We argue that, in a theory of quantum gravity in a four dimensional asymptotically flat spacetime, all information about massless excitations can be obtained from an infinitesimal neighbourhood of the past boundary of future null infinity and does not require observations over all of future null infinity. Moreover, all information about the state that can be obtained through observations near a cut of future null infinity can also be obtained from observations near any earlier cut although the converse is not true. We provide independent arguments for these two assertions. Similar statements hold for past null infinity. These statements have immediate implications for the information paradox since they suggest that the fine-grained von Neumann entropy of the state defined on a segment $(-\infty,u)$ of future null infinity is independent of u. This is very different from the oft-discussed Page curve that this entropy is sometimes expected to obey. We contrast our results with recent discussions of the Page curve in the context of black hole evaporation, and also discuss the relation of our results to other proposals for holography in flat space.
We follow the spirit of a recent proposal to show that previous computations for asymptotically flat spacetimes in four dimensions at null infinity can be re-interpreted in terms of a well-defined holographic current algebra for the time component of the currents. The analysis is completed by the current algebra for the spatial components.
We consider AdS gravity duals to CFT on background spacetimes with a null infinity. Null infinity on the conformal boundary may extend to an extremal horizon in the bulk. For example it does so for Poincare-AdS, although does not for planar Schwarzschild-AdS. If null infinity does extend into an extremal horizon in the bulk, we show that the bulk near-horizon geometry is determined by the geometry of the boundary null infinity. Hence the `infra-red' geometry of the bulk is fixed by the large scale behaviour of the CFT spacetime. In addition the boundary stress tensor must have a particular dec…
We define the angular momentum at null infinity in higher dimensions. The asymptotic symmetry at null infinity becomes the Poincare group in higher dimensions. This fact implies that the angular momentum can be defined without any ambiguities such as supertranslation in four dimensions. Indeed we can show that the angular momentum in our definition is transformed covariantly with respect to the Poincare group.
The averaged null energy conditions (ANEC) states that, along a complete null curve, the negative energy fluctuations of a quantum field must be balanced by positive energy fluctuations. We use the AdS/CFT correspondence to prove the ANEC for a class of strongly coupled conformal field theories in flat spacetime. A violation of the ANEC in the field theory would lead to acausal propagation of signals in the bulk.
We discuss the asymptotic structure of null infinity in five dimensional space-time. Since it is known that the conformal infinity is not useful for odd higher dimensions, we shall employ the coordinate based method like the Bondi coordinate firstly introduced in four dimensions. Then we define the null infinity and identify the asymptotic symmetry. We also derive the Bondi mass expression and show its conservation law.
I describe the Schwarzian behavior of the gravitational field at null infinity under superrotations, to be understood as an \textit{unobservable} gauge artifact. To this end I review the induced geometry of null infinity and the construction of the gauge-invariant News tensor that characterizes gravitational radiation. I discuss potentially important implications for the celestial holography program, suggesting in particular that the uplift of the AdS$_3$/CFT$_2$ correspondence directly relates to the unobservable gauge sector.
Matching conditions at null infinity in the presence of logarithms: the role of advanced and retarded radiation
Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad San Sebastián（圣塞巴斯蒂安大学工程学院）；Université Libre de Bruxelles（布鲁塞尔自由大学）；International Solvay Institutes（国际索尔维研究所）；Collège de France, Université PSL（法兰西公学院，巴黎文理研究大学）；Centro de Estudios Científicos (CECs)（科学研究中心）；Erwin Schrödinger Int. Institute for Mathematics and Physics, University of Vienna（维也纳大学埃尔温·薛定谔数学与物理国际研究所）
Null energy condition plays a crucial role in holographic renormalization group flow, leading to the holographic c-theorem. Unfortunately, the null energy condition is quantum mechanically violated. Even the averaged version can be violated. We discuss how the anomalous violation of the null energy condition affects the holographic renormalization group flow in 1+3 dimensional bulk gravity. We show that despite the violation of the null energy condition, a suitably modified holographic c-function with a peculiar log correction is still monotonically decreasing in so far as we add the counterte…
We provide a mapping between past null and future null infinity in three-dimensional flat space, using symmetry considerations. From this we derive a mapping between the corresponding asymptotic symmetry groups. By studying the metric at asymptotic regions, we find that the mapping is energy preserving and yields an infinite number of conservation laws.
