arXiv subjects

Zezhou Hu

Publications and source records attributed to Zezhou Hu.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Holography in flipped AdS/$\mathbb{Z}$: Another approach to dS holography

Motivated by the subtleties in the conventional dS/CFT correspondence, we explore analytic continuation as a constructive route to de Sitter holography. We show that quantum field theories in de Sitter space and in a spacetime that we call flipped $\mathrm{AdS}/\mathbb{Z}$ (fAdS) are related by analytic continuation. We then develop a holographic description of fAdS in terms of a boundary theory referred to as flipped CFT (fCFT). In particular, we construct the extrapolate dictionary for general asymptotically fAdS spacetimes and compute the holographic two-point functions, finding agreement with an independent derivation based on the conformal symmetry of fCFT. The analytic continuation relation between fAdS and dS further suggests that fCFT may provide a starting point for an alternative holographic description of de Sitter physics. As a nontrivial check of this picture, we show that the Cardy formula of fCFT$_2$ reproduces the Bekenstein--Hawking entropies of the cosmological horizons in both pure dS$_3$ and Kerr-dS$_3$.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Quantum Anomalies of Tensionless Bosonic Strings

We systematically investigate and compare the worldsheet actions, BRST structures and the quantum anomalies of four different formulations of tensionless ($T = 0$) bosonic string theory: the $(D+2)$-dimensional conformal string \cite{Gustafsson:1994kr}, the $D$-dimensional ILST null string \cite{Isberg:1993av}, the $D$-dimensional Carroll-Weyl gauged string \cite{Sheikh-Jabbari:2026vqh, Sheikh-Jabbari:2026tpf}, and the $D$-dimensional hybrid null string \cite{Chen:2026klv}. By expressing all fields and constraint generators strictly in terms of mode expansions and adopting a unified algebraic framework, we analyze their quantum anomalies under two distinct worldsheet vacua: the induced vacuum and the flipped vacuum. With the BRST-compatible vacuum definition and the symmetric $\alpha=0$ zeta prescription, we show that no critical dimension is inferred from the vanishing of the quantum anomaly in the induced vacuum. In contrast, the flipped highest-weight vacuum leads to non-trivial constraints, reproducing the critical dimension $D=26$ for the ILST null strings, a $\lambda$-dependent critical dimension $D(\lambda)$ for the hybrid null string whose range covers every positive integer $D\geq 4$ (reproduces $D=26$ at $\lambda=1$), and more importantly showing that the conformal string and the Carroll-Weyl gauged string are structurally anomalous with no consistent critical dimension due to the discrepancy of their central charge parameters $\tilde d_i$. Furthermore, the ILST null string model has target-space conformal symmetry $SO(D,2)$, the ghost-completed $SO(D,2)$ charges are closed on the induced-vacuum BRST cohomology in the $\alpha=0$ prescription, whereas the symmetry is quantum mechanically broken in the flipped vacuum.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

QFT in Klein space

In this paper, we investigate the quantum field theory in Klein space that has two time directions. To study the canonical quantization, we select the ``length of time" $q$ as the evolution direction of the system. In our novel construction, some additional modes beyond the plane wave modes are crucial in the canonical quantization and the later derivation of the LSZ reduction formula. We also derive the free two-point function by using Wick contraction in the canonical quantization formalism. Moreover, we introduce the path-integral formalism in which we can redefine the vacuum states and rederive the correlation functions. We show that all the results in the Klein space derived in our novel approach match those obtained via analytical continuation from the Minkowski spacetime.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Symmetries and Critical Dimensions of Tensionless Branes

In this work, we investigate the worldsheet symmetry of bosonic brane theories and its quantum consistency in the tensionless limit. We find that the residual worldsheet symmetry after specific gauge fixing is generated by a novel algebra, denoted as $g^{(p)}_\lambda$. To achieve full quantization of the tensionless brane, we introduce a $bc$ ghost system and derive the overall BRST charge. Moreover, we calculate the quantum anomaly of the $g^{(p)}_\lambda$ algebra for general parameters $p$ and $\lambda$ in the framework of canonical quantization. After demanding that this quantum anomaly vanishes, we derive the critical dimensions of the bosonic brane theories. Especially, we obtain nontrivial solutions for the tensionless string: $D=14$ spacetime dimensions when $\lambda=-1$ and $D=26$ spacetime dimensions when $\lambda=1$. We also notice that the quantum anomaly automatically vanishes after the Riemann zeta function regularization for $p>1$. This is consistent with the mathematical fact that there is no scalar central extension of the algebra $g^{(p)}_\lambda$ for $p>1$.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Quantum field theory in flat spacetime with multiple time directions

