A note on the two point function on the boundary of AdS spacetime

Abstract

We calculate by a new way the two point function on the boundary of AdS spacetime in 1+2 dimensions for the massless conformal real scalar field. The result agrees with the answer provided by the Boundary-limit Holography and Witten recipe. This is done in Poincar\'{e} coordinates. The basic ingredients of this new method are conformal techniques, quantum fields defined on a half of Minkowski spacetime and a limit inspired by the Boundary-limit Holography. We also show that a state in AdS, the global vacuum, in three dimensions induces a state on the conformal boundary of AdS spacetime, which in turn induces a state on the BTZ black hole. On the other hand the same state in AdS induces a state on the BTZ black hole which in turn induces a state on its conformal boundary. The two ways of getting the state on the conformal boundary of the BTZ black hole coincide for the massless conformal real scalar field. We point out that the normalizable modes in the AdS/CFT correspondence for the BTZ black hole give a similar contribution as the non-normalizable modes used in the Witten prescription. We also give some clues on why the Witten and the Boundary-limit Holography prescription coincide.