In this paper, using the Bondi coordinates, we discuss the angular momentum at null infinity in five dimensions and address the Poincare covariance of the Bondi mass and angular momentum. We also show the angular momentum loss/gain law due to gravitational waves. In four dimensions, the angular momentum at null infinity has the supertranslational ambiguity and then it is known that we cannot construct well-defined angular momentum there. On the other hand, we would stress that we can define angular momentum at null infinity without any ambiguity in higher dimensions. This is because of the non…
We define the asymptotic flatness and discuss asymptotic symmetry at null infinity in arbitrary dimensions using the Bondi coordinates. To define the asymptotic flatness, we solve the Einstein equations and look at the asymptotic behavior of gravitational fields. Then we show the asymptotic symmetry and the Bondi mass loss law with the well-defined definition.
We discuss three different (conformally) Carrollian geometries and their relation to null infinity from the unifying perspective of Cartan geometry. Null infinity \emph{per se} comes with numerous redundancies in its intrinsic geometry and the two other Carrollian geometries can be recovered by making successive choices of gauge. This clarifies the extent to which one can think of null infinity as being a (strongly) Carrollian geometry and we investigate the implications for the corresponding Cartan geometries. The perspective taken, which is that characteristic data for gravity at null infini…
We show that the asymptotic charges associated with Lorentz symmetries on past and future null infinity match in the limit to spatial infinity in a class of asymptotically-flat spacetimes. These are spacetimes that obey the Ashtekar-Hansen definition of asymptotic flatness at null and spatial infinity and satisfy an additional set of conditions which we lay out explicitly. Combined with earlier results on the matching of supertranslation charges, this shows that all Bondi-Metzner-Sachs (BMS) charges on past and future null infinity match in the limit to spatial infinity in this class of spacet…
We examine the quantum null energy condition (QNEC) for a $2+1$-dimensional conformal field theory (CFT) at strong coupling in the background of a wormhole spacetime by employing the AdS/CFT correspondence. First, we numerically construct a novel $3+1$-dimensional vacuum AdS black hole solution with non-trivial topology, which is dual to a wormhole geometry connecting two flat universes. Although the bulk null energy condition (NEC) is not violated, the NEC for the holographic stress-energy tensor is violated near the wormhole throat. Next, we investigate the entanglement entropy for a half-sp…
We show that the symmetry algebra of asymptotically flat four dimensional spacetimes at null infinity in the sense of Newman and Unti is isomorphic to the direct sum of the abelian algebra of infinitesimal conformal rescalings with bms4. We then work out the local conformal properties of the relevant Newman-Penrose coefficients, as well as the surface charges and their algebra.
We examine the averaged null energy condition~(ANEC) for strongly coupled fields, along the event horizon of an evaporating black hole by using the AdS/CFT duality. First, we consider a holographic model of a $3$-dimensional evaporating black hole with a perturbed 4-dimensional black droplet geometry as the bulk dual, and investigate how negative energy flux going into the boundary black hole horizon appears. We show that the ingoing negative energy flux always appears at the boundary black hole horizon when the horizon area decreases. Second, we test the ANEC in a holographic model of a $4$-d…
We use the formalism developed by Wald and Zoupas to derive explicit covariant expressions for the charges and fluxes associated with the Bondi-Metzner-Sachs symmetries at null infinity in asymptotically flat spacetimes in vacuum general relativity. Our expressions hold in non-stationary regions of null infinity, are local and covariant, conformally-invariant, and are independent of the choice of foliation of null infinity and of the chosen extension of the symmetries away from null infinity. While similar expressions have appeared previously in the literature in Bondi-Sachs coordinates (to wh…
We use holography to prove the Quantum Null Energy Condition (QNEC) at leading order in large-$N$ for CFTs and relevant deformations of CFTs in Minkowski space which have Einstein gravity duals. Given any codimension-2 surface $Σ$ which is locally stationary under a null deformation in the direction $k$ at the point $p$, the QNEC is a lower bound on the energy-momentum tensor at $p$ in terms of the second variation of the entropy to one side of $Σ$: $\langle T_{kk}\rangle \geq S"/2π\sqrt{h}$. In a CFT, conformal transformations of this inequality give results which apply when $Σ$ is not locall…
It is argued that the symmetry algebra of asymptotically flat spacetimes at null infinity in 4 dimensions should be taken as the semi-direct sum of supertranslations with infinitesimal local conformal transformations and not, as usually done, with the Lorentz algebra. As a consequence, two dimensional conformal field theory techniques will play as fundamental a role in this context of direct physical interest as they do in three dimensional anti-de Sitter gravity.