This letter serves as the generalization of the work 2505.16436, where we investigated the quantum field theory in Klein space which has two time directions. We extend studies to the general spacetime $\mathbb{R}^{n,d-n}\,(n,d-n\geq2)$ in a similar manner: the ``length of time'' $q$ is regarded as the evolution direction of the system; additional modes beyond the plane wave modes are introduced in the canonical quantization. We show that this novel formulation is consistent with the analytical continuation of the results in Minkowski spacetime.

hep-th↗

arXiv2025

Carrollian superstring in the flipped vacuum

In this work, we study the spectrum of the Carrollian superstring in the flipped vacuum (the highest-weight representation) in detail. The target spacetime of the Carrollian string has a generalized Carrollian symmetry, and it is composed of both Poincaré directions and Carrollian directions. We explicitly show that two homogeneous Carrollian superstring theories, one with compactified Poincaré direction and the other with compactified Carrollian direction, share the same BMS$_3$ symmetry, and their zero modes can be identified under the usual T-duality transformation. Moreover, we investigate the spectrum of a general Carrollian superstring in the flipped vacuum. As the string can still have nonvanishing winding along the spatial direction in the infinite radius limit, the spectrum of the Carrollian strings in the flat background is no longer truncated. We furthermore construct the vertex operators of gravitons and discuss their scattering amplitudes. We find that the form of 3-point amplitudes differs from that of the usual tensile superstrings only by a simple function, which reflects the ultra-local nature of Carrollian physics.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

QED Effects on Kerr-Newman Black Hole Shadows

Incorporating first-order QED effects, we explore the shadows of Kerr-Newman black holes with a magnetic charge through the numerical backward ray-tracing method. Our investigation accounts for both the direct influence of the electromagnetic field on light rays and the distortion of the background spacetime metric due to QED corrections. We notice that the area of the shadow increases with the QED effect, mainly due to the fact that the photons move more slowly in the effective medium and become easier to be trapped by the black hole.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Bulk reconstruction in flat holography

In this note, we discuss the bulk reconstruction of massless free fields in flat space from the highest-weight representation of boundary Carrollian conformal field theory (CCFT). We expand the bulk field as a sum of infinite descendants of a primary state defined in the boundary CCFT, and discuss the Lorentz invariant bulk-boundary propagator in detail for the BMS_3/CCFT_2 case. In our calculation, it is necessary to introduce a nonzero mass at the beginning and take it as vanishing at the end. The framework we proposed has the potential to probe local bulk physics from the boundary CCFT.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Polarized images of charged particles in vortical motions around a magnetized Kerr black hole

In this work, we study the images of a Kerr black hole (BH) immersed in uniform magnetic fields, illuminated by the synchrotron radiation of charged particles in the jet. We particularly focus on the spontaneously vortical motions (SVMs) of charged particles in the jet region and investigate the polarized images of electromagnetic radiations from the trajectories along SVMs. We notice that there is a critical value $ω_c$ for charged particle released at a given initial position and subjected an outward force, and once $|qB_0/m|=|ω_B|>|ω_c|$ charged particles can move along SVMs in the jet region. We obtain the polarized images of the electromagnetic radiations from the trajectories along SVMs. Our simplified model suggests that the SVM radiations can act as the light source to illuminate the BH and form a photon ring structure.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2023

Path-integral quantization of tensionless (super) string

In this work, we study the tensionless (super)string in the formalism of path-integral quantization. We introduce BMS $bc$ and $βγ$ ghosts intrinsically by accounting for the Faddeev-Popov determinants appeared in fixing the gauges. We then do canonical quantization and obtain the critical dimensions for different tensionless strings. We find that among four kinds of tensionless superstrings, the $\mathcal{N}=2$ homogeneous and inhomogeneous doublet tensionless superstrings have the same critical dimension as the usual superstrings. Taking the BMS $bc$ and $βγ$ ghosts as new types of BMS free field theories, we find that their enhanced underlying symmetries are generated by BMS-Kac-Moody algebras, with the Kac-Moody subalgebras being built from a three-dimensional non-abelian and non-semi-simple Lie algebra.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Circular orbits and polarized images of charged particles orbiting Kerr black hole with a weak magnetic field

