Recent work has suggested a surprising new upper bound on the lifetime of de Sitter vacua in string theory. The bound is parametrically longer than the Hubble time but parametrically shorter than the recurrence time. We investigate whether the bound is satisfied in a particular class of de Sitter solutions, the KKLT vacua. Despite the freedom to make the supersymmetry breaking scale exponentially small, which naively would lead to extremely stable vacua, we find that the lifetime is always less than about exp(10^(22)) Hubble times, in agreement with the proposed bound.
We study particle decay in de Sitter space-time as given by first order perturbation theory in an interacting quantum field theory. We show that for fields with masses above a critical mass $m_c$ there is no such thing as particle stability, so that decays forbidden in flat space-time do occur there. The lifetime of such a particle also turns out to be independent of its velocity when that lifetime is comparable with de Sitter radius. Particles with lower mass are even stranger: The masses of their decay products must obey quantification rules, and their lifetime is zero.
We study particle decay in de Sitter space-time as given by first order perturbation theory in a Lagrangian interacting quantum field theory. We study in detail the adiabatic limit of the perturbative amplitude and compute the "phase space" coefficient exactly in the case of two equal particles produced in the disintegration. We show that for fields with masses above a critical mass $m_c$ there is no such thing as particle stability, so that decays forbidden in flat space-time do occur here. The lifetime of such a particle also turns out to be independent of its velocity when that lifetime is …
In this note we perform a synopsis of the life-times from vacuum decay of several de Sitter vacuum constructions in string/M-theory which have a single dS minimum arising from lifting a pre-existing AdS extremum and no other local minima existent after lifting. For these vacua the decay proceeds via a Coleman--De Luccia instanton towards the universal Minkowski minimum at infinite volume. This can be calculated using the thin--wall approximation, provided the cosmological constant of the local dS minimum is tuned sufficiently small. We compare the estimates for the different model classes and …
The thermal time hypothesis proposed by Rovelli [1] regards the physical basis for the flow of time as thermodynamical and provides a definition of the temperature for some special cases. We verify this hypothesis in the case of de Sitter spacetime by relating the uniformly accelerated observer in de Sitter spacetime to the diamond in Minkowski spacetime. Then, as an application of it, we investigate the thermal effect for the uniformly accelerated observer with a finite lifetime in dS spacetime, which generalizes the corresponding result for the case of Minkowski spacetime [2]. Furthermore, n…
Recently a dynamical selection mechanism for vacua based on search optimization was proposed in the context of false-vacuum eternal inflation on the landscape. The search algorithm, defined by local vacuum transitions, is optimal in regions of the landscape where the dynamics are tuned at criticality, with de Sitter vacua having an average lifetime of order their Page time. The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the nature of the dynamical phase transition at the Page lifetime. We focus on a finite region of the landscape, which exchanges volume with the rest of the landscape and as suc…
In this paper we assume the de Sitter Space version of Black Hole Complementarity which states that a single causal patch of de Sitter space is described as an isolated finite temperature cavity bounded by a horizon which allows no loss of information. We discuss the how the symmetries of de Sitter space should be implemented. Then we prove a no go theorem for implementing the symmetries if the entropy is finite. Thus we must either give up the finiteness of the de Sitter entropy or the exact symmetry of the classical space. Each has interesting implications for the very long time behavior. We…
We outline the construction of metastable de Sitter vacua of type IIB string theory. Our starting point is highly warped IIB compactifications with nontrivial NS and RR three-form fluxes. By incorporating known corrections to the superpotential from Euclidean D-brane instantons or gaugino condensation, one can make models with all moduli fixed, yielding a supersymmetric AdS vacuum. Inclusion of a small number of anti-D3 branes in the resulting warped geometry allows one to uplift the AdS minimum and make it a metastable de Sitter ground state. The lifetime of our metastable de Sitter vacua is …
