We carry out in full generality and without fixing specific boundary conditions, the symmetry and charge analysis near a generic null surface for two and three dimensional (2d and 3d) gravity theories. In 2d and 3d there are respectively two and three charges which are generic functions over the codimension one null surface. The integrability of charges and their algebra depend on the state-dependence of symmetry generators which is a priori not specified. We establish the existence of infinitely many choices that render the surface charges integrable. We show that there is a choice, the "fundamental basis", where the null boundary symmetry algebra is the Heisenberg+Diff(d-2) algebra. We expect this result to be true for d>3 when there is no Bondi news through the null surface.
It is common knowledge that the Einstein-Hilbert action does not furnish a well-posed variational principle. The usual solution to this problem is to add an extra boundary term to the action, called a counter-term, so that the variational principle becomes well-posed. When the boundary is spacelike or timelike, the Gibbons-Hawking-York counter-term is the most widely used. For null boundaries, we had proposed a counter-term in a previous paper. In this paper, we extend the previous analysis and propose a counter-term that can be used to eliminate variations of the "off-the-surface" derivatives…
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.
Using the Brown-York prescription for the definition of quasilocal gravitational energy-momentum tensor on a boundary and also complete canonical structure on a null boundary which has been found recently \cite{Aghapour:2018icu}, we propose a similar stress tensor on the null boundary. Then we exploit this stress tensor to compute the quasi-local energy and angular momentum for some well-known gravitational solutions. We have found that in addition to reference spacetime method for regularizing total energy, in the case of null boundary we can add a possible counterterm so avoiding embedding d…
We study surface charges on a generic null boundary in three dimensional topological massive gravity (TMG). We construct the solution phase space which involves four independent functions over the two dimensional null boundary. One of these functions corresponds to the massive chiral propagating graviton mode of TMG. The other three correspond to three surface charges of the theory, two of which can always be made integrable, while the last one can become integrable only in the absence of the chiral massive graviton flux through the null boundary. As the null boundary symmetry algebra we obtai…
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.
Important classes of null geodesics and hidden symmetries in the Sen black hole are investigated. First, we obtain the principal null geodesics and circular photon orbits. Then, an irreducible rank-two Killing tensor and a conformal Killing tensor are derived, which represent the hidden symmetries. Analyzing the properties of Killing tensors, we clarify why the Hamilton-Jacobi and wave equations are separable in this spacetime. We also investigate the gravitational capture of photons by the Sen black hole and compare the result with those by the various charged/rotating black holes and naked s…
In this paper, we revisit the null boundary gravitational charge in the Newman-Penrose formalism with special emphasis on the charges from local Lorentz transformations. We find that there is one more charge derived from the local Lorentz transformation and the new charge is purely from the Holst term. This reveals a remarkable fact that trivial terms which do not change classical equations of motion can not only affect the boundary degrees of freedom through their contributions to the boundary charges but also have their own rights to create new boundary degrees of freedom.