The symmetry algebra of asymptotically flat spacetimes at null infinity in three dimensions is the semi-direct sum of the infinitesimal diffeomorphisms on the circle with an abelian ideal of supertranslations. The associated charge algebra is shown to admit a non trivial classical central extension of Virasoro type closely related to that of the anti-de Sitter case.
We give a geometrical definition of the asymptotic flatness at null infinity in spacetimes of even dimension $d$ greater than 4 within the framework of conformal infinity. Our definition is shown to be stable against perturbations to linear order. We also show that our definition is stringent enough to allow one to define the total energy of the system viewed from null infinity as the generator conjugate to an asymptotic time translation. We derive an expression for the generator conjugate within the Hamiltonian framework, and propose to take this notion of energy as the natural generalisation…
Starting from the Chern-Simons formulation, the two-dimensional dual theory for three-dimensional asymptotically flat Einstein gravity at null infinity is constructed. Solving the constraints together with suitable gauge fixing conditions gives in a first stage a chiral Wess-Zumino-Witten like model based on the Poincaré algebra in three dimensions. The next stage involves a Hamiltonian reduction to a BMS3 invariant Liouville theory. These results are connected to those originally derived in the anti-de Sitter case by rephrasing the latter in a suitable gauge before taking their flat-space lim…
We investigate the behavior of null geodesics near future null infinity in asymptotically flat spacetimes. In particular, we focus on the asymptotic behavior of null geodesics that correspond to worldlines of photons initially emitted in the directions tangential to the constant radial surfaces in the Bondi coordinates. The analysis is performed for general dimensions, and the difference between the four-dimensional cases and the higher-dimensional cases is stressed. In four dimensions, some assumptions are required to guarantee the null geodesics to reach future null infinity, in addition to …
We study asymptotically Lifshitz spacetimes and the constraints on flows between Lifshitz fixed points imposed by the null energy condition. In contrast with the relativistic holographic c-theorem, where the effective AdS radius, L, is monotonically decreasing in the IR, for Lifshitz backgrounds we find that both L and z may flow in either direction. We demonstrate this with several numerical examples in a phenomenological model with a massive gauge field coupled to a real scalar.
A new sufficient condition for photons emitted near future null infinity to reach future null infinity is derived by studying null geodesics in the Bondi coordinates in asymptotically flat spacetimes. In our previous works [arXiv:2106.03150, arXiv:2110.10917], such a condition was established for photons emitted in outward or tangential directions to constant radial surfaces. This paper improves our previous result by including photons emitted in inward directions. In four dimensions, imposing the same assumptions on the metric functions as previously, we prove that photons reach future null i…
The area of a cross-sectional cut $Σ$ of future null infinity ($\mathcal{I}^+$) is infinite. We define a finite, renormalized area by subtracting the area of the same cut in any one of the infinite number of BMS-degenerate classical vacua. The renormalized area acquires an anomalous dependence on the choice of vacuum. We relate it to the modular energy, including a soft graviton contribution, of the region of $\mathcal{I}^+$ to the future of $Σ$. Under supertranslations, the renormalized area shifts by the supertranslation charge of $Σ$. In quantum gravity, we conjecture a bound relating the r…
We compute the time evolution of the mutual information in out of equilibrium quantum systems whose gravity duals are Vaidya spacetimes in three and four dimensions, which describe the formation of a black hole through the collapse of null dust. We find the holographic mutual information to be non monotonic in time and always monogamous in the ranges explored. We also find that there is a region in the configuration space where it vanishes at all times. We show that the null energy condition is a necessary condition for both the strong subadditivity of the holographic entanglement entropy and …
In this paper we establish a relation between the non-linearly conserved Newman-Penrose charges and certain subleading terms in a large-$r$ expansion of the BMS charges in an asymptotically-flat spacetime. We define the subleading BMS charges by considering a $1/r$-expansion of the Barnich-Brandt prescription for defining asymptotic charges in an asymptotically-flat spacetime. At the leading order, i.e. $1/r^0$, one obtains the standard BMS charges, which would be integrable and conserved in the absence of a flux term at null infinity, corresponding to gravitational radiation, or Bondi news. A…
