I discuss conceptual issues associated with the presence of metastable AdS vacua in the string landscape. The geometry of the decay from one AdS to another is presented in detail, and various subtleties that are not present for flat or dS vacua are demonstrated and analyzed. I use mostly semiclassical gravity, but I will consider the implications for recent attempts to construct field theory duals of metastable AdS vacua and also possible relevance to the study of eternal inflation.
We study the possibility of obtaining metastable de Sitter vacua of heterotic string theory compactified on a Calabi-Yau threefold which are classical and simple in the Kähler moduli sector of the theory. For this, we exploit a known necessary condition on the Kähler potential in N=1-supergravity, which we, under the assumption that only moduli fields contribute to supersymmetry breaking, express in terms of a tensorial eigenvalue problem for the Calabi-Yau triple intersection tensor. For three-dimensional moduli spaces we are able to identify the discriminant of the Calabi-Yau intersection te…
We review and extend previous results regarding the stability and thermodynamics of Anti-de Sitter (AdS) spacetime at finite temperature. Using a combination of analytic and numerical techniques, we compute the energy, temperature, and entropy of perfect fluid stars in asymptotically AdS spacetimes. We find that at sufficiently high temperature (in the canonical ensemble) or energy (in the microcanonical ensemble) these configurations develop dynamical instabilities, which presumably lead to the formation of a black hole. We extend our analysis to the case of $AdS \times S$ compactifications s…
We use large N duality to study brane/anti-brane configurations on a class of Calabi-Yau manifolds. With only branes present, the Calabi-Yau manifolds in question give rise to N=2 ADE quiver theories deformed by superpotential terms. We show that the large N duality conjecture of hep-th/0610249 reproduces correctly the known qualitative features of the brane/anti-brane physics. In the supersymmetric case, the gauge theories have Seiberg dualities which are represented as flops in the geometry. Moreover, the holographic dual geometry encodes the whole RG flow of the gauge theory. In the non-sup…
We study the stability of vacua with spontaneously broken supersymmetry in N=2 supergravity theories with only hypermultiplets. Focusing on the projection of the scalar mass matrix along the sGoldstino directions, we are able to derive a universal upper bound on the lowest mass eigenvalue. This bound only depends on the gravitino mass and the cosmological constant, but not on the details of the quaternionic manifold spanned by the scalar fields. Comparing with the Breitenlohner-Freedman bound shows that metastability requires the cosmological constant to be smaller than a certain negative crit…
We test the robustness of the conditions required for the existence of (supersymmetric) warped flux anti-de Sitter, de Sitter, and Minkowski backgrounds in supergravity theories using as examples suitable foliations of anti-de Sitter spaces. We find that there are supersymmetric de Sitter solutions in supergravity theories including maximally supersymmetric ones in 10- and 11-dimensional supergravities. Moreover, warped flux Minkowski backgrounds can admit Killing spinors which are not Killing on the Minkowski subspace and therefore cannot be put in a factorized form.
The generalized connections of the (anti)-de Sitter space symmetry algebra, which are differential forms of arbitrary degree with values in any irreducible (spin)-tensor representation of the (anti)-de Sitter algebra, are studied. It is shown that arbitrary-spin gauge field in (anti)-de Sitter space, massless or partially-massless, can be described by a single connection. A 'one-to-one' correspondence between the connections of the (anti)-de Sitter algebra and the gauge fields is established. The gauge symmetry is manifest and auxiliary fields are automatically included in the formalism.
An abelian gauge symmetry can be spontaneously broken near a black hole horizon in anti-de Sitter space using a condensate of non-abelian gauge fields. There is a second order phase transition between Reissner-Nordstrom-anti-de Sitter solutions, which are preferred at high temperatures, and symmetry breaking solutions, which are preferred at low temperatures.
