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Spenta R. Wadia

Publications and source records attributed to Spenta R. Wadia.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2025

Quantum Scalar Field Dynamics On A Maximally Sliced Two-sided AdS Black Hole Spacetime

We study the semi-classical dynamics of a scalar field in the background of a black hole in an asymptotically AdS (AAdS) spacetime, in the framework of the Hamiltonian formulation of General Relativity. The small diffeomorphism (gauge) symmetries generated by the Hamiltonian and momentum constraints are completely fixed by the maximal slicing and spatial harmonic/Dirac gauge conditions after which the residual phase space degrees of freedom are gauge invariant. While many of our results are valid for AAdS$_{d+1}$ spacetimes, we mainly discuss the $d=2$ case of the static BTZ solution. We present the explicit solution for the smooth maximal slicing of the fully extended BTZ solution where the spatial slices cut across the horizons, asymptote to the usual Schwarzschild slices, do not include the past and future singularities, and for which the lapse remains non-zero at the bifurcate point. We also derive unique large diffeomorphisms that asymptote to time translations on both boundaries in the maximal slicing gauge. We present the solution of the scalar field wave equation in this gauge in terms of its boundary values which correspond to boundary CFT operators by the AdS/CFT dictionary. We explicitly construct the finite, time-dependent Hamiltonian in terms of a discrete set of mode functions of the scalar field that are smooth and differentiable across the horizons of the fully extended BTZ black hole. These modes mix the boundary operators from the two sides and are appropriate linear combinations of the Hartle-Hawking-Unruh modes. This Hamiltonian is an operator in the product of the two CFTs associated to the two boundaries and describes the time evolution of CFT operators. Our results are valid for evolution times smaller than the scrambling time during which the fully extended BTZ solution continues to be a valid saddle point of the quantum gravity path integral.

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arXiv2025

A gauge invariant Hamiltonian evolution across the black hole horizon in asymptotically AdS spacetimes

We study the quantum dynamics of a probe scalar field in the background of a black hole in AAdS spacetime in the Hamiltonian formulation of general relativity in the maximal slicing gauge. The black hole solution in this gauge is expressed in terms of wormhole coordinates, a smooth coordinate system with constant time slices that cut across the horizon, and asymptote to the Killing time slices at the boundaries. The quantum scalar field is expanded in terms of normalized solutions of the Klein-Gordon equation, that are valid at all points in spacetime. The operators that appear in the expansion are in the product space of the CFTs on the two spacetime boundaries, which are by definition gauge invariant under small bulk diffeomorphisms. The entangled Hartle-Hawking (HH) state arises naturally from this construction. One of our main results is a well defined formula for the time dependent Hermitian Hamiltonian of the probe scalar in the product space of the two CFTs, which describes the time development of operators/states along the maximal slices. This Hamiltonian acting on the HH state creates a state of finite norm. Consequently there is a unitary description of horizon crossing scalar field excitations on top of the HH state. We also present a bulk reconstruction formula that evaluates an order parameter that signals horizon crossing in the boundary theory. We calculate various bulk Wightman two-point functions on the two-sided BTZ black hole. We recover Hawking's thermodynamic results in the exterior region when expressed in terms of BTZ coordinates that are related to the wormhole coordinates by a singular transformation. We compute the two-point function with one insertion in the future/past interior and the other in the exterior. Both are related by a time reflection symmetry and asymptote to a non-zero constant as the coordinate time between the two points becomes large.