The relation between confinement scale $Λ_c$ of a gauge theory and the Hubble scale $H$ of the background quasi de Sitter space, required to satisfy the Festina Lente criteria ($Λ_c \gtrsim H$) from swampland principles, are investigated for a holographic theory using the Karch-Randall setup. A purely gravitational description admits unstable de Sitter extremum, and the requirement of Festina Lente translates into requirements of a perturbative gravitational dual, but prohibits an arbitrarily small hierarchy for other parameters fixed. With an additional scalar sector, the theory admits metast…
Using new cosmological doomsday argument Page predicts that the maximal lifetime of de Sitter universe should be $t_{max}=10^{60}$ yr which is way too small in comparison with strings predictions ($t_f>$googleplex). However, since this prediction is dependant on the total number of human observations, we show that Page arguments results instead in astounding conclusion that this number is the quantum variable and is therefore much greater then Page's estimation. Identifying it with the number of coarse-grained histories in de Sitter universe we get the lifetime of the universe comparable with …
Motivated by the coincidence of scrambling time in de Sitter and maximum lifetime given by the $\textit{Trans-Planckian Censorship Conjecture}$ (TCC), we study the relation between the de Sitter complementarity and the Swampland conditions. We study thermalization in de Sitter space from different perspectives and show that TCC implies de Sitter space cannot live long enough to be considered a thermal background. We also revisit $α$-vacua in light of this work and show that TCC imposes multiple initial condition/fine-tuning problems on any conventional inflationary scenario.
The correspondence between string theory in Anti-de Sitter space and super Yang Mills theory is an example of the Holographic principle according to which a quantum theory with gravity must be describable by a boundary theory. However, arguments given so far are incomplete because, while the bulk theory has been related to a boundary theory, the holographic bound saying that the boundary theory has only one bit of information per Planck area has not been justified. We show here that this bound is the physical interpretation of one of the unusual aspects of the correspondence between Anti-de Si…
In this paper we generalize the black hole bound of arXiv:0706.2050 to de Sitter spaces, and apply it to various vacua in the landscape, with a special emphasis on slow-roll inflationary vacua. Non-trivial constraints on the lifetime and the Hubble expansion rate emerge. For example, the general tendency is, that for the fixed number and the increasing mass of the species, vacua must become more curved and more unstable, either classically or quantum mechanically. We also discuss the constraints on the lifetime of vacua in the landscape, due to decay into the neighboring states.
We reformulate the Bekenstein bound as the requirement of positivity of the Helmholtz free energy at the minimum value of the function L=E- S/(2πR), where R is some measure of the size of the system. The minimum of L occurs at the temperature T=1/(2πR). In the case of n-dimensional anti-de Sitter spacetime, the rather poorly defined size R acquires a precise definition in terms of the AdS radius l, with R=l/(n-2). We previously found that the Bekenstein bound holds for all known black holes in AdS. However, in this paper we show that the Bekenstein bound is not generally valid for free quantum…
From the entropy argument for the dS swampland conjecture which connects the Gibbons-Hawking entropy bound with the distance conjecture, we find the entropic quasi-dS instability time given by $1/(\sqrt{ε_H}H)\log(m_{\rm Pl}/H)$ as the lifetime of quasi-dS spacetime. It depends on the slow-roll parameter, and contains the logarithmic factor $\log(m_{\rm Pl}/H)$ which can be found in the scrambling (or decoherence) time as well. Such a logarithmic factor enhances the geodesic distance of the modulus from the mere Planck scale, and also possibly relaxes the bound on $m_{\rm Pl}^2 \nabla^2 V/V$.
