The three-dimensional pure quantum gravity with a negative cosmological constant has been conjectured to be dual to an extremal conformal field theory (ECFT), of central charge c=24k for some positive integer k. We compute the partition function of the dual ECFT by summing over gravitational instanton contributions. In particular, we conjecture an exact expression for the contribution from handlebodies to the partition function for all genera and all values of k, and provide nontrivial evidences for the conjecture at genus two.
In a recent paper, the partition function (character) of ten-dimensional pure spinor worldsheet variables was calculated explicitly up to the fifth mass-level. In this letter, we propose a novel application of Pade approximants as a tool for computing the character of pure spinors. We get results up to the twelfth mass-level. This work is a first step towards an explicit construction of the complete pure spinor partition function.
We compute the heat kernel for the Laplacians of symmetric transverse traceless fields of arbitrary spin on the $AdS$ background in even number of dimensions using the group theoretic approach introduced in \cite{Gopakumar:2011qs} and apply it on the partition function of six dimensional conformal gravity. The obtained partition function consists of the Einstein gravity, conformal ghost and two modes that contain mass.
We explicitly compute up to the fifth mass-level the partition function of ten-dimensional pure spinor worldsheet variables including the spin dependence. After adding the contribution from the (x^μ, θ^α, p_α) matter variables, we reproduce the massive superstring spectrum. Even though pure spinor variables are bosonic, the pure spinor partition function contains fermionic states which first appear at the second mass-level. These fermionic states come from functions which are not globally defined in pure spinor space, and are related to the b ghost in the pure spinor formalism. This result cla…
We analyze aspects of the holographic principle relevant to the quantum gravity partition functions in Euclidean sector of AdS$_3$. The sum of the known contributions to the partitions functions can be presented exactly, including corrections, in the form where the Patterson-Selberg zeta function involves.
We study a geometry of the partition function which is defined in terms of a solution of the five-term relation. It is shown that the 3-dimensional hyperbolic structure or Euclidean AdS_3 naturally arises in the classical limit of this invariant. We discuss that the oriented ideal tetrahedron can be assigned to the partition function of string.
We derive the partition functions of the Schwarz-type four-dimensional topological half-flat 2-form gravity model on K3-surface or T^4 up to on-shell one-loop corrections. In this model the bosonic moduli spaces describe an equivalent class of a trio of the Einstein-Kähler forms (the hyperkähler forms). The integrand of the partition function is represented by the product of some $\bar \partial$-torsions.
Motivated by recent works on the connection between 2D quantum gravity and timelike Liouville theory, we revisit the latter and clarify some aspects of the computation of its partition function: We present a detailed computation of the Liouville partition function on the fluctuating sphere at finite values of the central charge. The results for both the spacelike theory and the timelike theory are given, and their properties analyzed. We discuss the derivation of the partition function from the DOZZ formula, its derivation using the Coulomb gas approach, a semiclassical computation of it using…
We define a physical Hilbert space for the three-dimensional lattice gravity of Ponzano and Regge and establish its isomorphism to the ones in the $ISO(3)$ Chern-Simons theory. It is shown that, for a handlebody of any genus, a Hartle-Hawking-type wave-function of the lattice gravity transforms into the corresponding state in the Chern-Simons theory under this isomorphism. Using the Heegaard splitting of a three-dimensional manifold, a partition function of each of these theories is expressed as an inner product of such wave-functions. Since the isomorphism preserves the inner products, the pa…
We compute partition functions describing multiplicities and charges of massless and first massive string states of pure-spinor superstrings in 3,4,6,10 dimensions. At the massless level we find a spin-one gauge multiplet of minimal supersymmetry in d dimensions. At the first massive string level we find a massive spin-two multiplet. The result is confirmed by a direct analysis of the BRST cohomology at ghost number one. The central charges of the pure spinor systems are derived in a manifestly SO(d) covariant way confirming that the resulting string theories are critical. A critical string mo…
The $T{\bar T}$ deformation of a relativistic two-dimensional theory results in a solvable gravitational theory. Deformed scattering amplitudes can be obtained from coupling the undeformed theory to the flat space Jackiw--Teitelboim (JT) gravity. We show that the JT description is applicable and useful also in finite volume. Namely, we calculate the torus partition function of an arbitrary matter theory coupled to the JT gravity, formulated in the first order (vierbein) formalism. The first order description provides a natural set of dynamical clocks and rods for this theory, analogous to the …
