Jackiw-Teitelboim Gravity Research Articles

Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity as a noncritical string

Jackiw Teitelboim (JT) gravity has proven to be an excellent tool for investigating aspects of quantum gravity and black hole physics. In recent years, the study of JT gravity and its deformations has helped us learn about the different contributions of geometries in the gravitational path integral, the quantum gravity Hilbert space, the space-time factorization problem, the role of averaging in holography, the black hole information paradox, and the matrix models. All this motivates the exploration of the JT gravity in different setups, with and without matter. Here, we consider JT gravity conformally coupled to Liouville field theory and matter fields. This model admits to be interpreted as a noncritical string theory on a linear dilaton background with a tachyonic Liouville potential along a null direction. The constant curvature constraint of JT gravity results in a neutralization of the Liouville mode, which makes it possible to compute the four-point correlation function of the theory analytically. Here we give the explicit derivation of the four-point function and briefly comment on its properties, such as monodromy invariance, crossing symmetry, factorization, and limits. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Embedding space approach to Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity

We present a coordinate-free background space construction of Euclidean Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity. It is written as a gauge theory obtained from the Killing vectors and conformal Killing vectors of a hyperboloid embedded in a three-dimensional background. A novel feature of the gauge theory is that vanishing field strength does not necessarily imply that the gauge potentials (written in the embedding space) are pure gauges, not even locally. On the other hand, the projection of the potentials along the hyperboloid are pure gauges, as is the case in the standard approach. As is usual, metric tensors are dynamically generated from the classical solutions of the theory, which here do not rely on coordinate charts on the two-dimensional surface. We find a special class of solutions whereby the derived metric tensor on the surface is the induced metric from the background space. The gauge theory construction given here has a natural generalization to a noncommutative space, which does not require the use of coordinates, symbols, or a star product. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Relativity of the event: examples in JT gravity and linearized GR

Observables in quantum gravity are famously defined asymptotically, at the boundary of AdS or Minkowski spaces. However, by gauge fixing a coordinate system or suitably dressing the field operators, an approximate, “quasi-local” approach is also possible, that can give account of the measurements performed by a set of observers living inside the spacetime. In particular, one can attach spatial coordinates to the worldlines of these observers and use their proper times as a time coordinate. Here we highlight that any such local formulation has to face the relativity of the event, in that changing frame (= set of observers) implies a reshuffling of the point-events and the way they are identified. As a consequence, coordinate transformations between different frames become probabilistic in quantum gravity. We give a concrete realization of this mechanism in Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity, where a point in the bulk can be defined operationally with geodesics anchored to the boundary. We describe different ways to do so, each corresponding to a different frame, and compute the variances of the transformations relating some of these frames. In particular, we compute the variance of the location of the black hole horizon, which appears smeared in most frames. We then suggest how to calculate this effect in Einstein gravity, assuming knowledge of the wavefunction of the metric. The idea is to expand the latter on a basis of semiclassical states. Each element of this basis enjoys standard/deterministic coordinate transformations and the result is thus obtained by superposition. As a divertissement, we sabotage Lorentz boosts by adding to Minkoswki space a quantum superposition of gravitational waves and compute the probabilistic coordinate transformation to a boosted frame at linear order. Finally, we attempt to translate the relativity of the event into the language of dressed operators.

KdV conformal symmetry breaking in nearly AdS2

We study the gauge theory formulation of Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity and propose Korteweg-de Vries asymptotic conditions that generalize the asymptotic dynamics of the theory. They permit to construct an enlarged set of boundary actions formed by higher order generalizations of the Schwarzian derivative that contain the Schwarzian as lower term in a tower of SL(2, ℝ) invariants. They are extracted from the KdV Hamiltonians and can be obtained recursively. As a result, the conformal symmetry breaking observed in nearly AdS2 is characterized by a much larger set of dynamical modes associated to the stationary KdV hierarchy. We study quantum perturbation theory for the generalized Schwarzian action including the symplectic measure and compute the one-loop correction to the partition function. We find that despite the non-linear nature of the higher-Schwarzian contribution, it acquires a manageable expression that renders a curious leading temperature dependence on the entropy S = #Ta for a an odd integer.

