Pure three-dimensional gravity is a renormalizable theory with two free parameters labelled by $G$ and $Λ$. As a consequence, correlation functions of the boundary stress tensor in AdS$_3$ are uniquely fixed in terms of one dimensionless parameter, which is the central charge of the Virasoro algebra. The same argument implies that AdS$_3$ gravity at a finite radial cutoff is a renormalizable theory, but now with one additional parameter corresponding to the cutoff location. This theory is conjecturally dual to a $T\overline{T}$-deformed CFT, assuming that such theories actually exist. To elucidate this, we study the quantum theory of boundary gravitons living on a cutoff planar boundary and the associated correlation functions of the boundary stress tensor. We compute stress tensor correlation functions to two-loop order ($G$ being the loop counting parameter), extending existing tree level results. This is made feasible by the fact that the boundary graviton action simplifies greatly upon making a judicious field redefinition, turning into the Nambu-Goto action. After imposing Lorentz invariance, the correlators at this order are found to be unambiguous up to a single undetermined renormalization parameter.
We study a novel class of higher derivative theories for interacting massless gravitons in Minkowski spacetime. These theories were first discussed by Wald decades ago, and are characterized by scattering amplitudes essentially different from general relativity and many of its modifications. We discuss various aspects of these higher derivative theories, including the Lagrangian construction, violation of asymptotic causality, scattering amplitudes, non-renormalization, and possible implications on emergent gravitons from condensed matter systems.
The so-called $ΓΓ$-form of the gravitational Lagrangian, long known to provide its most compact expression as well as the most efficient generation of the graviton vertices, is taken as the starting point for discussing General Relativity as a theory of the self-interacting graviton. A straightforward but general method of converting to a covariant formulation by the introduction of a reference metric is given. It is used to recast the Einstein field equation as the equation of motion of a spin-2 particle interacting with the canonical energy-momentum tensor symmetrized by the standard Belinfa…
We construct consistent interacting gauge theories for M conformal massless spin-2 fields ("Weyl gravitons") with the following properties: (i) in the free limit, each field fulfills the equation ${\cal B}^{μν} = 0$, where ${\cal B}^{μν}$ is the linearized Bach tensor, (ii) the interactions contain no more than four derivatives, just as the free action and (iii) the internal metric for the Weyl gravitons is not positive definite. The interacting theories are obtained by gauging appropriate non-semi-simple extensions of the conformal algebra $so(4,2)$ with commutative, associative algebras of d…
The basic cosmological conjecture about the Dopplerian nature of redshifts may be false if gravitons are super-strong interacting particles. A quantum mechanism of classical gravity and the main features of a new cosmological paradigm based on it are described here.
Gravity is uniquely situated in between classical topological field theories and standard local field theories. This can be seen in the the quasi-local nature of gravitational observables, but is nowhere more apparent than in gravity's holographic formulation. Holography holds promise for simplifying computations in quantum gravity. While holographic descriptions of three-dimensional spacetimes and of spacetimes with a negative cosmological constant are well-developed, a complete boundary description of zero curvature, four-dimensional spacetime is not currently available. Building on previous…
In the metric formulation gravitons are described with the parity symmetric $S_+^2\otimes S_-^2$ representation of Lorentz group. General Relativity is then the unique theory of interacting gravitons with second order field equations. We show that if a chiral $S_+^3\otimes S_-$ representation is used instead, the uniqueness is lost, and there is an infinite-parametric family of theories of interacting gravitons with second order field equations. We use the language of graviton scattering amplitudes, and show how the uniqueness of GR is avoided using simple dimensional analysis. The resulting d…
The gauge-gravity duality can be used to relate connected multi-point graviton functions to connected multi-point correlation functions of the stress tensor of a strongly coupled fluid. Here, we show how to construct the connected graviton functions for a particular kinematic regime that is ideal for discriminating between different gravitational theories; in particular, between Einstein theory and its leading-order string theory correction. Our analysis begins with the one-particle irreducible graviton amplitudes in an anti-de Sitter black brane background. We show how these can be used to ca…
Using the non-abelian DBI action we find an effective matrix model that describes the dynamics of weakly interacting giant gravitons wrapped on three-spheres in the AdS part of AdS_5 x S^5 at high energies with two angular momenta on the S^5. In parallel we consider the limit of \CN=4 super Yang-Mills theory near a certain unitarity bound where it reduces to the quantum mechanical theory called SU(2) Spin Matrix Theory. We show that the exact same matrix model that describes the giant gravitons on the string theory side also provides the effective description in the strong coupling and large e…
According to Witten [1], the conformal boundary condition of gravity, which specifies the conformal geometry of the boundary and the trace of the extrinsic curvature, is elliptic and leads to well-defined perturbation theory of gravity about any classical solution. The conformal boundary condition was previously considered in [2, 3] in the context of AdS/BCFT, wherein the equation of motion of the end-of-the-world was derived and emphasized. In this paper, we investigate further other consequences of the conformal boundary condition in AdS/BCFT. We derive the boundary central charges of the ho…
Using the AdS-CFT correspondence we calculate the two point function of CFT energy momentum tensors. The AdS gravitons are considered by explicitly solving the Dirichlet boundary value problem for $x_0=ε$. We consider this treatment as complementary to existing work, with which we make contact.