We quantize a massive scalar field in de Sitter spacetime and derive the S-matrix for the general interacting theory. Using the general boundary formulation of quantum field theory, we also propose a new type of S-matrix derived from the asymptotic limit of the amplitude associated with a spacetime region bounded by one connected and timelike hypersurface. Based on previous works in Minkowski spacetime, we call this region the hypercylinder region. We show how the new S- matrix coincides with the usual one by constructing an isomorphism between the space of temporal asymptotic states of the tr…
Asymptotically de Sitter spaces can be described by Euclidean boundary theories with entropies given by the modified Cardy--Verlinde formula. We show that the Cardy--Verlinde formula describes a string with a rescaled tension which in fact is a string at the stretched cosmological horizon as seen from the boundary. The temperature of the boundary theory is the rescaled Hagedorn temperature of the string. Our results agree with an alternative description of asymptotically de Sitter spaces in terms of strings on the stretched horizon. The relation between the two descriptions is given by the lar…
We explore aspects of the physics of de Sitter (dS) space that are relevant to holography with a positive cosmological constant. First we display a nonlocal map that commutes with the de Sitter isometries, transforms the bulk-boundary propagator and solutions of free wave equations in de Sitter onto the same quantities in Euclidean anti-de Sitter (EAdS), and takes the two boundaries of dS to the single EAdS boundary via an antipodal identification. Second we compute the action of scalar fields on dS as a functional of boundary data. Third, we display a family of solutions to 3d gravity with a …
We construct a string theory in three-dimensional anti-de Sitter space-time that is independent of the boundary metric. It is a topologically twisted theory of quantum gravity. We study string theories with an asymptotic N=2 superconformal symmetry and demonstrate that, when the world sheet coupling to the space-time boundary metric undergoes a U(1) R-symmetry twist, the space-time boundary energy-momentum tensor becomes topological. As a by-product of our analysis, we obtain the world sheet vertex operator that codes the space-time energy-momentum for conformally flat boundary metrics.
We study the space-time boundary of a Poincare patch of Anti-de Sitter (AdS) space. We map the Poincare AdS boundary to the global coordinate chart and show why this boundary is not equivalent to the global AdS boundary. The Poincare AdS boundary is shown to contain points of the bulk of the entire AdS space. The Euclidean AdS space is also discussed. In this case one can define a semi-global chart that divides the AdS space in the same way as the corresponding Euclidean Poincare chart.
Light-cone form of field dynamics in anti-de Sitter space-time is developed. Using field theoretic and group theoretic approaches the light-cone representation for generators of anti-de Sitter algebra acting as differential operators on bulk fields is found. We also present light-cone reformulation of the boundary conformal field theory representations. Making use of these explicit representations of AdS algebra as isometry algebra in the bulk and the algebra of conformal transformations at the boundary a precise correspondence between the bulk fields and the boundary operators is established.
Our main goal here is to provide an introduction on some of the well established properties of the representation theory of SO(d+1,1), for those considering to think on physical problems set in de Sitter space in terms of these representations. With this purpose we review two intertwining maps, the map G that is used in constructing a well defined inner product for the complementary series representations and the map Q that is involved in constructing composite representations. We give explicit examples from the late-time boundary of de Sitter on the practical use of the complementary series i…
Bulk reconstruction formulas similar to HKLL are obtained for de Sitter and anti-de Sitter spaces as the inverse Gel'fand Graev Radon transform. While these generalize our previous result on the Euclidean anti-de Sitter space, their validity in here is restricted only to odd dimensions in both instances. The exact Wightman function for the de Sitter space is then derived analytically. The GGR transform fixes the coefficient of the Wightman function. For the anti-de Sitter space it is shown that a reconstruction formula exists for the case of time-like boundary as well. The restriction on the d…
We consider the holographic complexity conjectures for de-Sitter invariant states in a quantum field theory on de Sitter space, dual to asymptotically anti-de Sitter geometries with de Sitter boundaries. The bulk holographic duals include solutions with or without a horizon. If we compute the complexity from the spatial volume, we find results consistent with general expectations, but the conjectured bound on the growth rate is not saturated. If we compute complexity from the action of the Wheeler-de Witt patch, we find qualitative differences from the volume calculation, with states of smalle…
This is my contribution to the Festschrift honoring Stephen Hawking on his 60th birthday. Twenty-five years ago, Gibbons and Hawking laid out the semi-classical properties of de Sitter space. After a summary of their main results, I discuss some further quantum aspects that have since been understood. The largest de Sitter black hole displays an intriguing pattern of instabilities, which can render the boundary structure arbitrarily complicated. I review entropy bounds specific to de Sitter space and outline a few of the strategies and problems in the search for a full quantum theory of the sp…