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arXiv2025

2+1 dimensional gravity in AAdS spacetimes with spatial wormhole slices: Reduced phase space dynamics and the BTZ black hole

We solve Einstein's equations with negative cosmological constant in $2+1$ dimensions in the Hamiltonian formulation. The spacetime has the topology of $Σ\times \mathbf{R}$ where $\mathbf{R}$ corresponds to the time direction and $Σ$ is a cylinder $\mathbf{R} \times \mathbf{S}^1$ and the spacetime metric satisfies asymptotically AdS (AAdS) boundary conditions. We address the question of gauge invariance by fixing the maximal slicing and spatial harmonic gauge conditions and demonstrate that there are no residual small diffeomorphisms in this gauge. We explicitly solve the Hamiltonian and momentum constraints, and the gauge conditions to obtain a two dimensional reduced phase space. For simplicity, and with the BTZ black hole in mind, we restrict the solution of the momentum constraints to be independent of $\mathbf{S}^1$. In AAdS spacetimes besides the standard Wheeler-deWitt equations there is a Schroedinger equation corresponding to the boundary ADM Hamiltonian. We express this Hamiltonian in terms of the reduced phase space variables and discuss its classical solutions and quantization. We exhibit the wave functions and a continuous positive energy spectrum. Each energy eigenvalue $E$ corresponds to a BTZ black hole of mass $M=E/2$. This identification is based on the fact that the classical solution of the reduced phase space dynamics gives rise to a spacetime that is related to the two-sided BTZ black hole by a diffeomorphism.

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arXiv2024

Emergent Time in Hamiltonian General Relativity

In this paper we introduce a definition of time that emerges in terms of the geometry of the configuration space of a dynamical system. We illustrate this, using the Hamilton-Jacobi equation, in various examples: particle mechanics on a fixed energy surface; non-Abelian gauge theories for compact semi-simple Lie groups where the Gauss law presents new features; and General Relativity in $d+1$ dimensions with $d$ the dimension of space. The discussion in General Relativity is like the non-abelian gauge theory case except for the indefiniteness of the de Witt metric in the Einstein-Hamilton-Jacobi equation, which we discuss in some detail. We illustrate the general formula for the emergent time in various examples including de Sitter spacetime and asymptotically AdS spacetimes.

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arXiv2023

Meson spectrum of $\text{SU}(2)$ QCD$_{1+1}$ with Quarks in Large Representations

We consider $\text{SU}(2)$ quantum chromodynamics in $1+1$ dimensions with a single quark in the spin $J$ representation of the gauge group and study the theory in the large $J$ limit where the gauge coupling $g^2 \to 0$ and $J \to \infty$ with $λ= g^2 J^2$ fixed. We work with a Dirac spinor field for arbitrary $J$, and with a Majorana spinor for integer $J$ since the integer spin representations of $\text{SU}(2)$ are real, and analyse the two cases separately. The theory is reformulated in terms of global color non-singlet fermion bilocal operators which satisfy a $W_\infty \times \text{U}(2J+1)$ algebra. In the large $J$ limit, the dynamics of the bilocal fields is captured by fluctuations along a particular coadjoint orbit of the $W_\infty$ algebra. We show that the global colour-singlet sector of the bilocal field fluctuations satisfy the same integral equation for meson wavefunctions that appears in the 't Hooft model. For Majorana spinors in the integer spin $J$ representation, the Majorana condition projects out half of the meson spectrum, as a result of which the linear spacing of the asymptotic meson spectrum for Majorana fermions is double that of Dirac fermions. The Majorana condition also projects out the zero mass bound state that is present for the Dirac quark at zero quark mass. We also consider the formulation of the model in terms of local charge densities and compute the quark spectral function in the large $J$ limit: we see evidence for the absence of a pole in the quark propagator.

