Holographic Renormalization Group Flows Research Articles

Holographic RG flows and Janus interfaces from ISO(3)×U(1) F(4) gauged supergravity

We study six-dimensional F(4) gauged supergravity coupled to four vector multiplets with a non-semisimple ISO(3)×U(1) gauge group. This gauged supergravity arises from a consistent truncation of type IIB string theory on S2×Σ with Σ being a Riemann surface. We find that the gauged supergravity admits two SO(3) symmetric AdS6 vacua, one with N=(1,1) supersymmetry and the other one as non-supersymmetric. We compute all scalar masses at these critical points and find that only the supersymmetric AdS6 vacuum is stable. By truncating to SO(3)×U(1) and SO(2)×U(1) invariant sectors, we study holographic renormalization group flow solutions from this critical point to a number of nonconformal phases of the dual N=2 superconformal field theories in five dimensions. Finally, we give some examples of supersymmetric Janus solutions describing conformal interfaces within the five-dimensional superconformal field theories. All of these solutions provide first holographic results from matter-coupled F(4) gauged supergravity with non-semisimple gauge groups. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

Janus and RG-flow interfaces from matter-coupled F(4) gauged supergravity

We study supersymmetric Janus solutions from matter-coupled F(4) gauged supergravity coupled to three vector multiplets and SO(4)∼SO(3)×SO(3) gauge group. There are two supersymmetric AdS6 vacua preserving all supersymmetries with SO(3)×SO(3) and SO(3)diag symmetries dual to N=2 superconformal field theories (SCFTs) in five dimensions. We consider a truncation to SO(2)diag⊂SO(3)diag singlet scalars and find a number of new supersymmetric Janus solutions preserving eight supercharges. These solutions holographically describe conformal interfaces within N=2 five-dimensional SCFTs involving deformations by source terms and vacuum expectation values of relevant and irrelevant operators. Apart from the Janus solutions interpolating between SO(3)×SO(3) AdS6 vacua, some of the solutions have SO(3)diag AdS6 vacua generated by holographic renormalization group (RG) flows from the SO(3)×SO(3) phases on both sides. We also give evidence for solutions describing RG-flow interfaces with a SO(3)×SO(3) AdS6 vacuum on one side and SO(3)diag AdS6 vacuum on the other side. The solutions provide first examples of Janus solutions involving more than one AdS6 vacuum in six-dimensional gauged supergravity. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

Holographic RG flows in a 3D gauged supergravity at finite temperature

In this paper, we consider finite-temperature holographic renormalization group (RG) flows in D=3 N=(2,0) gauged truncated supergravity coupled to a sigma model with a hyperbolic target space. In the context of the holographic duality, fixed points (CFTs) at finite temperature are described by anti–de Sitter (AdS) black holes. We come from the gravity equations of motion to a 3D autonomous dynamical system, which critical points can be related to fixed points of dual field theories. Near-horizon black hole solutions correspond to infinite points of this system. We use Poincaré transformations to project the system on R3 into the 3D unit cylinder such that the infinite points are mapped onto the boundary of the cylinder. We explore numerically the space of solutions. We show that the exact RG flow at zero temperature is the separatrix for asymptotically AdS black hole solutions if the potential has one extremum, while for the potential with three extrema the separatrices are RG flows between AdS fixed points. We find near-horizon analytical solutions for asymptotically AdS black holes using the dynamical equations. We also present a method for constructing full analytical solutions. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Shock waves, black hole interiors and holographic RG flows

We study holographic renormalization group (RG) flows perturbed by a shock wave in dimensions d ≥ 2. The flows are obtained by deforming a holographic conformal field theory with a relevant operator, altering the interior geometry from AdS-Schwarzschild to a more general Kasner universe near the spacelike singularity. We introduce null matter in the form of a shock wave into this geometry and scrutinize its impact on the near-horizon and interior dynamics of the black hole. Using out-of-time-order correlators, we find that the scrambling time increases as we increase the strength of the deformation, whereas the butterfly velocity displays a non-monotonic behavior. We examine other observables that are more sensitive to the black hole interior, such as the thermal a-function and the entanglement velocity. Notably, the a-function experiences a discontinuous jump across the shock wave, signaling an instantaneous loss of degrees of freedom due to the infalling matter. This jump is interpreted as a ‘cosmological time skip’ which arises from an infinitely boosted length contraction. The entanglement velocity exhibits similar dependence to the butterfly velocity as we vary the strength of the deformation. Lastly, we extend our analyses to a model where the interior geometry undergoes an infinite sequence of bouncing Kasner epochs.