Multiway Junction Conditions for Spacetimes with Multiple Boundaries.

We explore the construction of gluing together an arbitrary number of spacetimes along a common interface. This provides a general tool to construct new gravitational backgrounds with multiple boundaries. We derive junction conditions across the interface, in both Einstein gravity and dilaton gravity, using two methods (1)by developing a geometrical technique of introducing an auxiliary reverse extension manifold and (2)by the variational principle. Our junction condition works for both spacelike and timelike interfaces. We illustrate applications of the junction conditions in Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity and analyze their constraints on the allowed dilaton profile. We further comment on the geometry of a web of spacetime in the presence of multiple interfaces and its resemblance to Feynman diagrams.

Geometric Formulation of Generalized Root-TT[over ¯] Deformations.

We develop a generic geometric formalism that incorporates both TT[over ¯]-like and root-TT[over ¯]-like deformations in arbitrary dimensions. This framework applies to a wide family of stress-energy tensor perturbations and encompasses various well-known field theories. Building upon the recently proposed correspondence between Ricci-based gravity and TT[over ¯]-like deformations, we further extend this duality to include root-TT[over ¯]-like perturbations. This refinement extends the potential applications of our approach and contributes to a deeper exploration of the interplay between stress tensor perturbations and gravitational dynamics. Among the various original outcomes detailed in this Letter, we have also obtained a deformation of the flat Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity action.

Quantum chaos on edge

Recently, the physics of many-body quantum chaotic systems close to their ground states has come under intensified scrutiny. Such studies are motivated by the emergence of model systems exhibiting chaotic fluctuations throughout the entire spectrum [the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model being a renowned representative] as well as by the physics of holographic principles, which likewise unfold close to ground states. Interpreting the edge of the spectrum as a quantum critical point, here we combine a wide range of analytical and numerical methods to the identification and comprehensive description of two different universality classes: the near edge physics of “sparse” and the near edge of “dense” chaotic systems. The distinction lies in the ratio between the number of a system's random parameters and its Hilbert space dimension, which is exponentially small or algebraically small in the sparse and dense case, respectively. Notable representatives of the two classes are generic chaotic many-body models (sparse) and invariant random matrix ensembles or chaotic gravitational systems (dense). While the two families share identical spectral correlations at energy scales comparable to the level spacing, the density of states and its fluctuations near the edge are different. Considering the SYK model as a representative of the sparse class, we apply a combination of field theory and exact diagonalization to a detailed discussion of its edge spectrum. Conversely, Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity is our reference model for the dense class, where an analysis of the gravitational path integral and random matrix theory reveal universal differences to the sparse class, whose implications for the construction of holographic principles we discuss. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

A convergent genus expansion for the plateau

We conjecture a formula for the spectral form factor of a double-scaled matrix integral in the limit of large time, large density of states, and fixed temperature. The formula has a genus expansion with a nonzero radius of convergence. To understand the origin of this series, we compare to the semiclassical theory of “encounters” in periodic orbits. In Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity, encounters correspond to portions of the moduli space integral that mutually cancel (in the orientable case) but individually grow at low energies. At genus one we show how the full moduli space integral resolves the low energy region and gives a finite nonzero answer.