We analyze the dynamics of a four-dimensional null hypersurface in a five-dimensional bulk spacetime with Einstein-Yang-Mills fields. In an appropriate ansatz, the projection of the field equations onto the hypersurface takes the form of conservation laws for relativistic hydrodynamics with global non-abelian charges. A Chern-Simons term in the bulk action corresponds to anomalies in the global charges, with a vorticity term arising in the hydrodynamics. We derive the entropy current and obtain unique expressions for some of the leading-order transport coefficients (in the abelian case, all of…
A modern version of the idea that the area of event horizons gives $4G$ times an entropy is the Hubeny-Rangamani Causal Holographic Information (CHI) proposal for holographic field theories. Given a region $R$ of a holographic QFTs, CHI computes $A/4G$ on a certain cut of an event horizon in the gravitational dual. The result is naturally interpreted as a coarse-grained entropy for the QFT. CHI is known to be finitely greater than the fine-grained Hubeny-Rangamani-Takayanagi (HRT) entropy when $\partial R$ lies on a Killing horizon of the QFT spacetime, and in this context satisfies other non-…
We show that the BMS-supertranslations and their associated supermomenta on past null infinity can be related to those on future null infinity, proving the conjecture of Strominger for a class of spacetimes which are asymptotically-flat in the sense of Ashtekar and Hansen. Using a cylindrical 3-manifold of both null and spatial directions of approach towards spatial infinity, we impose appropriate regularity conditions on the Weyl tensor near spatial infinity along null directions. The asymptotic Einstein equations on this 3-manifold and the regularity conditions imply that the relevant Weyl t…
Applying the relation between Euclidean on-shell action in the bulk and free energy on the holographic screen to a test charged particle in the charged R-N black hole, we show that not only gravity but also electromagnetic force can be regarded as a sort of thermal force, which accomplishes the unification of gravity and electromagnetism to some extent. In addition, taking into account the fact that both the temperature and thermal force of the dual system are measured at infinity, we argue that the dual holographic screen may be located at infinity.
We describe a theory that lives on the null conformal boundary of asymptotically flat space-time, and whose states encode the radiative modes of (super)gravity. We study the induced action of the BMS group, verifying that the Ward identity for certain BMS supertranslations is equivalent to Weinberg's soft graviton theorem in the bulk. The subleading behaviour of soft gravitons may also be obtained from a Ward identity for certain superrotation generators in the extended BMS algebra proposed by Barnich & Troessaert. We show that the theory computes the complete classical gravitational S-matrix,…
We construct a new class of 1/4-BPS time dependent domain-wall solutions with null-like metric and dilaton in type II supergravities, which admit a null-like big bang singularity. Based on the domain-wall/QFT correspondence, these solutions are dual to 1/4-supersymmetric quantum field theories living on a boundary cosmological background with time dependent coupling constant and UV cutoff. In particular we evaluate the holographic $c$ function for the 2-dimensional dual field theory living on the corresponding null-like cosmology. We find that this $c$ function runs in accordance with the $c$-…
On any asymptotically-flat spacetime, we show that the asymptotic symmetries and charges of Maxwell fields on past null infinity can be related to those on future null infinity as recently proposed by Strominger. We extend the covariant formalism of Ashtekar and Hansen by constructing a 3-manifold of both null and spatial directions of approach to spatial infinity. This allows us to systematically impose appropriate regularity conditions on the Maxwell fields near spatial infinity along null directions. The Maxwell equations on this 3-manifold and the regularity conditions imply that the relev…
We give two double copy prescriptions which construct asymptotically flat solutions in gravity from asymptotically flat gauge fields. The first prescription applies to radiative fields, which are non-linear vacuum solutions determined by characteristic data at null infinity. For any two such radiative gauge fields (linear or non-linear), the characteristic data of a radiative metric, dilaton and axion is constructed by a simple `squaring' procedure, giving a classical double copy at the level of radiation fields. We demonstrate the procedure with several examples where the characteristic data …
We study the consequences of Entanglement Wedge Nesting for CFTs with holographic duals. The CFT is formulated on an arbitrary curved background, and we include the effects of curvature-squared couplings in the bulk. In this setup we find necessary and sufficient conditions for Entanglement Wedge Nesting to imply the Quantum Null Energy Condition in $d\leq 5$, extending its earlier holographic proofs. We also show that the Quantum Focusing Conjecture yields the Quantum Null Energy Condition as its nongravitational limit under these same conditions.