Universal IR holography, scalar fluctuations, and glueball spectra

We show that the d’Alembertian operator with a possible mass term in the anti–de Sitter (AdS) soliton and more general confining gravity dual backgrounds admits infinitely many different spectra. These can be interpreted as different theories in the infrared and correspond to multitrace deformations of either the Dirichlet or the Neumann theory. We prove that all these fluctuations are normalizable and provide examples of their spectra. Therefore, the AdS soliton can be interpreted as giving a holographic Renormalization Group flow between a universal UV theory at the AdS boundary and these infinitely many possibilities in the IR, obtained by deformations. The massive spectrum of the double trace deformation in AdS5 allows the matching of the large-N glueball masses of lattice QCD3; the ratio of the ground states of the 2++ and 0++ channels are in full agreement with the lattice prediction. When considering AdS7 and the four-dimensional pure glue theory, a remarkably general picture emerges, where we can write formulas for the fluctuations that are in agreement with ones from holographic high-energy scattering and from AdS/CFT with IR and UV cutoff. We point out that this log branch in the IR in D dimensions can be seen as the usual logarithmic branch of scalar fields saturating the Breitenlohner-Freedman bound in a conformally rescaled metric, with AdSD−1×S1 asymptotics. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Wheeler-DeWitt states of the AdS-Schwarzschild interior

We solve the Wheeler-DeWitt equation for the planar AdS-Schwarzschild interior in a minisuperspace approximation involving the volume and spatial anisotropy of the interior. A Gaussian wavepacket is constructed that is peaked on the classical interior solution. Simple observables are computed using this wavepacket, demonstrating the freedom to a choose a relational notion of ‘clock’ in the interior and characterizing the approach to the spacelike singularity. The Wheeler-DeWitt equation may be extended out through the horizon, where it describes the holographic renormalization group flow of the black hole exterior. This amounts to the Hamilton-Jacobi evolution of the metric component gtt from positive interior values to negative exterior values. The interior Gaussian wavepacket is shown to evolve into the Lorentizan partition function of the boundary conformal field theory over a microcanonical energy window.

Anisotropic flows into black holes

We consider anisotropic black holes in the context of holographic renormalization group (RG) flows. We construct an a-function that is stationary at the boundary and the horizon and prove that it is also monotonic in both the exterior and the interior of the black hole. In spite of the reduced symmetry, we find that the “radial” null energy condition is sufficient to ensure the existence of this monotonic a-function. After constructing the a-function, we explore a holographic anisotropic p-wave superfluid state as a concrete example and numerical testing grounds. In doing so, we find that the a-function exhibits nontrivial oscillations in the trans-IR regime while preserving monotonicity. We find evidence that such oscillations appear to drive the trans-IR flow into nontrivial fixed points. We conclude by briefly discussing how our work fits into both the broader program of holographic RG flow and quantum information approaches to probing the black hole interior.

Renormalization group and approximate error correction

In renormalization group (RG) flow, the low energy states form a code subspace that is approximately protected against the local short-distance errors. We motivate this connection with an example of spin-blocking RG in classical spin models. We consider the continuous multi-scale renormalization ansatz (cMERA) for massive free fields as a concrete example of real-space RG in quantum field theory (QFT) and show that the low-energy coherent states are approximately protected from the errors caused by the high-energy localized coherent operators. In holographic RG flows, we study the phase transition in the entanglement wedge of a single region and argue that one needs to define the price and the distance of the code with respect to the reconstructable wedge.