Gravitational edge mode in N\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{N} $$\\end{document} = 1 Jackiw-Teitelboim supergravity

We study the gravitational edge mode in the N\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{N} $$\\end{document} = 1 Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) supergravity on the disk and its osp(2|1) BF formulation. We revisit the derivation of the finite-temperature Schwarzian action in the conformal gauge of the bosonic JT gravity through wiggling boundary and the frame fluctuation descriptions. Extending our method to N\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{N} $$\\end{document} = 1 JT supergravity, we derive the finite-temperature super-Schwarzian action for the edge mode from both the wiggling boundary and the superframe field fluctuation. We emphasize the crucial role of the inversion of the super-Schwarzian derivative in elucidating the relation between the isometry and the OSp(2|1) gauging of the super-Schwarzian action. In osp(2|1) BF formulation, we discuss the asymptotic AdS condition. We employ the Iwasawa-like decomposition of OSp(2|1) group element to derive the super-Schwarzian action at finite temperature. We demonstrate that the OSp(2|1) gauging arises from inherent redundancy in the Iwasawa-like decomposition. We also discuss the path integral measure obtained from the Haar measure of OSp(2|1).

Unorientable topological gravity and orthogonal random matrix universality

The duality of Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity and a double scaled matrix integral has led to studies of the canonical spectral form factor (SFF) in the so called τ−scaled limit of large times, t → ∞, and fixed temperature, in order to demonstrate agreement with universal random matrix theory (RMT). Though this has been established for the unitary case, extensions to other symmetry classes requires the inclusion of unorientable manifolds in the sum over geometries, necessary to address time reversal invariance, and regularization of the corresponding prime geometrical objects, the Weil-Petersson (WP) volumes. We report here how universal signatures of quantum chaos, witnessed by the fidelity to the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble, emerge for the low-energy limit of unorientable JT gravity, i.e. the unorientable Airy model/topological gravity. To this end, we implement the loop equations for the corresponding dual (double-scaled) matrix model and find the generic form of the unorientable Airy WP volumes, supported by calculations using unorientable Kontsevich graphs. In an apparent violation of the gravity/chaos duality, the τ−scaled SFF on the gravity side acquires both logarithmic and power law contributions in t, not manifestly present on the RMT side. We show the expressions can be made to agree by means of bootstrapping-like relations hidden in the asymptotic expansions of generalized hypergeometric functions. Thus, we are able to establish strong evidence of the quantum chaotic nature of unorientable topological gravity.

Measurement-induced phase transition in teleportation and wormholes

We demonstrate that some quantum teleportation protocols exhibit measurement induced phase transitions in Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model. Namely, Kitaev-Yoshida and Gao-Jafferis-Wall protocols have a phase transition if we apply them at a large projection rate or at a large coupling rate respectively. It is well-known that at small rates they allow teleportation to happen only within a small time-window. We show that at large rates, the system goes into a new steady state, where the teleportation can be performed at any moment. In dual Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity these phase transitions correspond to the formation of an eternal traversable wormhole. In the Kitaev-Yoshida case this novel type of wormhole is supported by continuous projections.

Liouville gravity at the end of the world:deformed defects in AdS/BCFT

We study shape deformations of two-dimensional end-of-the-world (ETW) branes, such as those in bottom-up models of two-dimensional holographic boundary conformal field theories (BCFT), and derive an action for the theory of brane deformations in any bulk three-dimensional maximally symmetric spacetime. In the case of a bulk anti-de Sitter (AdS) spacetime, at leading order in the ultraviolet cutoff, the induced theory on the brane controlling its shape is Liouville gravity coupled to quantum matter. We show in certain limits the theory reduces to semi-classical AdS, dS or flat Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity, thus providing the first doubly-holographic derivation of two-dimensional models of dilaton gravity minimally coupled to a large number of conformal fields. Specializing to the AdS JT gravity limit, we discuss the dual BCFT interpretation and provide evidence that changing the boundary conditions of JT gravity on the brane is equivalent to a deformation of the dual BCFT with the displacement operator. This establishes a doubly-holographic triality between (i) brane deformations in the bulk, (ii) JT gravity in the brane description, and (iii) irrelevant deformations of the CFT boundary. Lastly, in the presence of a non-trivial dilaton profile, we prove that the Ryu-Takayanagi formula for holographic BCFTs receives a contact term whenever the minimal surface ends on the brane.