We consider the one-loop partition function of free quantum field theory in locally Anti-de Sitter space-times. In three dimensions, the one loop determinants for scalar, gauge and graviton excitations are computed explicitly using heat kernel techniques. We obtain precisely the result anticipated by Brown and Henneaux: the partition function includes a sum over "boundary excitations" of AdS3, which are the Virasoro descendants of empty Anti-de Sitter space. This result also allows us to compute the one-loop corrections to the Euclidean action of the BTZ black hole as well its higher genus gen…
We study the Turaev-Viro invariant as the Euclidean Chern-Simons-Witten gravity partition function with positive cosmological constant. After explaining why it can be identified as the partition function of 3-dimensional gravity, we show that the initial data of the TV invariant can be constructed from the duality data of a certain class of rational conformal field theories, and that, in particular, the original Turaev-Viro's initial data is associated with the $A_{k+1}$ modular invariant WZW model. As a corollary we then show that the partition function $Z(M)$ is bounded from above by $Z((S^2…
We consider pure three-dimensional quantum gravity with a negative cosmological constant. The sum of known contributions to the partition function from classical geometries can be computed exactly, including quantum corrections. However, the result is not physically sensible, and if the model does exist, there are some additional contributions. One possibility is that the theory may have long strings and a continuous spectrum. Another possibility is that complex geometries need to be included, possibly leading to a holomorphically factorized partition function. We analyze the subleading correc…
We discuss integrable aspects of the logarithmic contribution of the partition function of cosmological critical topologically massive gravity. On one hand, written in terms of Bell polynomials which describe the statistics of set partitions, the partition function of the logarithmic fields is a generating function of the potential Burgers hierarchy. On the other hand, the polynomial variables are solutions of the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equation, and the partition function is a KP $τ$ function, making more precise the solitonic nature of the logarithmic fields being counted. We show that the p…
We continue the study of the one-loop partition function of AdS$_3$ gravity with focus on the square-integrability condition on the fluctuating fields. In a previous work we found that the Brown-Henneaux boundary conditions follow directly from the $L^2$ condition. Here we rederive the partition function as a ratio of Laplacian determinants by performing a suitable decomposition of the metric fluctuations. We pay special attention to the asymptotics of the fields appearing in the partition function. We also show that in the usual computation using ghost fields for the de Donder gauge, such gau…
In this note, we propose a closed formula for the partition function $Z(t,q)$ of the $βγ$ system on the cone of pure spinors. We give the answer in terms of theta functions, $q$-Pochhammer symbols and Eisenstein series.
General expressions for the anomalies appearing in pure W_3 gravity are found by requiring that they satisfy a modified version of the Wess-Zumino consistency conditions in which the Ward identities are treated as nonvanishing quantities.
In this note we point out that the one-loop partition function of three-dimensional flat gravity, computed along the lines originally developed for the anti-de Sitter case, reproduces characters of the BMS3 group.
We evaluate the 1-loop partition function of conformal gravity in four dimensions around an $AdS_4$ background, using the heat kernel techniques. We give expressions for the relevant thermodynamical quantities and compare our results with the ones from the literature.
There is a remarkable connection between quantum generating functions of field theory and formal power series associated with dimensions of chains and homologies of suitable Lie algebras. We discuss the homological aspects of this connection with its applications to partition functions of the minimal three-dimensional gravities in the space-time asymptotic to AdS3, which also describe the three-dimensional Euclidean black holes, the pure N = 1 supergravity, and a sigma model on N-fold generalized symmetric products. We also consider in the same context elliptic genera of some supersymmetric si…
For pure gravity in AdS_3, Witten has given a recipe for the construction of holomorphically factorizable partition functions of pure gravity theories with central charge c=24k. The partition function was found to be a polynomial in the modular invariant j-function. We show that the partition function can be obtained instead as a modular sum which has a more physical interpretation as a sum over geometries. We express both the j-function and its derivative in terms of such a sum.
We explore the possibility of finding Pure Lovelock gravity as a particular limit of a Chern-Simons action for a specific expansion of the AdS algebra in odd dimensions. We derive this relation at the level of the action in five and seven dimensions. Additionally we provide the general result for higher dimensions and discuss some issues arising from the obtained dynamics.