Safe gauge-string correspondence

Safe theories are quantum field theories whose continuum limit is defined by a non-Gaussian ultraviolet fixed point when the ultraviolet cutoff is removed. They constitute an important set in the space of quantum field theories. Here we develop the ‘safe’ gauge-string correspondence program according to which d-dimensional safe gauge theories, admitting the 't Hooft-Veneziano limit, are holographically dual to (d+1)-dimensional safe noncritical string theories on asymptotically anti-de Sitter space. We provide evidences for this correspondence on a class of safe templates that engage fermion and scalar matter fields into gauge, Yukawa and Higgs self-interactions. Safe theories can feature in the infrared both a weak coupling phase and a strong coupling phase on either side of the ultraviolet fixed point. They correspond respectively to dilaton and warp factors taking domain-wall or Liouville-wall profiles on asymptotically anti-de Sitter space. We argue that four-dimensional N=4 super Yang-Mills theories and all known interacting (super)conformal field theories are nonperturbative limit situations of safe gauge theories. The weak coupling phase provides a solvable holographic renormalization group flow while the strong coupling infrared phase provides a runaway-free alternative to holographic QCD.

Growth of a Renormalized Operator as a Probe of Chaos

We propose that the size of an operator evolved under holographic renormalization group flow shall grow linearly with the scale and interpret this behavior as a manifestation of the saturation of the chaos bound. To test this conjecture, we study the operator growth in two different toy models. The first one is a MERA-like tensor network built from a random unitary circuit with the operator size defined using the integrated out-of-time-ordered correlator (OTOC). The second model is an error-correcting code of perfect tensors, and the operator size is computed using the number of single-site physical operators that realize the logical operator. In both cases, we observe linear growth.

Trans-IR flows to black hole singularities

We study analytic continuations of holographic renormalization group (RG) flows beyond their infrared (IR) fixed points. Such ``trans-IR'' flows are a natural framework for describing physics inside of black holes. First, we construct a monotonic holographic $a$-function which counts degrees of freedom along a trans-IR flow. Using this function, we argue that the degrees of freedom ``thin out'' and vanish when flowing to a trans-IR endpoint, represented by a Kasner singularity. We then recast well-studied quantum information probes in the language of trans-IR flows, finding that entanglement and complexity from volume generally fail to fully probe the trans-IR while 2-point correlations and complexity from action generally do so in a complementary manner.

Holographic RG flow triggered by a classically marginal operator

We study the holographic renormalization group (RG) flow triggered by a classically marginal operator. When a marginal operator deforms a conformal field theory, it does not yield a nontrivial renormalization group flow at the classical level. At the quantum level, however, quantum corrections modify a marginal operator into one of the truly marginal, marginally relevant, and marginally irrelevant operators and can generate a nontrivial RG flow. We investigate the holographic description of a RG flow triggered by a marginal operator with quantum corrections. We look into how the physical quantities of a deformed theory, a coupling constant and the vacuum expectation value, rely on the RG scale. We further discuss the holographic description of the trace anomaly caused by the gluon condensation.

Higher order curvature corrections and holographic renormalization group flow

We study the holographic renormalization group (RG) flow in the presence of higher-order curvature corrections to the $(d+1)$-dimensional Einstein-Hilbert (EH) action for an arbitrary interacting scalar matter field by using the superpotential approach. We find the critical points of the RG flow near the local minima and maxima of the potential and show the existence of the bounce solutions. In contrast to the EH gravity, regarding the values of couplings of the bulk theory, superpotential may have both upper and lower bounds. Moreover, the behavior of the RG flow controls by singular curves. This study may shed some light on how a c-function can exist in the presence of these corrections.

Holographic renormalization group flow effect on quantum correlations

We holographically study the finite-size scaling effects on macroscopic and microscopic quantum correlations deformed by excitation and condensation. The excitation (condensation) increases (decreases) the entanglement entropy of the system. We also investigate the two-point correlation function of local operators by calculating the geodesic length connecting two local operators. As opposed to the entanglement entropy case, the excitation (condensation) decreases (increases) the two-point function. This is because the screening effect becomes strong in the background with the large entanglement entropy. We further show that the holographic renormalization leads to the qualitatively same two-point function as the one obtained from the geodesic length.