In this work, we study circular motions of charged particles and their polarized images around the Kerr black hole immersed in a weak magnetic field. We pay special attention to the case that both the magnetic field and the charge-to-mass ratio are not big, thus the effective potential along the radial motion reduce to a cubic form approximately so that we can express the radius of the innermost stable circular orbit analytically in terms of the energy and angular momentum of charged particles. Moreover, we computed the polarized synchrotron radiations of these particles and obtained the polarized images semi-analytically for various spins, observational angles and prograde and retrograde orbits. In particular, We find that these parameters have significant impacts on the polarization rotation and the magnitude of the polarization flux.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2023

On emergent conformal symmetry near the photon ring

In this note we revisit the emergent conformal symmetry in the near-ring region of warped spacetime. In particular, we propose a novel construction of the emergent near-ring $sl(2,R)_{\text{QNM}}$ symmetry. We show that each eikonal QNM family falls into one highest-weight representation of this algebra, and $sl(2,R)_{\text{QNM}}$ can be related to the near-ring isometry group $sl(2,R)_{\text{ISO}}$ in a simple way. Furthermore we find that the coherent state space of $sl(2,R)_{\text{QNM}}$ can be identified with the phase space of the photon ring.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

Polarized Images of Synchrotron Radiations in Curved Spacetime

In this work, we derive two formulas encoding the polarization direction and luminosity of synchrotron radiations from the moving electrons in curved spacetime under the geometric optics approximation. As an application, we further study the polarized images of synchrotron radiations from electron sources in Schwarzschild black hole spacetime with a vertical and uniform magnetic field. In particular, by focusing on the circular orbits of electrons on the equatorial plane, we show the polarized images of the synchrotron radiations from these orbits for different observational angles and discuss the variations of the polarization directions concerning the angles.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Photon emissions from near-horizon extremal and near-extremal Kerr equatorial emitters

We consider isotropic and monochromatic photon emissions from equatorial emitters moving along future-directed timelike geodesics in the near-horizon extremal Kerr (NHEK) and near-horizon near-extremal Kerr (near-NHEK) regions, to asymptotic infinity. We obtain numerical results for the photon escaping probability (PEP) and derive analytical expressions for the maximum observable blueshift (MOB) of the escaping photons, both depending on the emission radius and the emitter's proper motion. In particular, we find that for all anti-plunging or deflecting emitters that can eventually reach to asymptotic infinity, the PEP is greater than $50\%$ while for all plunging emitters the PEP is less than $55\%$, and for the bounded emitters in the (near-)NHEK region, the PEP is always less than $59\%$. In addition, for the emitters on unstable circular orbits in the near-NHEK region, the PEP decreases from $55\%$ to $50\%$ as the orbital radius decreases from the one of the innermost stable circular orbit to the one of the horizon. Furthermore, we show how the orientation of the emitter's motion along the radial or azimuthal direction affects the PEP and the MOB of the emitted photons.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

QED Effects on Kerr Black Hole Shadows immersed in uniform magnetic fields

In this work, taking the QED effect into account, we investigate the shadows of the Kerr black holes immersed in uniform magnetic fields through the numerical backward ray-tracing method. We introduce a dimensionless parameter $Λ$ to characterize the strength of magnetic fields and studied the influence of magnetic fields on the Kerr black hole shadows for various spins of the black holes and inclination angles of the observers. In particular, we find that the photon "hairs" appear near the left edge of the shadow in the presence of magnetic fields. The photon hairs may be served as a signature of the magnetic fields. We notice that the photon hairs become more evident when the strength of magnetic fields or the spin of the black hole becomes larger. In addition, we study the deformation of the shadows by bringing in quantitative parameters that can describe the position and shape of the shadow edge.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2020

QED Effect on Black Hole Shadow

In this work, taking the QED effect into account, we investigate the shadows of the static black hole with magnetic monopoles and neutral black holes in magnetic fields through the numerical backward ray-tracing method. For a static black holes with magnetic monopole, we obtain the relation between the shadow radius and the coupling constant. For neutral black holes in the uniform magnetic fields, we find that the shadow curves deviate very small from the ellipses for equatorial observer, and we read the linear relation between the eccentricity and the coupling constant. For $θ_o\neqπ/2$, we find that the shadow curves can be well approximated by ellipses in most cases, except the case that the magnetic field is very strong and the observer sits around the angle $θ_o=π/4$ or $3π/4$. Moreover we extend our investigation to a neutral static black hole surrounded with a current loop.

gr-qc↗