We construct a new class of metastable de Sitter vacua of flux compactifications of type IIB string theory. These solutions provide a natural extension of the `Large Volume Scenario' anti-de Sitter vacua, and can analogously be realised at parametrically large volume and weak string coupling, using standard ${\cal N}=1$ supergravity. For these new vacua, a positive vacuum energy is achieved from the inclusion of a small amount of flux-induced supersymmetry breaking in the complex structure and axio-dilaton sector, and no additional `uplift' contribution (e.g.~from anti-branes) is required. We …
We construct a simple class of N=2 gauged supergravity theories that admit metastable de Sitter vacua, generalizing the recent work done in the context of rigid supersymmetry. The setup involves one hypermultiplet and one vector multiplet spanning suitably curved quaternionic-Kahler and special-Kahler geometries, with an Abelian gauging based on a single triholomorphic isometry, but neither Fayet-Iliopoulos terms nor non-Abelian gauge symmetries. We construct the most general model of this type and show that in such a situation the possibility of achieving metastable supersymmetry breaking vac…
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…
This paper collects the various ways of computing the central charge $c=3l/2G$ arising in 3d asymptotically anti-de Sitter spaces, in the Chern-Simons formulation. Their similarities and differences are displayed.
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.
We investigated the evolution of a scalar field propagating in small Schwarzschild Anti-de Sitter black holes. The imaginary part of the quasinormal frequency decreases with the horizon size and the real part of the quasinormal frequency keeps nearly as a constant. The object-picture clarified the question on the quasinormal modes for small Anti-de Sitter black holes. Dependence of quasinormal modes on spacetime dimensions and the multipole index for small Anti-de Sitter black holes have also been illustrated.
We quantize odd dimensional anti-de Sitter spaces by applying the method of deforming contact manifolds proposed by Rajeev. The construction in the present paper consists of the identification of the odd dimensional anti-de Sitter space as a hypersurface of contact type and the subsequent use of 'symplectization' principle. We also show that this construction generalizes to any odd dimensional hypersurface which can be represented as a nonzero level set of a homogenous function.
We investigate solutions that are dynamically evolving between asymptotically de Sitter and asymptotically anti-de Sitter regions in the context of Einstein gravity coupled to general matter fields in d dimensions. We demonstrate the existence of a no go theorem whenever the matter content of the theory is 'reasonable', i.e. such that the weak energy condition is satisfied. We show that there exist solutions for which the energy conditions are violated in a finite region of the spacetime. We speculate on the holographic interpretation of these gravitational backgrounds by combining ideas from …
In this paper we evaluate the Wightman functions associated with a massive quantum scalar field in de Sitter and anti-de Sitter spacetimes in the presence of a cosmic string. Having these functions we calculate the corresponding renormalized vacuum expectation values of the field squared and present the behavior of the contributions induced by the cosmic string as function of the proper distance to it for different values of the parameter which codify the presence of this linear topological defect.
Four dimensional gauge theories in anti-de Sitter space, including pure Yang-Mills theory, exhibit a quantum phase transition between a deconfined phase and a confined phase as the gauge coupling is varied. We explore various mechanisms by which this may occur, both in a fixed background and in the presence of gravity. We also make a number of observations on the dynamics of four dimensional supersymmetric gauge theories in anti-de Sitter space.
We explore the possibility of obtaining de Sitter vacua in strongly coupled heterotic models by adding various corrections to the supergravity potential energy. We show that, in a generic compactification scenario, Fayet-Iliopoulos terms can generate a de Sitter vacuum. The cosmological constant in this vacuum can be fine tuned to be consistent with observation. We also study moduli potentials in non-supersymmetric compactifications of $E_8 \times E_8$ theory with anti five-branes and $E_8 \times \bar E_8$ theory. We argue that they can be used to create a de Sitter vacuum only if some of the …
We obtain analytic results for the four-point amplitude, at one loop, of an interacting scalar field theory in four-dimensional, Euclidean anti-de Sitter space without exerting any conformal field theory knowledge. For the two-point function, we provide analytic expressions up to two loops. In addition, we argue that the critical exponents of correlation functions near the conformal boundary of anti-de Sitter space provide the necessary data for the renormalization conditions, thus replacing the usual on-shell condition.
The Schwinger-de Witt and Hadamard methods are used to obtain renormalised vacuum expectation values for the fermion condensate, charge current and stress-energy tensor of a quantum fermion field of arbitrary mass on four-dimensional anti-de Sitter space-time. The quantum field is in the global anti-de Sitter vacuum state. The results are compared with those obtained using the Pauli-Villars and zeta-function regularisation methods, respectively.