Deep learning black hole metrics from shear viscosity

Based on AdS/CFT correspondence, we build a deep neural network to learn black hole metrics from the complex frequency-dependent shear viscosity. The network architecture provides a discretized representation of the holographic renormalization group flow of the shear viscosity and can be applied to a large class of strongly coupled field theories. Given the existence of the horizon and guided by the smoothness of spacetime, we show that Schwarzschild and Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m metrics can be learned accurately. Moreover, we illustrate that the generalization ability of the deep neural network can be excellent, which indicates that by using the black hole spacetime as a hidden data structure, a wide spectrum of the shear viscosity can be generated from a narrow frequency range. These results are further generalized to an Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton black hole. Our work might not only suggest a data-driven way to study holographic transports but also shed some light on holographic duality and deep learning.

The Hamilton-Jacobi equation and holographic renormalization group flows on sphere

We study the Hamilton-Jacobi formulation of effective mechanical actions associated with holographic renormalization group flows when the field theory is put on the sphere and mass terms are turned on. Although the system is supersymmetric and it is described by a superpotential, Hamilton’s characteristic function is not readily given by the superpotential when the boundary of AdS is curved. We propose a method to construct the solution as a series expansion in scalar field degrees of freedom. The coefficients are functions of the warp factor to be determined by a differential equation one obtains when the ansatz is substituted into the Hamilton-Jacobi equation. We also show how the solution can be derived from the BPS equations without having to solve differential equations. The characteristic function readily provides information on holographic counterterms which cancel divergences of the on-shell action near the boundary of AdS.

Conformal scale factor inversion for domain walls and holography

We describe a correspondence between domain wall solutions of Einstein gravity with a single scalar field and self-interaction potential. The correspondence we call conformal scale factor inversion (CSFI) is a map comprising the inversion of the scale factor in conformal coordinates, and a transformation of the field and its potential which preserves the form of the Einstein equations for static and isotropic domain walls. By construction, CSFI maps the asymptotic anti--de Sitter boundary to the vicinity of a naked singularity in a theory with a special Liouville (exponential) scalar field potential; it is also a map in the parameter space of exponential potentials. The correspondence can be extended to linear fluctuations, being akin to an S-duality, and can be interpreted in terms of ``SUSY quantum mechanics'' for the fluctuation modes. The holographic implementation of CSFI relates the UV and IR regimes of a pair of holographic renormalization group flows; in particular, it is a symmetry of the GPPZ flow.

Holographic flows from CFT to the Kasner universe

The Schwarzschild singularity is known to be classically unstable. We demonstrate a simple holographic consequence of this fact, focusing on a perturbation that is uniform in boundary space and time. Deformation of the thermal state of the dual CFT by a relevant operator triggers a nonzero temperature holographic renormalization group flow in the bulk. This flow continues smoothly through the horizon and, at late interior time, deforms the Schwarzschild singularity into a more general Kasner universe. We show that the deformed near-singularity, trans-horizon Kasner exponents determine specific non-analytic corrections to the thermal correlation functions of heavy operators in the dual CFT, in the analytically continued ‘near-singularity’ regime.

Holographic renormalization group flows in two-dimensional gravity and AdS black holes

We look into the AdS black holes from two-dimensional gravity perspective. In this work, we extend the previous results of holographic renormalization group flows to dimensions two. By introducing a superpotential, we derive the flow equations in two-dimensional dilaton gravity. We also find a quantity which monotonically decreases along flows and give some comments on holographic c-theorem. As examples, we show that recently studied supersymmetric AdS black hole solutions generically dimensionally reduce to two-dimensional dilaton gravity, and obtain the flow equations for black hole solutions.

Exotic RG flow of entanglement entropy

In this paper, we holographically study the renormalization group (RG) flow in a three-dimensional Einstein-dilaton gravity with a potential permitting several types of the RG flow with nontrivial beta-functions. By using the intrinsic parameter of the potential, we classify possible holographic RG flows and examine their physical features. Using the Ryu-Takayanagi formulation, furthermore, we investigate how the $c$-function of the entanglement entropy behaves along the RG flow numerically. We show that the entanglement $c$-function monotonically decreases even in the cases with a nontrivial beta-function. For checking the consistency, we also compare the result of the entanglement entropy with the $c$-function derived from the holographic renormalization procedure.