The resurgence of the plateau in supersymmetric N\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{N} $$\\end{document} = 1 Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity

Significant progresses have been made recently in understanding the spectral form factor of Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity, particularly at late times where non-perturbative effects are expected to play a dominant role. By focusing on a peculiar regime of large time and fixed temperature, called τ-scaling limit, it was found that it is possible to analytically investigate the late-time plateau directly through the gravitational genus expansion. We extend this analysis to the supersymmetric N\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{N} $$\\end{document} = 1 generalization of the bosonic theory, revealing an interesting structure. First, we notice that in the τ-scaling limit the perturbative sum over genera truncates after a single term, which solely accounts for the ramp behaviour. Instead a non-perturbative completion, responsible for the plateau, is encoded into an exact formula coming from the properties of the chiral gaussian ensemble, governing the spectral properties of the supersymmetric theory. We are able to recover the non-perturbative contributions by slightly deforming the genus of the involved surfaces and using resurgence theory. We derive a closed-form analytical expression for the late-time plateau and a trans-series expansion that captures the ramp-plateau transition.

Gravity and [formula omitted] flows in higher dimensions

We study systems in arbitrary space-time dimensions where matter, deformed by TT‾-like irrelevant operators, is coupled to gravity in the Palatini formalism. The dynamically equivalent perspective is investigated, wherein the deformation transitions from the matter action to the gravitational one or vice versa. This alternative viewpoint leads to the emergence of Ricci-based gravity theories, thus providing a high-dimensional generalisation of the well-known equivalence between two-dimensional TT‾ deformations and coupling to Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity. This dynamical equivalence is examined within the framework of the recently introduced Lagrangian flow equation, which notably led to the discovery of a direct link between Nambu-Goto theory and TT‾ in d=2, as well as significant insights into nonlinear electrodynamics models in d=4. The investigation involves explicit examples in d=4 dimensions; it builds upon earlier research concerning the metric interpretation of TT‾-like perturbations, incorporates and extends recent findings in the cosmology-related literature associated to the concept of reframing. We focus on scenarios where the resulting modified gravity theories manifest as Born-Infeld and Starobinsky types.

Some Generalizations of Mirzakhani's Recursion and Masur-Veech Volumes via Topological Recursions

Via Andersen-Borot-Orantin's geometric recursion, a twist of the topological recursion was proposed, and a recursion for the Masur-Veech polynomials was uncovered. The purpose of this article is to explore generalizations of Mirzakhani's recursion based on physical two-dimensional gravity models related to the Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity and to provide an introduction to various realizations of topological recursion. For generalized Mirzakhani's recursions involving a Masur-Veech type twist, we derive Virasoro constraints and cut-and-join equations, and also show some computations of generalized volumes for the physical two-dimensional gravity models.

Firewalls from wormholes in higher genus

An old black hole can tunnel into a white hole/firewall by emitting large baby universes. This phenomenon was investigated in Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity for genus one. In this paper, the focus is on higher genus corresponding to emitting more than one baby universe (n > 1). The probability of encountering a firewall or tunneling into a white hole after emitting n baby universes is proportional to e−2nSEe4πEn−1E2n2−n−9/2t4n2−2n−5\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {e}^{-2 nS(E)}{e}^{4\\pi \\sqrt{E}\\left(n-1\\right)}{E}^{2{n}^2-n-9/2}{t}^{4{n}^2-2n-5} $$\\end{document}, where t is the age of the black hole, and S and E represent the entropy and energy of the black hole, respectively.