We evaluate the partition function of three dimensional theories of gravity in the quantum regime, where the AdS radius is Planck scale and the central charge is of order one. The contribution from the AdS vacuum sector can - with certain assumptions - be computed and equals the vacuum character of a minimal model CFT. The torus partition function is given by a sum over geometries which is finite and computable. For generic values of Newton's constant G and the AdS radius L the result has no Hilbert space interpretation, but in certain cases it agrees with the partition function of a known CFT…
The three-dimensional pure quantum gravity with negative cosmological constant is supposed to be dual to the extremal conformal field theory of central charge $c=24k$ in two dimensions. We employ the conformal bootstrap method to analyze the extremal CFTs, and find numerical evidence for the non-existence of the extremal CFTs for sufficiently large central charge ($k \ge 20$). We also explore near-extremal CFTs, a small modification of extremal ones, and find similar evidence for their non-existence for large central charge. This indicates, under the assumption of holomorphic factorization, th…
We study the classical dynamics of a completion of pure AdS gravity in 3D, whose only degrees of freedom are boundary gravitons and long strings. We argue that the best regime for describing pure gravity is that of "heavy" strings, for which back-reaction effects on the metric must be taken into account. We show that once back-reaction is properly accounted for, regular finite-energy states are produced by heavy strings even in the infinite-tension limit. Such a process is similar to, but different from, nucleation of space out of a "bubble of nothing."
The partition function of four dimensional SO(4) Yang-Mills theory is rewritten in terms of variables admitting straightforward relation to the partition function of pure 4D gravity. The gauge action turns into first-order Hilbert-Palatini action for Einstein gravity with a simple extra term added. The proposed relation can be substantiated as a duality for the partition functions provided a special gauge is imposed for the gravity. The same method allows to find a closed expression for the partition function of the SO(4) gauge theory.
The one-loop partition function of the $f(R,R_{μν}R^{μν})$ gravity theory is obtained around AdS$_4$ background. After suitable choice of the gauge condition and computation of the ghost determinant, we obtain the one-loop partition function of the theory. The traced heat kernel over the thermal quotient of AdS$_4$ space is also computed and the thermal partition function is obtained for this theory. We have then consider quantum corrections to the thermodynamical quantities in some special cases.
We give a direct path-integral calculation of the partition function for pure 3+1 dimensional U(N) Yang-Mills theory at large N on a small three-sphere, up to two-loop order in perturbation theory. From this, we calculate the one-loop shift in the Hagedorn/deconfinement temperature for the theory at small volume, finding that it increases (in units of the inverse sphere radius) as we go to larger coupling (larger volume). Our results also allow us to read off the sum of one-loop anomalous dimensions for all operators with a given engineering dimension in planar Yang-Mills theory on R^4. As che…
We find a dual gravity theory to pure confining N=1 supersymmetric SU(N) gauge theory in four dimensions which has the correct gauge coupling running in addition to reproducing the appropriate pattern of chiral symmetry breaking. It is constructed in type IIB string theory on R^{1,3} X R^1 X S^2 X S^3 background with N number of electric D5 and 2N number of magnetic D7-branes filling four dimensional spacetime and wrapping respectively two and four cycles.
We calculate the expectation value of the Wilson line in the pure AdS$_3$ Einstein gravity theory and also the entanglement entropy in the boundary theory. Our one-loop calculation of entanglement entropy shows a shift of the central charge 26. Finally, we show that the Wilson line provides the equivalent description to the boundary entanglement entropy. This equivalence leads to a concrete example of the building of "minimum surface=entanglement entropy".
The graviton 1-loop partition function in Euclidean topologically massive gravity (TMG) is calculated using heat kernel techniques. The partition function does not factorize holomorphically, and at the chiral point it has the structure expected from a logarithmic conformal field theory. This gives strong evidence for the proposal that the dual conformal field theory to TMG at the chiral point is indeed logarithmic. We also generalize our results to new massive gravity.
A proposal for the path-integral of pure-spin-connection formulation of gravity is described, based on the two-form formulation of Capovilla et. al. It is shown that the resulting effective-action for the spin-connection, upon functional integration of the two-form field $Σ$ and the auxiliary matrix field $ψ$ is {\it non-polynomial}, even for the case of vanishing cosmological constant and absence of any matter couplings. Further, a diagramatic evaluation is proposed for the contribution of the matrix-field to the pure spin connection action.
W_4 gravity is treated algebraically, represented by a set of transformations on classical fields. The Ward identities of the theory are determined by requiring the algebra to close. The general forms for the anomalies are found by looking for solutions to the Wess-Zumino consistency conditions, and some specific cases are considered.