In an asymptotically flat spacetime of dimension d > 3 and with the Newtonian gravitational constant G, a spherical black hole of initial horizon radius r_h and mass M ~ r_h^{d-3}/G has a total decay time to Hawking emission of t_d ~ r_h^{d-1}/G ~ G^{2/(d-3)}M^{(d-1)/(d-3)} which grows without bound as the radius r_h and mass M are taken to infinity. However, in asymptotically anti-de Sitter spacetime with a length scale l and with absorbing boundary conditions at infinity, the total Hawking decay time does not diverge as the mass and radius go to infinity but instead remains bounded by a time…
We analyze different types of quantum corrections to the Cardy-Verlinde entropy formula in a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe and in an (anti)-de Sitter space. In all cases we show that quantum corrections can be represented by an effective cosmological constant which is then used to redefine the parameters entering the Cardy-Verlinde formula so that it becomes valid also with quantum corrections, a fact that we interpret as a further indication of its universality. A proposed relation between Cardy-Verlinde formula and the ADM Hamiltonian constraint is given.
We use the AdS/CFT correspondence to calculate CFT correlation functions of vector and spinor fields. The connection between the AdS and boundary fields is properly treated via a Dirichlet boundary value problem.
In this paper a de Sitter Space version of Black Hole Complementarity is formulated which states that an observer in de Sitter Space describes the surrounding space as a sealed finite temperature cavity bounded by a horizon which allows no loss of information. We then discuss the implications of this for the existence of boundary correlators in the hypothesized dS/cft correspondence. We find that dS complementarity precludes the existence of the appropriate limits. We find that the limits exist only in approximations in which the entropy of the de Sitter Space is infinite. The reason that the …
In this paper we study braneworld cosmology when the bulk space is a charged black hole in de Sitter space (Topological Reissner-Nordström de Sitter Space) in general dimension, then we compute leading order correction to the Friedmann equation that arise from logarithmic corrections to the entropy in the holographic-branworld cosmological framwork. Finally we consider the holographic entropy bounds in this senario, we show the entropy bounds are also modified by logarithmic term.
We show that standard Einstein gravity coupled to a free conformal field theory (CFT) in Anti de Sitter space can undergo a Higgs phenomenon whereby the graviton acquires a nonzero mass (and three extra polarizations). We show that the essential ingredients of this mechanism are the discreteness of the energy spectrum in AdS space, and unusual boundary conditions on the elementary fields of the CFT. These boundary conditions can be interpreted as implying the existence of a 3-d defect CFT living at the boundary of the AdS space. Our free-field computation sheds light on the essential, model-in…
We study extremal surfaces in the static patch coordinatization of de Sitter space, focussing on the future and past universes. We find connected timelike codim-2 surfaces on a boundary Euclidean time slice stretching from the future boundary $I^+$ to the past boundary $I^-$. In a limit, these surfaces pass through the bifurcation region and have minimal area with a divergent piece alone, whose coefficient is de Sitter entropy in 4-dimensions. These are reminiscent of rotated versions of certain surfaces in the $AdS$ black hole. We close with some speculations on a possible $dS/CFT$ interpreta…
The proposed dS/CFT correspondence remains an intriguing paradigm in the context of string theory. Recently it has motivated two interesting conjectures: the entropic N-bound and the maximal mass conjecture. The former states that there is an upper bound to the entropy in asymptotically de Sitter spacetimes, given by the entropy of pure de Sitter space. The latter states that any asymptotically de Sitter spacetime cannot have a mass larger than the pure de Sitter case without inducing a cosmological singularity. Here we review the status of these conjectures and demonstrate their limitation. W…
We revisit the calculation of the thermal free energy for string theory in three-dimensional anti-de Sitter spacetime with Neveu-Schwarz-Neveu-Schwarz flux. The path integral calculation is exploited to confirm the off-shell Hilbert space and we find that the Casimir of the discrete representations of the isometry group takes values in a half-open interval. We extend the free energy calculation to the case of superstrings, calculate the boundary toroidal twisted partition function in the Ramond-Ramond sector, and prove lower bounds on the boundary conformal dimension from the bulk perspective.…
These lectures present an elementary discussion of some background material relevant to the problem of de Sitter quantum gravity. The first two lectures discuss the classical geometry of de Sitter space and properties of quantum field theory on de Sitter space, especially the temperature and entropy of de Sitter space. The final lecture contains a pedagogical discussion of the appearance of the conformal group as an asymptotic symmetry group, which is central to the dS/CFT correspondence. A (previously lacking) derivation of asymptotically de Sitter boundary conditions is also given.