The common intrinsic geometry shared by all the null hypersurfaces gives rise to the asymptotic symmetries found on the null infinities $\mathscr I^\pm$ and the isolated horizons $Δ$. In this work, the properties of a null hypersurface are reviewed and the invariance of its intrinsic geometry ($n^an^bh_{ab}$) is revealed under the spacetime conformal transformation. The generators, i.e., infinitesimal symmetries, of the conformal transformation tangent to the null hypersurface are defined and classified by their effects on the induced metric and the normal vector field. Two particular examples…
To understand the underlying degrees of freedom, near horizon symmetry analysis of a black has gain significant interest in the recent past. In this paper we generalized those analysis first by taking into account a generic null surface carrying $U(1)$ electromagnetic charge. With the appropriate boundary conditions near the surface under study, we identified the symmetry algebra among the subset of diffeomporphism and gauge generators which preserve the metric of the null surface and the form of the gauge field configuration. With the knowledge of those symmetries we further derived the algeb…
The Brown-York stress tensor provides a means for defining quasilocal gravitational charges in subregions bounded by a timelike hypersurface. We consider the generalization of this stress tensor to null hypersurfaces. Such a stress tensor can be derived from the on-shell subregion action of general relativity associated with a Dirichlet variational principle, which fixes an induced Carroll structure on the null boundary. The formula for the mixed-index tensor $T{}^i{}_j$ takes a remarkably simple form that is manifestly independent of the choice of auxiliary null vector at the null surface, an…
We present a complete discussion of the boundary term in the action functional of general relativity when the boundary includes null segments in addition to the more usual timelike and spacelike segments. We confirm that ambiguities appear in the contribution from a null segment, because it depends on an arbitrary choice of parametrization for the generators. We also show that similar ambiguities appear in the contribution from a codimension-two surface at which a null segment is joined to another (spacelike, timelike, or null) segment. The parametrization ambiguity can be tamed by insisting t…
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 revisit the covariant phase space formalism applied to gravitational theories with null boundaries, utilizing the most general boundary conditions consistent with a fixed null normal. To fix the ambiguity inherent in the Wald-Zoupas definition of quasilocal charges, we propose a new principle, based on holographic reasoning, that the flux be of Dirichlet form. This also produces an expression for the analog of the Brown-York stress tensor on the null surface. Defining the algebra of charges using the Barnich-Troessaert bracket for open subsystems, we give a general formula for the central -…
Edge observables in Maxwell theory on null boundaries
Faculty of Physics, University of Belgrade（贝尔格莱德大学物理学院）；Instituto de Física, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso（天主教瓦尔帕莱索大学物理研究所）；DISAT, Politecnico di Torino（都灵理工大学 DISAT）；Facultad de Ingeniería Civil, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo（圣尼古拉斯伊达尔戈米却肯大学土木工程学院）
By imposing the boundary condition associated with the boundary structure of the null boundaries rather than the usual one, we find that the key requirement in Harlow-Wu's algorithm fails to be met in the whole covariant phase space. Instead, it can be satisfied in its submanifold with the null boundaries given by the expansion free and shear free hypersurfaces in Einstein's gravity, which can be regarded as the origin of the non-triviality of null boundaries in terms of Wald-Zoupas's prescription. But nevertheless, by sticking to the variational principle as our guiding principle and adapting…
In this paper we consider introducing careful regularization in the quantization of Maxwell theory in the asymptotic null infinity. This allows systematic discussions of the commutators in various boundary conditions, and application of Dirac brackets accordingly in a controlled manner. This method is most useful when we consider asymptotic charges that are not localized at the boundary $u\to \pm \infty$ like large gauge transformations. We show that our method reproduces the operator algebra in known cases, and it can be applied to other space-time symmetry charges such as the BMS transformat…
We discuss some geometrical issues related to spacelike minimal surfaces in $AdS_m$ with null polygonal boundaries at conformal infinity. In particular for $AdS_4$, two holomorphic input functions for the Pohlmeyer reduced system are identified. This system contains two coupled differential equations for two functions $α(z,\bar z)$ and $β(z,\bar z)$, related to curvature and torsion of the surface. Furthermore, we conjecture that, for a polynomial choice of the two holomorphic functions, the relative positions of their zeros encode the conformal invariant data of the boundary null $2n$-gon.