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arXiv2023

A Microscopic Model of Black Hole Evaporation in Two Dimensions

We present a microscopic model of black hole (BH) `evaporation' in asymptotically $AdS_2$ spacetimes dual to the low energy sector of the SYK model. To describe evaporation, the SYK model is coupled to a bath comprising of $N_f$ free scalar fields $Φ_i$. We consider a linear combination of couplings of the form $O_{SYK}(t)\sum_iΦ_i(0,t)$, where $O_{SYK}$ involves products of the Kourkoulou-Maldacena operator $i J/N\sum_{k=1}^{N/2}s'_kψ_{2k-1}(t)ψ_{2k}(t)$ specified by a spin vector $s'$. We discuss the time evolution of a product of (i) a pure state of the SYK system, namely a BH microstate characterized by a spin vector $s$ and an effective BH temperature $T_{BH}$, and (ii) a Calabrese-Cardy state of the bath characterized by an effective temperature $T_{bath}$. We take $T_{bath}\ll T_{BH}$, and $T_{BH}$ much lower than the characteristic UV scale $J$ of the SYK model, allowing a description in terms of the time reparameterization mode. Tracing over the bath degrees of freedom leads to a Feynman-Vernon type effective action for the SYK model, which we study in the low energy limit. The leading large $N$ behaviour of the time reparameterization mode is found, as well as the $O(1/\sqrt N)$ fluctuations. The latter are characterized by a non-Markovian non-linear stochastic differential equation with non-local Gaussian noise. In a restricted range of couplings, we find two classes of solutions which asymptotically approach (a) a BH at a lower temperature, and (b) a horizonless geometry. We identify these with partial and complete BH evaporation, respectively. Importantly, the asymptotic solution in both cases involves the scalar product of the spin vectors $s.s'$, which carries some information about the initial state. By repeating the dynamical process $O(N^2)$ times with different choices of the spin vector $s'$, one can in principle reconstruct the initial BH microstate.

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arXiv2020

Holographic dual to charged SYK from 3D Gravity and Chern-Simons

In this paper, we obtain a bulk dual to SYK model, including SYK model with $U(1)$ charge, by Kaluza-Klein (KK) reduction from three dimensions. We show that KK reduction of the 3D Einstein action plus its boundary term gives the Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) model in 2D with the appropriate 1D boundary term. The size of the KK radius gets identified with the value of the dilaton in the resulting near-AdS$_2$ geometry. In presence of U(1) charge, the 3D model additionally includes a $U(1)$ Chern-Simons (CS) action. In order to describe a boundary theory with non-zero chemical potential, we also introduce a coupling between CS gauge field and bulk gravity. The 3D CS action plus the new coupling term with appropriate boundary terms reduce in two dimensions to a BF-type action plus a source term and boundary terms. The KK reduced 2D theory represents the soft sector of the charged SYK model. The pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone modes of combined $\textit{Diff} /\mathbb{SL}(2,\mathbb{R})$ and $U(1)_{\rm local}/U(1)$ transformations are represented by combined large diffeomorphisms and large gauge transformations. The effective action of the former is reproduced by the action cost of the latter in the bulk dual, after appropriate identification of parameters. We compute chaotic correlators from the bulk and reproduce the result that the contribution from the "boundary photons" corresponds to zero Liapunov exponent.

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arXiv2019

The Science of Murray Gell-Mann

This article summarizes some of the most important scientific contributions of Murray Gell-Mann (1929-2019). (Invited article for Current Science, Indian Academy of Sciences.)

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arXiv2019

Gravitational collapse in SYK models and Choptuik-like phenomenon

SYK model is a quantum mechanical model of fermions which is solvable at strong coupling and plays an important role as perhaps the simplest holographic model of quantum gravity and black holes. The present work considers a deformed SYK model and a sudden quantum quench in the deformation parameter. The system, as in the undeformed case, permits a low energy description in terms of pseudo Nambu Goldstone modes. The bulk dual of such a system represents a gravitational collapse, which is characterized by a bulk matter stress tensor whose value near the boundary shows a sudden jump at the time of the quench. The resulting gravitational collapse forms a black hole only if the deformation parameter $Δε$ exceeds a certain critical value $Δε_c$ and forms a horizonless geometry otherwise. In case a black hole does form, the resulting Hawking temperature is given by a fractional power $T_{bh} \propto (Δε- Δε_c)^{1/2}$, which is reminiscent of the `Choptuik phenomenon' of critical gravitational collapse.