We propose that the entropy of de Sitter space can be identified with the mutual entropy of a dual conformal field theory. We argue that unitary time evolution in de Sitter space restricts the total number of excited degrees of freedom to be bounded by the de Sitter entropy, and we give a CFT interpretation of this restriction. We also clarify issues arising from the fact that both de Sitter and anti de Sitter have dual descriptions in terms of conformal field theory.
The boundary stress tensor approach has proven extremely useful in defining mass and angular momentum in asymptotically anti-de Sitter spaces with CFT duals. An integral part of this method is the use of boundary counterterms to regulate the gravitational action and stress tensor. In addition to the standard gravitational counterterms, in the presence of matter we advocate the use of a finite counterterm proportional to phi^2 (in five dimensions). We demonstrate that this finite shift is necessary to properly reproduce the expected mass/charge relation for R-charged black holes in AdS_5.
Following arXiv:1501.03019 [hep-th], we study de Sitter space and spherical subregions on a constant boundary Euclidean time slice of the future boundary in the Poincare slicing. We show that as in that case, complex extremal surfaces exist here as well: for even boundary dimensions, we isolate the universal coefficient of the logarithmically divergent term in the area of these surfaces. There are parallels with analytic continuation of the Ryu-Takayanagi expressions for holographic entanglement entropy in $AdS/CFT$. We then study the free energy of the dual Euclidean CFT on a sphere holograph…
Recent work has uncovered a correspondence between theories in anti-de Sitter space, and those on its boundary. This has important implications for black holes in string theory which have near-horizon AdS geometries. Using the effective coupling to the boundary conformal field theory, I compute the low-energy, s-wave absorption cross-sections for a minimally coupled scalar in the near-extremal four- and five-dimensional black holes. The results agree precisely with semi-classical gravity calculations. Agreement for fixed scalars, and for the BTZ black hole, is also found.
Gravitational instantons ''Lambda-instantons'' are defined here for any given value Lambda of the cosmological constant. A multiple of the Euler characteristic appears as an upper bound for the de Sitter action and as a lower bound for a family of quadratic actions. The de Sitter action itself is found to be equivalent to a simple and natural quadratic action. In this paper we also describe explicitly the reparameterization and duality invariances of gravity (in 4 dimensions) linearized about de Sitter space. A noncovariant doubling of the fields using the Hamiltonian formalism leads to first …
I consider the (2+1)-dimensional Kerr-De Sitter space and its statistical entropy computation. It is shown that this space has only one (cosmological) event horizon and there is a phase transition between the stable horizon and the evaporating horizon at a point $M^2={1/3}J^2/l^2$ together with a lower bound of the horizon temperature. Then, I compute the statistical entropy of the space by using a recently developed formulation of Chern-Simons theory with boundaries, and extended Cardy's formula. This is in agreement with the thermodynamics formula.