Logarithmic supertranslations as asymptotic symmetries of gravity at null infinity
Instituto de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (ICEN), Universidad Arturo Prat（阿图罗·普拉特大学精确科学与自然学院）；Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Arturo Prat（阿图罗·普拉特大学理学院）；Université Libre de Bruxelles and International Solvay Institutes（布鲁塞尔自由大学与国际索尔维研究所）；Collège de France, Université PSL（法兰西公学，巴黎文理研究大学）
Weinberg's celebrated factorisation theorem holds for soft quanta of arbitrary integer spin. The same result, for spin one and two, has been rederived assuming that the infinite-dimensional asymptotic symmetry group of Maxwell's equations and of asymptotically flat spaces leave the S-matrix invariant. For higher spins, on the other hand, no such infinite-dimensional asymptotic symmetries were known and, correspondingly, no a priori derivation of Weinberg's theorem could be conjectured. In this contribution we review the identification of higher-spin supertranslations and superrotations in $D=4…
Celestial $Lw_{1+\infty}$ Symmetries and Subleading Phase Space of Null Hypersurfaces
Harvard University（哈佛大学）；Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics（珀杜姆理论物理研究所）；Université Libre de Bruxelles and International Solvay Institutes（布鲁塞尔自由大学与国际索尔维研究所）；Collège de France（法兰西学院）
Spacetime boundaries do not break diffeomorphism and gauge symmetries
University of Graz (Uni Graz)（格拉茨大学）；Masaryk University (MUNI)（马萨里克大学）；Mons University (UMONS)（蒙斯大学）；Politecnico di Torino (PoliTo)（都灵理工大学）；Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Section of Torino（意大利国家核物理研究所都灵分部）；Universidad Católica De La Santísima Concepción（康塞普西翁圣神天主教大学）
We elaborate on the Green's functions that appeared in [1,2] when generalizing, from massless to massive particles, various equivalences between soft theorems and Ward identities of large gauge symmetries. We analyze these Green's functions in considerable detail and show that they form a hierarchy of functions which describe `boundary to bulk' propagators for large $U(1)$ gauge parameters, supertranslations and sphere vector fields respectively. As a consistency check we verify that the Green's functions associated to the large diffeomorphisms map the Poincare group at null infinity to the Po…
We present a definition of null G-structures on Lorentzian manifolds and investigate their geometric properties. This definition includes the Robinson structure on 4-dimensional black holes as well as the null structures that appear in all supersymmetric solutions of supergravity theories. We also identify the induced geometry on some null hypersurfaces and that on the orbit spaces of null geodesic congruences in such Lorentzian manifolds. We give the algebra of diffeomorphisms that preserves a null G-structure and demonstrate that in some cases it interpolates between the BMS algebra of an as…
We study the compatibility of the AdS/CFT duality with the bulk and boundary causality, and derive a conformally invariant averaged null energy condition (CANEC) for quantum field theories in 3 and 5-dimensional curved boundaries. This is the generalization of the averaged null energy condition (ANEC) in Minkowski spacetime to curved boundaries, where null energy is averaged along the null line with appropriate weight for conformal invariance. For this purpose we take, as our guiding principle, the no-bulk-shortcut theorem of Gao and Wald, which essentially asserts that when going from one poi…
In this thesis, we aim to find the asymptotic symmetries of the Kalb-Ramond field in four dimensions at future null infinity. We start by reviewing the asymptotic symmetries of electrodynamics in four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime at future null infinity. We continue by investigating the asymptotic symmetries of the Kalb-Ramond field at future null infinity. We motivate the fall-off conditions by demanding the finiteness of energy, momentum, angular momentum and charge flux through future null infinity. We expand the gauge fields in ``radial" and Lorenz gauge and compute the generating charg…
In this paper we study the magnetic charges of the free massless Rarita-Schwinger field in four dimensional asymptotically flat space-time. This is the first step towards extending the study of the dual BMS charges to supergravity. The magnetic charges appear due to the addition of a boundary term in the action. This term is similar to the theta term in Yang-Mills theory. At null-infinity an infinite dimensional algebra is discovered, both for the electric and magnetic charge.