Free massless fermionic fields of arbitrary spins $s>0$ corresponding to totally (anti)symmetric tensor-spinor representations of the $SO(d-1)$ compact subgroup and in $d$-dimensional anti-de Sitter space are investigated. We propose the free equations of motion, subsidiary conditions and corresponding gauge transformations for such fields. The equations obtained are used to derive the lowest energy values for the above-mentioned representations. A new representation for equations of motion and gauge transformations in terms of generators of anti-de Sitter group $SO(d-1,2)$ is found. It is dem…
The quantization of a scalar field in anti de Sitter spacetime using Poincaré coordinates is considered. We find a discrete spectrum that is consistent with a possible mapping between bulk and boundary quantum states.
In the standard asymptotic expansion of four dimensional static asymptotically flat spacetimes, the coefficient of the first subleading term of the lapse function can be identified with the mass of the spacetime. Using the Hamiltonian formalism we show that, in asymptotically locally anti-de Sitter spacetimes endowed with a scalar field, the mass can read off in the same way only when the boundary conditions are compatible with the asymptotic realization of the anti-de Sitter symmetry. In particular, this implies that some prescriptions for computing the mass of a hairy spacetime are not suita…
We examine the thermodynamic stability of large black holes in four-dimensional anti-de Sitter space, and we demonstrate numerically that black holes which lack local thermodynamic stability often also lack stability against small perturbations. This shows that no-hair theorems do not apply in anti-de Sitter space. A heuristic argument, based on thermodynamics only, suggests that if there are any violations of Cosmic Censorship in the evolution of unstable black holes in anti-de Sitter space, they are beyond the reach of a perturbative analysis.
We comment on the ubiquity of the so-called warped anti-de Sitter spacetimes in three-dimensional (2,0) supergravity theory. By using isometry-invariant tensors and simple counting, we prove their existence for arbitrary $(2,0)$ supergravity models suitably defined close to a minimal model. We also analyze their offshell supersymmetry and the supersymmetry of two geometric orbifolds.
We derive a manifestly duality-invariant formulation of the action principle for linearized gravity on anti de Sitter background. The analysis is based on the two-potential formalism, obtained upon resolution of the constraints in the Hamiltonian formulation. We discuss the relevance of our result in the context of holography.
In this article we provide three new twist-deformed Newtonian Schwarzschild-(Anti-)de Sitter models. They are defined on the Lie-algebraically as well as on the canonically noncommutative space-times respectively. Particularly we find the corresponding Hamiltonian functions and the proper equations of motion. The relations between the models are discussed as well.
We present a short and novel derivation of the Schwinger mechanism for particle pair production in $1+1$ dimensional de Sitter and Anti de Sitter spacetimes. We work directly in the flat embedding space and derive the pair production rates in these spacetimes via instanton methods. The derivation is manifestly coordinate independent, and also lends support to the possible deep connection between two conceptually disparate quantum phenomena - Schwinger effect and the Davies-Unruh effect.
We construct the anti-de Sitter supergravity in three dimensions associated with the supergroup $SU(1,1|2)\times SU(1,1|2)$. The field content and the action are inferred using the fact that $AdS$ supergravity theories in three dimensions are Chern-Simons theories.
The partial breaking of supersymmetry in anti-de Sitter (AdS) space can be accomplished using two of four dual representations for the massive OSp(1,4) spin-3/2 multiplet. The representations can be ``unHiggsed,'' which gives rise to a set of dual N=2 supergravities and supersymmetry algebras.
We determine the most general near-horizon geometry of a supersymmetric, asymptotically anti-de Sitter, black hole solution of five-dimensional minimal gauged supergravity that admits two rotational symmetries. The near-horizon geometry is that of the supersymmetric, topologically spherical, black hole solution of Chong et al. This proves that regular supersymmetric anti-de Sitter black rings with two rotational symmetries do not exist in minimal supergravity. However, we do find a solution corresponding to the near-horizon geometry of a supersymmetric black ring held in equilibrium by a conic…
It is shown that the five-dimensional anti-de Sitter black hole is a supersymmetric solution of the low-energy field equations of type IIB string theory compactified on an Einstein space. A statistical interpretation of the mass dependence of the entropy can be obtained from considerations of the three-dimensional BTZ black hole.