We compute the contribution of the vacuum Virasoro representation to the genus-two partition function of an arbitrary CFT with central charge $c>1$. This is the perturbative pure gravity partition function in three dimensions. We employ a sewing construction, in which the partition function is expressed as a sum of sphere four-point functions of Virasoro vacuum descendants. For this purpose, we develop techniques to efficiently compute correlation functions of holomorphic operators, which by crossing symmetry are determined exactly by a finite number of OPE coefficients; this is an analytic im…
We analyse the divergences of the three-loop partition function at fixed area in 2D quantum gravity. Considering the Liouville action in the Kahler formalism, we extract the coefficient of the leading divergence in $\sim AΛ^2 (\ln AΛ^2)^2$. This coefficient is non-vanishing. We discuss the counterterms one can and must add and compute their precise contribution to the partition function. This allows us to conclude that every local and non-local divergence in the partition function can be balanced by local counterterms, with the only exception of the maximally non-local divergence $(\ln AΛ^2)^3…
The first truly non-MHV interaction vertices in the light-cone formulation of pure gravity appear at order 6. From a closed form expression, for gravitation in the light-cone gauge, we extract and present all 6-point interaction vertices. We invoke symmetry arguments to explain the structure of these vertices. Symmetry considerations also allow us to place constraints on the structure of all even- and odd-point vertices in the theory. The origin of MHV vertices within this formalism is also discussed.
We discuss two-dimensional quantum gravity coupled to conformal matter and fixed area in a semiclassical large and negative matter central charge limit. In this setup the gravity theory -- otherwise highly fluctuating -- admits a round two-sphere saddle. We discuss the two-sphere partition function up to two-loop order from the path integral perspective. This amounts to studying Feynman diagrams incorporating the fixed area constraint on the round two-sphere. In particular we find that all ultraviolet divergences cancel to this order. We compare our results with the two-sphere partition functi…
We derive a set of bilinear functional equations of Hirota type for the partition functions of the $sl(2)$ related integrable statistical models defined on a random lattice. These equations are obtained as deformations of the Hirota equations for the KP integrable hierarchy, which are satisfied by the partition function of the ensemble of planar graphs.
We calculate the one loop partition function for topologically massive higher spin gravity (TMHSG) for arbitrary spin by taking the spin-3 TMHSG action constructed in arXiv:1107.0915 and subsequently generalising it for an arbitrary spin. We find that the final result can be put into a product form which cannot be holomorphically factorized giving strong evidence that the topologically massive higher spin gravity is dual to a high spin extension of logarithmic CFT rather than a chiral one.
We study the duality between JT gravity and the double-scaled matrix model including their respective deformations. For these deformed theories we relate the thermal partition function to the generating function of topological gravity correlators that are determined as solutions to the KdV hierarchy. We specialise to those deformations of JT gravity coupled to a gas of defects, which conforms with known results in the literature. We express the (asymptotic) thermal partition functions in a low temperature limit, in which non-perturbative corrections are suppressed and the thermal partition fun…
The partition function of a three-dimensional $\mathcal{N} =2$ theory on the manifold $\mathcal{M}_{g,p}$, an $S^1$ bundle of degree $p$ over a closed Riemann surface $Σ_g$, was recently computed via supersymmetric localization. In this paper, we compute these partition functions at large $N$ in a class of quiver gauge theories with holographic M-theory duals. We provide the supergravity bulk dual having as conformal boundary such three-dimensional circle bundles. These configurations are solutions to $\mathcal{N}=2$ minimal gauged supergravity and pertain to the class of Taub-NUT-AdS and Taub…
In this paper we describe an approach to construct semiclassical partition functions in gravity which are complete in the sense that they contain a complete description of the differentiable structures of the underlying 4-manifold. In addition, we find our construction naturally includes cosmic strings. We discuss some possible applications of the partition functions in the fields of both quantum gravity and topological string theory
We calculate the gravity one-loop partition function of three-dimensional parity even tricritical gravity. Agreement with logarithmic conformal field theory single-particle partition functions on the field theory side is found and we furthermore discover a partially massless limit of linearized six-derivative parity even gravity. Then we define a "truncation" of the critical theory, at the level of the partition function, by calculating black hole determinants via summation over quasi-normal mode spectra and discriminating against those modes which are not present in the physical spectrum. Thi…
Motivated by the prospect of constraining microscopic models, we calculate the exact one-loop corrected de Sitter entropy (the logarithm of the sphere partition function) for every effective field theory of quantum gravity, with particles in arbitrary spin representations. In doing so, we universally relate the sphere partition function to the quotient of a quasi-canonical bulk and a Euclidean edge partition function, given by integrals of characters encoding the bulk and edge spectrum of the observable universe. Expanding the bulk character splits the bulk (entanglement) entropy into quasinor…
We exactly compute the finite N index and BPS partition functions for N=4 SYM theory in a newly proposed maximal angular momentum limit. The new limit is not predicted from the superconformal algebra, but naturally arises from the supergravity dual. We show that the index does not receive any finite N corrections while the free BPS partition function does.