We characterise the geometrical nature of smooth supertranslations defined on a generic non-expanding horizon (NEH) embedded in vacuum. To this end we consider the constraints imposed by the vacuum Einstein's equations on the NEH structure, and discuss the transformation properties of their solutions under supertranslations. We present a freely specifiable data set which is both necessary and sufficient to reconstruct the full horizon geometry, and is composed of objects which are invariant under supertranslations. We conclude that smooth supertranslations do not transform the geometry of the …
We study 2d and 3d gravity theories on spacetimes with causal (timelike or null) codimension one boundaries while allowing for variations in the position of the boundary. We construct the corresponding solution phase space and specify boundary degrees freedom by analysing boundary (surface) charges labelling them. We discuss Y and W freedoms and change of slicing in the solution space. For D dimensional case we find D+1 surface charges, which are generic functions over the causal boundary. We show that there exist solution space slicings in which the charges are integrable. For the 3d case the…
The structure of boundaries between degenerate and nondegenerate solutions of Ashtekar's canonical reformulation of Einstein's equations is studied. Several examples are given of such "phase boundaries" in which the metric is degenerate on one side of a null hypersurface and non-degenerate on the other side. These include portions of flat space, Schwarzschild, and plane wave solutions joined to degenerate regions. In the last case, the wave collides with a planar phase boundary and continues on with the same curvature but degenerate triad, while the phase boundary continues in the opposite dir…
We show that we can combine the (complex, self-dual) BMS vector fields with the recently defined BMS twistors to obtain a new supersymmetric extension of the BMS symmetries at null infinity. We compare our construction to other supersymmetric extensions of the BMS algebra proposed in the context of supergravity. Unlike the standard constructions the anticommutator in our superalgebra generates all the BMS vector fields including the Lorentz transformations. We also show that there exists a projection from our BMS Lie superalgebra to the global subalgebra of the Neveu-Schwarz supersymmetries on…
We investigate asymptotic symmetries regularly defined on spherically symmetric Killing horizons in the Einstein theory with or without the cosmological constant. Those asymptotic symmetries are described by asymptotic Killing vectors, along which the Lie derivatives of perturbed metrics vanish on a Killing horizon. We derive the general form of asymptotic Killing vectors and find that the group of the asymptotic symmetries consists of rigid O(3) rotations of a horizon two-sphere and supertranslations along the null direction on the horizon, which depend arbitrarily on the null coordinate as w…
We review the integrable systems which arise as symmetry reductions of Plebanski's heavenly equations, and their generalisations. We also show that all four-dimensional null Kahler-Einstein (or type N hyper-heavenly) metrics with symmetry can be found from solutions to a variable coefficient generalisation of the dispersionless Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equation.
We present a new set of asymptotic conditions for gravity at spatial infinity that includes gravitational magnetic-type solutions, allows for a non-trivial Hamiltonian action of the complete $BMS_4$ algebra, and leads to a non-divergent behaviour of the Weyl tensor as one approaches null infinity. We then extend the analysis to the coupled Einstein-Maxwell system and obtain as canonically realized asymptotic symmetry algebra a semi-direct sum of the $BMS_4$ algebra with the angle dependent $u(1)$ transformations. The Hamiltonian charge-generator associated with each asymptotic symmetry element…
We study the covariant phase space of vacuum general relativity at the null boundary of causal diamonds. The past and future components of such a null boundary each have an infinite-dimensional symmetry algebra consisting of diffeomorphisms of the $2$-sphere and boost supertranslations corresponding to angle-dependent rescalings of affine parameter along the null generators. Associated to these symmetries are charges and fluxes obtained from the covariant phase space formalism using the prescription of Wald and Zoupas. By analyzing the behavior of the spacetime metric near the corners of the c…
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 employ appropriate realizations of the affine Hecke algebra and we recover previously known non-diagonal solutions of the reflection equation for the $U_{q}(\hat{gl_n})$ case. With the help of linear intertwining relations involving the aforementioned solutions of the reflection equation, the symmetry of the open spin chain with a particular choice of the left boundary is exhibited. The symmetry of the corresponding local Hamiltonian is also explored.