We propose a new form of dimensional reduction that constrains dilatation instead of a component of momentum. It corresponds to replacing toroidal compactification in a Cartesian coordinate with that in the logarithm of the radius. Massive theories in de Sitter or anti de Sitter space are thus produced from massless (scale invariant) theories in one higher space or time dimension. As an example, we derive free massive actions for arbitrary representations of the (anti) de Sitter group in arbitrary dimensions. (Previous general results were restricted to symmetric tensors.) We also discuss gene…
We give a pedagogical introduction to certain aspects of supersymmetric field theories in anti-de Sitter space. Among them are the presence of masslike terms in massless wave equations, irreducible unitary representations and the phenomenon of multiplet shortening.
Within recent Maldacena's proposal to relate gauge theories in the large N limit to the supergravity in the AdS background and recipe for calculation the Wilson loop, we compute corrections to the energy of quark/anti-quark pair in the large N limit.
We analyze the large-order behavior of the perturbative weak-field expansion of the effective Lagrangian density of a massive scalar in de Sitter and anti de Sitter space, and show that this perturbative information is not sufficient to describe the non-perturbative behavior of these theories, in contrast to the analogous situation for the Euler-Heisenberg effective Lagrangian density for charged scalars in constant electric and magnetic background fields. For example, in even dimensional de Sitter space there is particle production, but the effective Lagrangian density is nevertheless real, e…
We consider explicit type II string constructions of backgrounds containing warped and squashed anti de Sitter spaces. These are obtained via T duality from brane intersections including dyonic black strings, plane waves and monopoles. We also study the supersymmetry of these solutions and discuss special values of the deformation parameters.
We propose an interpretation of decays of a false vacuum into an $AdS$ region. The $AdS$ region is interpreted in terms of a dual field theory living on an end of the world brane which expands into the false vacuum.
We analyze noncommutative deformations of a higher dimensional anti-de Sitter-Einstein-Born-Infeld black hole. Two models based on noncommutative inspired distributions of mass and charge are discussed and their thermodynamical properties are calculated. In the (3+1)-dimensional case, the equation of state and the Gibbs energy function of each model are found.
In this letter the nontopological scalar solitons are investigated in an anti de Sitter spacetime. We find analytically that the solitons obeying the necessary conditions $m=\frac{2}{\sqrt{3}}|Λ|^{1/2}$ or $m=\sqrt{\frac{2(n+3)(2n+3)}{3}}|Λ|^{1/2}$ can exist in the background by means of the series expansion.
We present a new class of elliptic-like strings on two-dimensional manifolds of constant curvature. Our solutions are related to a class of identities between Jacobi theta functions and to the geometry of the lightcone in one (spacelike) dimension more.
We investigate stability of the D-dimensional Reissner-Nordstrom-anti-de-Sitter metrics as solutions of the Einstein-Maxwell equations. We have shown that asymptotically anti-de Sitter black holes are dynamically stable for all values of charge and anti-de Sitter radius in $D=5,6...11$ dimensional space-times. This does not contradict to dynamical instability of RN-AdS black holes found by Gubser in $\mathcal{N}=8$ gauged supergravity, because the latter instability comes from the tachyon mode of the scalar field, coupled to the system. Asymptotically AdS black holes are known to be thermodyna…
We reformulate free equations of motion for massive spin 0 and spin 1/2 matter fields in 2+1 dimensional anti-de Sitter space in the form of some covariant constantness conditions. The infinite-dimensional representation of the anti-de Sitter algebra underlying this formulation is shown to admit a natural realization in terms of the algebra of deformed oscillators with a deformation parameter related to the parameter of mass.
We construct the gauge invariant part of the propagator for the massless gravitino in AdS(d+1) by coupling it to a conserved current. We also derive the propagator for the massive gravitino.