We generalize the color/kinematics duality of flat-space scattering amplitudes to the embedding space formulation of AdS boundary correlators. Kinematic numerators and propagators are replaced with differential operators acting on a scalar contact diagram that is the AdS generalization of the momentum conserving delta function of flat space scattering amplitudes. We show that color/kinematics duality implies differential relations among AdS boundary correlators that naturally generalize the flat space BCJ amplitude relations and verify them for the correlators of Yang-Mills theory and of the N…
Strings propagating in AdS_{D+1} are made Weyl invariant to leading order in large D by a ghost-matter coupling that preserves the Poincare symmetry of the boundary.
We discuss the conditions under which 4D gravity is localized on domain walls in 5D anti-de Sitter spaces. Our approach is based on considering the limits in which the localized gravity decouples. We find that gravity is localized if the wall is located a finite distance from the boundary of the anti-de Sitter space and has a finite tension. In addition, it has to be a $δ$-function source of gravity.
The D-bound on the entropy of matter systems in de Sitter space is shown to be closely related to the Bekenstein bound, which applies in a flat background. This holds in arbitrary dimensions if the Bekenstein bound is calibrated by a classical Geroch process. We discuss the relation of these bounds to the more general bound on the entropy to area ratio. We find that black holes do not saturate the Bekenstein bound in dimensions greater than four.
We consider asymptotically future de Sitter spacetimes endowed with an eternal observatory. In the conventional descriptions, the conformal metric at the future boundary I^+ is deformed by the flux of gravitational radiation. We however impose an unconventional future "Dirichlet" boundary condition requiring that the conformal metric is flat everywhere except at the conformal point where the observatory arrives at I^+. This boundary condition violates conventional causality, but we argue the causality violations cannot be detected by any experiment in the observatory. We show that the bulk-to-…
We consider Kerr-de Sitter spacetimes and evaluate their mass, angular momentum and entropy according to the boundary counterterm prescription. We provide a physicall interpretation for angular velocity and angular momentum at future/past infinity. We show that the entropy of the four-dimensional Kerr-de Sitter spacetimes is less than of pure de Sitter spacetime in agreement to the entropic N-bound. Moreover, we show that maximal mass conjecture which states any asymptotically de Sitter spacetime with mass greater than de Sitter has a cosmological singularity is respected by asymptotically de …
Recently an interesting conjecture was put forward which states that any asymptotically de Sitter space whose mass exceeds that of exact de Sitter space contains a cosmological singularity. In order to test this mass bound conjecture, we present two solutions. One is the topological de Sitter solution and the other is its dilatonic deformation. Although the latter is not asymptotically de Sitter space, the two solutions have a cosmological horizon and a cosmological singularity. Using surface counterterm method we compute the quasilocal stress-energy tensor of gravitational field and the mass …
We compute the vacuum polarization for a massless, conformally coupled scalar field on the covering space of global, four-dimensional, anti-de Sitter space-time. Since anti-de Sitter space is not globally hyperbolic, boundary conditions must be applied to the scalar field. We consider general Robin (mixed) boundary conditions for which the classical evolution of the field is well-defined and stable. The vacuum expectation value of the square of the field is not constant unless either Dirichlet or Neumann boundary conditions are applied. We also compute the thermal expectation value of the squa…
For spaces which are not asymptotically anti-de Sitter where the asymptotic behavior is deformed by replacing the cosmological constant by a dilaton scalar potential, we show that it is possible to have well-defined boundary stress-energy tensors and finite Euclidean actions by adding appropriate surface counterterms. We illustrate the method by the examples of domain-wall black holes in gauged supergravities, three-dimensional dilaton black holes and topological dilaton black holes in four dimensions. We calculate the boundary stress-energy tensor and Euclidean action of these black configura…
The symmetry group of the de Sitter spacetime, accommodates fields of various masses and spin among its unitary irreducible representations. These unitary representations are labeled by the spin and the weight contribution to the scaling dimension and depending on the mass and spin of the field the weight may take either purely real or purely imaginary values. In this work, we construct the late time boundary operators for a massive scalar field propagating in de Sitter spacetime, in arbitrary dimensions. We show that contrary to the case of Anti de Sitter, purely imaginary weights also corres…