From minimal strings towards Jackiw–Teitelboim gravity: on their resurgence, resonance, and black holes

Abstract Two remarkable facts about Jackiw–Teitelboim (JT) two-dimensional dilaton-gravity have been recently uncovered: this theory is dual to an ensemble of quantum mechanical theories; and such ensembles are described by a random matrix model which itself may be regarded as a special (large matter-central-charge) limit of minimal string theory. This work addresses this limit, putting it in its broader matrix-model context; comparing results between multicritical models and minimal strings (i.e. changing in-between multicritical and conformal backgrounds); and in both cases making the limit of large matter-central-charge precise (as such limit can also be defined for the multicritical series). These analyses are first done via spectral geometry, at both perturbative and nonperturbative levels, addressing the resurgent large-order growth of perturbation theory, alongside a calculation of nonperturbative instanton-actions and corresponding Stokes data. This calculation requires an algorithm to reach large-order, which is valid for arbitrary two-dimensional topological gravity. String equations—as derived from the Gel’fand–Dikii construction of the resolvent—are analyzed in both multicritical and minimal string theoretic contexts, and studied both perturbatively and nonperturbatively (always matching against the earlier spectral-geometry computations). The resulting solutions, as described by resurgent transseries, are shown to be resonant. The large matter-central-charge limit is addressed—in the string-equation context—and, in particular, the string equation for JT gravity is obtained to next derivative-orders, beyond the known genus-zero case (its possible exact-form is also discussed). Finally, a discussion of gravitational perturbations to Schwarzschild-like black hole solutions in these minimal-string models, regarded as deformations of JT gravity, is included—alongside a brief discussion of quasinormal modes.

Boundary terms, branes, and AdS/BCFT duality in first-order gravity

We provide an account of the issue of Gibbons-Hawking-York-like boundary terms for a gravity theory defined on a Riemann-Cartan spacetime. We further discuss different criteria for introducing boundary terms in some familiar first-order gravity theories with both on-shell vanishing and nonvanishing torsion, along with considerations regarding the thermodynamics of black holes and profiles of the end-of-the-world branes. Our analysis confirms the expected geodesic profile of the end-of-the-world brane in the BF formulation of Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity. Finally, we present the first realization of the AdS/BCFT duality for spacetime with torsion. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

A trace inequality for Euclidean gravitational path integrals (and a new positive action conjecture)

The AdS/CFT correspondence states that certain conformal field theories are equivalent to string theories in a higher-dimensional anti-de Sitter space. One aspect of the correspondence is an equivalence of density matrices or, if one ignores normalizations, of positive operators. On the CFT side of the correspondence, any two positive operators A, B will satisfy the trace inequality Tr(AB) ≤ Tr(A)Tr(B). This relation holds on any Hilbert space H\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{H} $$\\end{document} and is deeply associated with the fact that the algebra B(H\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{H} $$\\end{document}) of bounded operators on H\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{H} $$\\end{document} is a type I von Neumann factor. Holographic bulk theories must thus satisfy a corresponding condition, which we investigate below. In particular, we argue that the Euclidean gravitational path integral respects this inequality at all orders in the semi-classical expansion and with arbitrary higher-derivative corrections. The argument relies on a conjectured property of the classical gravitational action, which in particular implies a positive action conjecture for quantum gravity wavefunctions. We prove this conjecture for Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity and we also motivate it for more general theories.

Holographic complexity: braneworld gravity versus the Lloyd bound

We explore the complexity equals volume proposal for planar black holes in anti-de Sitter (AdS) spacetime in 2+1 dimensions, with an end of the world (ETW) brane behind the horizon. We allow for the possibility of intrinsic gravitational dynamics in the form of Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity to be localized on the brane. We compute the asymptotic rate of change of volume complexity analytically and obtain the full time dependence using numerical techniques. We find that the inclusion of JT gravity on the brane leads to interesting effects on time dependence of holographic complexity. We identify the region in parameter space (the brane location and the JT coupling) for which the rate of change of complexity violates the Lloyd bound. In an equivalent description of the model in terms of an asymptotically AdS wormhole, we connect the violation of the Lloyd bound to the violation of a suitable energy condition in the bulk that we introduce. We also compare the Lloyd bound constraints to previously derived constraints on the bulk parameters in this model that are based on bounds on entanglement growth in the dual CFT state.