We study the thermal partition function of Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity in asymptotically Euclidean $AdS_2$ background using the matrix model description recently found by Saad, Shenker and Stanford [arXiv:1903.11115]. We show that the partition function of JT gravity is written as the expectation value of a macroscopic loop operator in the old matrix model of 2d gravity in the background where infinitely many couplings are turned on in a specific way. Based on this expression we develop a very efficient method of computing the partition function in the genus expansion as well as in the low …
Recently Alday, Gaiotto and Tachikawa have proposed relation between 2- and 4-dimensional conformal field theories. The relation implies that the Nekrasov partition functions of N=2 superconformal gauge theories are equal to conformal blocks associated with the conformal algebra. Likewise, a counterpart in pure super Yang-Mills theory exists in conformal field theory. We propose a simple relation between the Shapovalov matrix of the W_3-algebra and the Nekrasov partition function of N=2 SU(3) Yang-Mills theory.
The graviton 1-loop partition function is calculated for Euclidean generalised massive gravity (GMG) using AdS heat kernel techniques. We find that the results fit perfectly into the AdS/(L)CFT picture. Conformal Chern-Simons gravity, a singular limit of GMG, leads to an additional contribution in the 1-loop determinant from the conformal ghost. We show that this contribution has a nice interpretation on the conformal field theory side in terms of a semi-classical null vector at level two descending from a primary with conformal weights (3/2,-1/2).
The microscopic theories of quantum gravity related to integrable lattice models can be constructed as special deformations of pure gravity. Each such deformation is defined by a second order differential operator acting on the coupling constants. As a consequence, the theories with matter fields satisfy a set of constraints inherited from the integrable structure of pure gravity. In particular, a set of bilinear functional equations for each theory with matter fields follows from the Hirota equations defining the KP (KdV) structure of pure gravity.
Continuing the work arXiv:1504.05991, we discuss various aspects of three dimensional quantum gravity partition function in AdS in the semi-classical limit. The partition function is holomorphic and is the one which we obtained by using the localization technique of Chern-Simons theory in arXiv:1504.05991. We obtain a good expression for it in the summation form over Virasoro characters for the vacuum and primaries. A key ingredient for that is an interpretation of boundary localized fermion. We also check that the coefficients in the summation form over Virasoro characters of the partition fu…
The partition function of the W_N minimal model CFT is computed in the large N 't Hooft limit and compared to the spectrum of the proposed holographic dual, a 3d higher spin gravity theory coupled to massive scalar fields. At finite N, the CFT contains additional light states that are not visible in the perturbative gravity theory. We carefully define the large N limit, and give evidence that, at N = infinity, the additional states become null and decouple from all correlation functions. The surviving states are shown to match precisely (for all values of the 't Hooft coupling) with the spectr…
Algebraic aspects of the computation of partition functions for quantum gravity and black holes in $AdS_3$ are discussed. We compute the sub-leading quantum corrections to the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. It is shown that the quantum corrections to the classical result can be included systematically by making use of the comparison with conformal field theory partition functions, via the $AdS_3/CFT_2$ correspondence. This leads to a better understanding of the role of modular and spectral functions, from the point of view of the representation theory of infinite-dimensional Lie algebras. Besides…
We introduce a new 1-matrix model with arbitrary potential and the matrix-valued background field. Its partition function is a $τ$-function of KP-hierarchy, subjected to a kind of ${\cal L}_{-1}$-constraint. Moreover, partition function behaves smoothly in the limit of infinitely large matrices. If the potential is equal to $X^{K+1}$, this partition function becomes a $τ$-function of $K$-reduced KP-hierarchy, obeying a set of ${\cal W} _K$-algebra constraints identical to those conjectured in \cite{FKN91} for double-scaling continuum limit of $(K-1)$-matrix model. In the case of $K=2$ the stat…
We present a generalization of the n-dimensional (pure) Lovelock Gravity theory based on an enlarged Lorentz symmetry. In particular, we propose an alternative way to introduce a cosmological term. Interestingly, we show that the usual pure Lovelock gravity is recovered in a matter-free configuration. The five and six-dimensional cases are explicitly studied.
The pure gravity Lagrangian can be written as the "square" of the pure Yang-Mills Lagrangian to second order in coupling constants. This paper uses this form of the gravity Lagrangian as a starting point to arrive at a compact light-cone superspace Lagrangian for N=8 Supergravity to order $κ$^2.
