formulae can be given for higher spin matter and radiation fields in more general gravitational backgrounds.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

One-loop corrections to near extremal Kerr thermodynamics from semiclassical Virasoro blocks

We propose a method to perform an exact calculation of one-loop quantum corrections to black hole entropy in terms of Virasoro semiclassical blocks. We analyse in detail four-dimensional Kerr black hole and show that in the near-extremal limit a branch of long-lived modes arises. We prove that the contribution of these modes accounts for a $(s-1/2)\log T_{\text{Hawking}}$ correction to the entropy for massless particles of spin $s=1,2$. We show that in the full calculation performed in the exact Kerr background the leading contribution actually is sourced by the near-horizon region only, and as such has a universal validity for any asymptotic behavior at infinity.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

Exact low-temperature Green's functions in AdS/CFT: From Heun to confluent Heun

We obtain exact expressions for correlation functions of charged scalar operators at finite density and low temperature in CFT$_4$ dual to the RN-AdS$_5$ black brane. We use recent developments in the Heun connection problem in black hole perturbation theory arising from Liouville CFT and the AGT correspondence. The connection problem is solved perturbatively in an instanton counting parameter, which is controlled in a double-scaling limit where $ω, T \to 0$ holding $ω/T$ fixed. This provides analytic control over the emergence of the zero temperature branch cut as a confluent limit of the Heun equation. From the Green's function we extract analytic results for the critical temperature of the holographic superconductor, as well as dispersion relations for both gapped and gapless low temperature quasinormal modes. We demonstrate precise agreement with numerics.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

Black hole scattering amplitudes via analytic small-frequency expansion and monodromy

We utilize three complementary approaches to pinpoint the exact form of scattering amplitudes in Schwarzschild spacetime. First, we solve the Regge-Wheeler equation perturbatively in the small-frequency regime. We use the obtained solutions to determine the monodromy in the near-spatial infinity region, which leads to a specific partial differential equation on the elements of the scattering matrix. As a result, it can be written in terms of the elements of the infinitesimal generator of the monodromy transformation and an integration constant. This constant is further related to the Nekrasov-Shatashvili free energy through the resummation of infinitely many instantons. The quasinormal mode frequencies are also studied in the small-frequency approximation.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

Basics of Multiple Polyexponential Integrals

We introduce a set of special functions called multiple polyexponential integrals, defined as iterated integrals of the exponential integral $\text{Ei}(z)$. These functions arise in certain perturbative expansions of the local solutions of second-order ODEs around an irregular singularity. In particular, their recursive definition describes the asymptotic behavior of these local solutions. To complement the study of the multiple polyexponential integrals on the entire complex plane, we relate them with two other sets of special functions - the undressed and dressed multiple polyexponential functions - which are characterized by their Taylor series expansions around the origin.

math.CA↗

arXiv2023

On the convergence of Nekrasov functions

In this note we present some results on the convergence of Nekrasov partition functions as power series in the instanton counting parameter. We focus on $U(N)$ ${\mathcal N}=2$ gauge theories in four dimensions with matter in the adjoint and in the fundamental representations of the gauge group respectively and find rigorous lower bounds for the convergence radius in the two cases: if the theory is {\it conformal}, then the series has at least a {\it finite} radius of convergence, while if it is {\it asymptotically free} it has {\it infinite} radius of convergence. Via AGT correspondence, this implies that the related irregular conformal blocks of $W_N$ algebrae admit a power expansion in the modulus converging in the whole plane. By specifying to the $SU(2)$ case, we apply our results to analyse the convergence properties of the corresponding Painlevé $τ$-functions.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Black hole perturbation theory and multiple polylogarithms

We study black hole linear perturbation theory in a four-dimensional Schwarzschild (anti) de Sitter background. When dealing with a positive cosmological constant, the corresponding spectral problem is solved systematically via the Nekrasov-Shatashvili functions or, equivalently, classical Virasoro conformal blocks. However, this approach can be more complicated to implement for certain perturbations if the cosmological constant is negative. For these cases, we propose an alternative method to set up perturbation theory for both small and large black holes in an analytical manner. Our analysis reveals a new underlying recursive structure that involves multiple polylogarithms. We focus on gravitational, electromagnetic, and conformally coupled scalar perturbations subject to Dirichlet and Robin boundary conditions. The low-lying modes of the scalar sector of gravitational perturbations and its hydrodynamic limit are studied in detail.

hep-th↗