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arXiv2017

Coadjoint orbit action of Virasoro group and two-dimensional quantum gravity dual to SYK/tensor models

The Nambu-Goldstone (NG) bosons of the SYK model are described by a coset space Diff/$\mathbb{SL}(2,\mathbb{R})$, where Diff, or Virasoro group, is the group of diffeomorphisms of the time coordinate valued on the real line or a circle. It is known that the coadjoint orbit action of Diff naturally turns out to be the two-dimensional quantum gravity action of Polyakov without cosmological constant, in a certain gauge, in an asymptotically flat spacetime. Motivated by this observation, we explore Polyakov action with cosmological constant and boundary terms, and study the possibility of such a two-dimensional quantum gravity model being the AdS dual to the low energy (NG) sector of the SYK model. We find strong evidences for this duality: (a) the bulk action admits an exact family of asymptotically AdS$_2$ spacetimes, parameterized by Diff/$\mathbb{SL}(2,\mathbb{R})$, in addition to a fixed conformal factor of a simple functional form; (b) the bulk path integral reduces to a path integral over Diff/$\mathbb{SL}(2,\mathbb{R})$ with a Schwarzian action; (c) the low temperature free energy qualitatively agrees with that of the SYK model. We show, up to quadratic order, how to couple an infinite series of bulk scalars to the Polyakov model and show that it reproduces the coupling of the higher modes of the SYK model with the NG bosons.

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arXiv2015

Unitarity, Crossing Symmetry and Duality of the S-matrix in large N Chern-Simons theories with fundamental matter

We present explicit computations and conjectures for $2 \to 2$ scattering matrices in large $N$ {\it $U(N)$} Chern-Simons theories coupled to fundamental bosonic or fermionic matter to all orders in the 't Hooft coupling expansion. The bosonic and fermionic S-matrices map to each other under the recently conjectured Bose-Fermi duality after a level-rank transposition. The S-matrices presented in this paper may be regarded as relativistic generalization of Aharonov-Bohm scattering. They have unusual structural features: they include a non analytic piece localized on forward scattering, and obey modified crossing symmetry rules. We conjecture that these unusual features are properties of S-matrices in all Chern-Simons matter theories. The S-matrix in one of the exchange channels in our paper has an anyonic character; the parameter map of the conjectured Bose-Fermi duality may be derived by equating the anyonic phase in the bosonic and fermionic theories.

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arXiv2013

Phases of large $N$ vector Chern-Simons theories on $S^2 \times S^1$

We study the thermal partition function of level $k$ U(N) Chern-Simons theories on $S^2$ interacting with matter in the fundamental representation. We work in the 't Hooft limit, $N,k\to\infty$, with $λ= N/k$ and $\frac{T^2 V_{2}}{N}$ held fixed where $T$ is the temperature and $V_{2}$ the volume of the sphere. An effective action proposed in arXiv:1211.4843 relates the partition function to the expectation value of a `potential' function of the $S^1$ holonomy in pure Chern-Simons theory; in several examples we compute the holonomy potential as a function of $λ$. We use level rank duality of pure Chern-Simons theory to demonstrate the equality of thermal partition functions of previously conjectured dual pairs of theories as a function of the temperature. We reduce the partition function to a matrix integral over holonomies. The summation over flux sectors quantizes the eigenvalues of this matrix in units of ${2π\over k}$ and the eigenvalue density of the holonomy matrix is bounded from above by $\frac{1}{2 πλ}$. The corresponding matrix integrals generically undergo two phase transitions as a function of temperature. For several Chern-Simons matter theories we are able to exactly solve the relevant matrix models in the low temperature phase, and determine the phase transition temperature as a function of $λ$. At low temperatures our partition function smoothly matches onto the $N$ and $λ$ independent free energy of a gas of non renormalized multi trace operators. We also find an exact solution to a simple toy matrix model; the large $N$ Gross-Witten-Wadia matrix integral subject to an upper bound on eigenvalue density.