We consider the scattering of massless particles coupled to an abelian gauge field in 2n-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. Weinberg's soft photon theorem is recast as Ward identities for infinitely many new nontrivial symmetries of the massless QED S-matrix, with one such identity arising for each propagation direction of the soft photon. These symmetries are identified as large gauge transformations with angle-dependent gauge parameters that are constant along the null generators of null infinity. Almost all of the symmetries are spontaneously broken in the standard vacuum and the soft photons…
We present a new application of the Regge-Teitelboim method for treating symmetries which are defined asymptotically. It may be regarded as complementary to the one in their original 1974 paper. The formulation is based on replacing an asymptotic plane by the two--sheeted ``hourglass" shaped surface obtained by joining smoothly an incoming hyperboloid with an outgoing one. The hyperboloids have a fixed radius, and as one moves the center of the hourglass along the time axis one covers the whole of spacetime. The motivation is to study radiation, and the hourglass is well suited to the task bec…
In this paper we consider a generally covariant theory of gravity, and extend the generalized off-shell ADT current such that it becomes conserved for field dependent (asymptotically) Killing vector field. Then we define the extended off-shell ADT current and the extended off-shell ADT charge. Consequently, we define the conserved charge perturbation by integrating from the extended off-shell ADT charge over a spacelike codimension two surface. Eventually, we use the presented formalism to find the conserved charge perturbation of an asymptotically flat spacetime. The conserved charge perturba…
Cataclysmic astrophysical phenomena can produce impulsive gravitational waves that can possibly be detected by the advanced versions of present-day detectors in the future. Gluing of two spacetimes across a null surface produces impulsive gravitational waves (in the phraseology of Penrose [1]) having a Dirac Delta function type pulse profile along the surface. It is known that BMS-like symmetries appear as soldering freedom while we glue two spacetimes along a null surface. In this note, we study the effect of such impulsive gravitational waves on test particles (detectors) or geodesics. We sh…
Asymptotic spacetime symmetries have been conjectured to play an important role in quantum gravity. In this paper we study the breaking of asymptotic symmetries associated with a null horizon boundary. In two-dimensions, these symmetries are reparametrizations of the time parameter on the horizon. We show how this horizon reparametrization symmetry is explicitly and spontaneously broken in dilaton gravity and construct an effective action for these pseudo-Goldstone modes using the on-shell gravitational action for a null boundary. The variation of this action yields the horizon constraint equa…
Due to seminal works of Weinberg, Cachazo and Strominger we know that tree level quantum gravity amplitudes satisfy three factorization constraints. Building on previous works which relate two of these constraints to symmetries of quantum gravity at null infinity, we present rather strong evidence that the third constraint is also equivalent to a new set of symmetries of (perturbative) quantum gravity. Our analysis implies that the symmetry group of quantum gravity may be even richer than the BMS group (or infinite dimensional extension thereof) previously considered.
We consider the effective stress-energy tensors for the foreground and background sectors in ghost-free bimetric gravity. By considering the symmetries of the theory, we show that the foreground and background null energy conditions (NECs) are strongly anti-correlated. In particular, the NECs can only be simultaneously fulfilled when they saturate, corresponding to foreground and background cosmological constants. In all other situations, either the foreground or the background is subject to a NEC-violating contribution to the total stress-energy.
We have a new observation that near horizon symmetry generators, corresponding to diffeomorphisms which leave the horizon structure invariant, satisfy noncommutative Heisenberg algebra. The results are valid for any null surfaces (which has Rindler structure in the near null surface limit) and in any spacetime dimensions. Using Sugawara construction technique the central charge is identified. It is shown that the horizon entropy is consistent with the standard form of Cardy formula. Therefore we feel that the noncommutative algebra might leads to quantum mechanics of horizon and also can probe…
We study the null-boundaries of Wheeler-de Witt (WdW) patches in three dimensional Poincare-AdS, when the selected boundary timeslice is an arbitrary (non-constant) function, presenting some useful analytic statements about them. Special attention will be given to the piecewise smooth nature of the null-boundaries, due to the emergence of caustics and null-null joint curves. This is then applied, in the spirit of our previous paper arXiv:1806.08376, to the problem of how complexity of the CFT$_2$ groundstate changes under a small local conformal transformation according to the action (CA) prop…