We construct a relation between the Aretakis charge of any extreme black hole and the Newman-Penrose charge. This is achieved by constructing a conformal correspondence between extreme black holes and what we call weakly asymptotically flat space-times. Under this correspondence the Newman-Penrose charge of the weakly asymptotically flat space-time maps on to the Aretakis charge of the extreme black hole. Furthermore, we generalise the conformal isometry displayed by the extreme Reissner-Nordström solution to a novel conformal symmetry that acts within a class of static STU supergravity black …
It is shown that the conserved charges on the event horizon and the Cauchy horizon associated to scalar perturbations on extremal black holes are externally measurable from null infinity. This suggests that these charges have the potential to serve as an observational signature. The proof of this result is based on obtaining precise late-time asymptotics for the radiation field of outgoing perturbations.
In the context of asymptotically flat spacetimes we exploit techniques proper either of white noise analysis either of dynamical systems in order to develop the Lagrangian and the Hamiltonian approach to a BMS invariant field theory at null infinity.
Bearing in mind our previous study on asymptotic behavior of null geodesics near future null infinity, we analyze the behavior of geometrical quantities such as a certain extrinsic curvature and Riemann tensor in the Bondi coordinates. In the sense of asymptotics, the condition for an $r$-constant hypersurface to be a photon surface is shown to be controlled by a key quantity that determines the fate of photons initially emitted in angular directions. As a consequence, in four dimensions, such a non-expanding photon surface can be realized even near future null infinity in the presence of enor…
We consider the Complexity=Action (CA) proposal in Einstein gravity and investigate new counterterms which are able to remove all the UV divergences of holographic complexity. We first show that the two different methods for regularizing the gravitational on-shell action proposed in Ref. \cite{Carmi:2016wjl} are completely equivalent, provided that one considers the Gibbons-Hawking-York term as well as new counterterms inspired from holographic renormalization on timelike boundaries of the WDW patch. Next, we introduce new counterterms on the null boundaries of the WDW patch for four and five …
We describe a novel twistorial construction of the asymptotic BMS symmetries at null infinity for asymptotically flat spacetimes. We define BMS twistors as spinor solutions to some set of components of the usual spacetime twistor equation restricted to null infinity. The space of BMS twistors is infinite-dimensional. We show that given two BMS twistors their symmetric tensor product can be used to generate (complex) vector fields which are the infinitesimal BMS symmetries of null infinity. In this sense BMS twistors are "square roots" of BMS symmetries. We also show that these BMS twistor equa…
We examine holographic complexity in time-dependent Vaidya spacetimes with both the complexity$=$volume (CV) and complexity$=$action (CA) proposals. We focus on the evolution of the holographic complexity for a thin shell of null fluid, which collapses into empty AdS space and forms a (one-sided) black hole. In order to apply the CA approach, we introduce an action principle for the null fluid which sources the Vaidya geometries, and we carefully examine the contribution of the null shell to the action. Further, we find that adding a particular counterterm on the null boundaries of the Wheeler…
The relationships between extended BMS symmetries at null infinity and Weinberg's soft theorems for gravitons and photons together with their subleading generalizations are developed using ambitwistor string theory. Ambitwistor space is the phase space of complex null geodesics in complexified space-time. We show how it can be canonically identified with the cotangent bundle of null infinity. BMS symmetries of null infinity lift to give a hamiltonian action on ambitwistor space, both in general dimension and in its twistorial 4-dimensional representation. General vertex operators arise from ha…