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arXiv2013

Supersymmetric Chern-Simons Theories with Vector Matter

In this paper we discuss SU(N) Chern-Simons theories at level k with both fermionic and bosonic vector matter. In particular we present an exact calculation of the free energy of the N=2 supersymmetric model (with one chiral field) for all values of the 't Hooft coupling in the large N limit. This is done by using a generalization of the standard Hubbard-Stratanovich method because the SUSY model contains higher order polynomial interactions.

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arXiv2012

A Study of U(N) Lattice Gauge Theory in 2-dimensions

This is an edited version of an unpublished 1979 EFI (U. Chicago) preprint: "The U(N) lattice gauge theory in 2-dimensions can be considered as the statistical mechanics of a Coulomb gas on a circle in a constant electric field. The large N limit of this system is discussed and compared with exact answers for finite N. Near the fixed points of the renormalization group and especially in the critical region where one can define a continuum theory, computations in the thermodynamic limit $(N \rightarrow \infty)$ are in remarkable agreement with those for finite and small N. However, in the intermediate coupling region the thermodynamic computation, unlike the one for finite N, shows a continuous phase transition. This transition seems to be a pathology of the infinite N limit and in this simple model has no bearing on the physical continuum limit."

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arXiv2012

Chern-Simons Theory with Vector Fermion Matter

We study three dimensional conformal field theories described by U(N) Chern-Simons theory at level k coupled to massless fermions in the fundamental representation. By solving a Schwinger-Dyson equation in lightcone gauge, we compute the exact planar free energy of the theory at finite temperature on R^2 as a function of the 't Hooft coupling lambda=N/k. Employing a dimensional reduction regularization scheme, we find that the free energy vanishes at |lambda|=1; the conformal theory does not exist for |lambda|>1. We analyze the operator spectrum via the anomalous conservation relation for higher spin currents, and in particular show that the higher spin currents do not develop anomalous dimensions at leading order in 1/N. We present an integral equation whose solution in principle determines all correlators of these currents at leading order in 1/N and present explicit perturbative results for all three point functions up to two loops. We also discuss a lightcone Hamiltonian formulation of this theory where a W-infinity algebra arises. The maximally supersymmetric version of our theory is ABJ model with one gauge group taken to be U(1), demonstrating that a pure higher spin gauge theory arises as a limit of string theory.

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arXiv2010

Gauge/Gravity Duality and Some Applications

We discuss the AdS/CFT correspondence in which space-time emerges from an interacting theory of D-branes and open strings. These ideas have a historical continuity with QCD which is an interacting theory of quarks and gluons. In particular we review the classic case of D3 branes and the non-conformal D1 brane system. We outline by some illustrative examples the calculations that are enabled in a strongly coupled gauge theory by correspondence with dynamical horizons in semi-classical gravity in one higher dimension. We also discuss implications of the gauge-fluid/gravity correspondence for the information paradox of black hole physics.

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arXiv2010

Hydrodynamics of R-charged D1-branes

We study the hydrodynamic properties of strongly coupled $SU(N)$ Yang-Mills theory of the D1-brane at finite temperature and at a non-zero density of R-charge in the framework of gauge/gravity duality. The gravity dual description involves a charged black hole solution of an Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton system in 3 dimensions which is obtained by a consistent truncation of the spinning D1-brane in 10 dimensions. We evaluate thermal and electrical conductivity as well as the bulk viscosity as a function of the chemical potential conjugate to the R-charges of the D1-brane. We show that the ratio of bulk viscosity to entropy density is independent of the chemical potential and is equal to $1/4π$. The thermal conductivity and bulk viscosity obey a relationship similar to the Wiedemann-Franz law. We show that at the boundary of thermodynamic stability, the charge diffusion mode becomes unstable and the transport coefficients exhibit critical behaviour. Our method for evaluating the transport coefficients relies on expressing the second order differential equations in terms of a first order equation which dictates the radial evolution of the transport coefficient. The radial evolution equations can be solved exactly for the transport coefficients of our interest. We observe that transport coefficients of the D1-brane theory are related to that of the M2-brane by an overall proportionality constant which sets the dimensions.

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