We study the anti-de Sitter D-brane dynamics in Hamiltonian formulation. By exploiting the existence of certain conserved charges, we solve the equation of motion for a D1-brane in the AdS3 background and find the space-time dependent solutions. We further study the dynamics by mapping the problem to that of the open string tachyon, and examine the time dependent solutions in some detail.
We suggest that compactifications on Anti-de-Sitter (AdS) spaces of type IIA, IIB, heterotic strings and eleven dimensional vacuua of M-theory are related by a combination of $T$ and strong/weak dualities. Maldacena conjecture relates then all these vacuua to a conformal theory on the boundaries. Furthermore acting with discrete groups on part of the internal spaces of these theories will lead to further dual theories with less or no supersymmetry.
We develop the basics of twistor theory in de Sitter space, up to the Penrose transform for free massless fields. We treat de Sitter space as fundamental, as one does for Minkowski space in conventional introductions to twistor theory. This involves viewing twistors as spinors of the de Sitter group SO(4,1). When attached to a spacetime point, such a twistor can be reinterpreted as a local SO(3,1) Dirac spinor. Our approach highlights the antipodal map in de Sitter space, which gives rise to doublings in the standard relations between twistors and spacetime. In particular, one can generate a f…
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 propose supergravity duals to non-trivial fixed points of the renormalization group in three dimensions with ADE global symmetries. All the fixed point symmetries are identified with space-time symmetries.
Poletti and Wiltshire have shown that, with the exception of a pure cosmological constant, the solution of a dilaton black hole in the background of de Sitter or anti-de Sitter universe, does not exist in the presence of one Liouville-type dilaton potential. Here with the combination of three Liouville-type dilaton potentials, we obtain the dilaton black hole solutions in the background of de Sitter or anti-de Sitter universe.
General relativity can be unambiguously formulated with Lorentz, de Sitter and anti-de Sitter tangent groups, which determine the fermionic representations. We show that besides of the Lorentz group only anti-de Sitter tangent group is consistent with all physical requirements.
Despite the recent evidence that anti-de Sitter spacetime is nonlinearly unstable, we argue that many asymptotically anti-de Sitter solutions are nonlinearly stable. This includes geons, boson stars, and black holes. As part of our argument, we calculate the frequencies of long-lived gravitational quasinormal modes of AdS black holes in various dimensions. We also discuss a new class of asymptotically anti-de Sitter solutions describing noncoalescing black hole binaries.
We extend the derivation of the Hawking temperature of a Schwarzschild black hole via the Heisenberg uncertainty principle to the de Sitter and anti-de Sitter spacetimes. The thermodynamics of the Schwarzschild-(anti-)de Sitter black holes is obtained from the generalized uncertainty principle of string theory and non-commutative geometry. This may explain why the thermodynamics of (anti-)de Sitter-like black holes admits a holographic description in terms of a dual quantum conformal field theory, whereas the thermodynamics of Schwarzschild-like black holes does not.
Anti-de Sitter space with identified points give rise to black-hole structures. This was first pointed out in three dimensions, and generalized to higher dimensions by Aminneborg et al. In this paper, we analyse several aspects of the five dimensional anti-de Sitter black hole including, its relation to thermal anti-de Sitter space, its embedding in a Chern-Simons supergravity theory, its global charges and holonomies, and the existence of Killing spinors.
We construct new axially symmetric solutions of SU(2) Yang-Mills theory in a four dimensional anti-de Sitter spacetime. Possessing nonvanishing nonabelian charges, these regular configurations have also a nonzero angular momentum. Numerical arguments are also presented for the existence of rotating solutions of Einstein-Yang-Mills equations in an asymptotically anti-de Sitter spacetime.
We first briefly discuss the relation between black hole thermodynamics and the entropy function formalism. We find that an equation which governs the relationship between Sen's entropy function and black hole entropy, can quickly give higher order corrections to entropy of pure (anti-) de Sitter space without knowing the corrected metric. We also show that near horizon geometry and the entropy function extremization is no longer required for pure (anti-)de Sitter space. The entropy of (anti-)de Sitter space and Schwarzschild-(anti-) de Sitter black holes together with Gauss-Bonnet terms, $R^2…