The question of graviton cloning in the context of the bulk/boundary correspondence is considered. It is shown that multi-graviton theories can be obtained from products of large-N CFTs. No more than one interacting massless graviton is possible. There can be however, many interacting massive gravitons. This is achieved by coupling CFTs via multi-trace marginal or relevant perturbations. The geometrical structure of the gravitational duals of such theories is that of product manifolds with their boundaries identified. The calculational formalism is described and the interpretation of such theo…
We review the status of electric/magnetic duality for free gauge field theories in four space-time dimensions with emphasis on Maxwell theory and linearized Einstein gravity. Using the theory of vector and tensor spherical harmonics, we provide explicit construction of dual photons and gravitons by decomposing the fields into axial and polar configurations with opposite parity and interchanging the two sectors. When the theories are defined on AdS(4) space-time there are boundary manifestations of the duality, which for the case of gravity account for the energy-momentum/Cotton tensor duality …
We study axion-graviton scattering from a system of two D$0$-branes in a Type II superstring theory, a process which does not occur on a single brane. The two D$0$-branes interact via the exchange of closed string states which form a cylinder joining them. By compactifying on the $Z_3$ orbifold we find a non vanishing amplitude coming from the odd spin structure sector, thus from the exchanged RR states. We compute, in particular, the leading term of the amplitude at large distance from the branes, which corresponds to taking a field theory limit. This seems to suggest that the process takes p…
We construct the full set of boundary giant magnons on $\mathbb{R}\times S^{2}$ attached to the maximal $Z=0$ giant graviton by mapping from the general solution to static sine-Gordon theory on the interval and compute the values of $Δ-J$ at finite $J$, including the leading order corrections when $J$ is large. We then consider the Born-Infeld theory of the giant graviton itself to construct BIon spike solutions that correspond to the world volume description of the boundary giant magnons at finite $J$.
We describe actions that correspond to the interaction of the Super Virasoro algebra with supergravitons. These new field theories introduce a superfield that corresponds to dual elements of the super Virasoro algebra. We are also able to extend the definition of these field theories to higher dimensions. We explicitly exhibit the 2, 3 and 4 dimensional cases. Remarkably, the fundamental prepotentials describing these dual elements of the super Virasoro algebra, in each model, agrees with the known prepotentials of the corresponding supergravity theory. These theories might be important in the…
We investigate the graviton propagator in the type IIB supergravity background which is dual to 4 dimensional noncommutative gauge theory. We assume that the boundary is located not at the infinity but at the noncommutative scale where the string frame metric exhibits the maximum. We argue that the Neumann boundary condition is the appropriate boundary condition to be adopted at the boundary. We find that the graviton propagator behaves just as that of the 4 dimensional massless graviton. On the other hand, the non-analytic behaviors of the other Kaluza-Klein modes are not significantly affect…
In the context of gravity in the strong-coupling regime, the propagation amplitude of gravity coupled to relativistic particles undergoing geodesic separation is calculated exactly. Geodesic separation gives rise to boundary terms associated with the h_\times and h_+ graviton components. At low temperatures the propagation amplitude vanishes, implying no graviton propagation in this regime.
We study the graviton propagator in euclidean loop quantum gravity, using the spinfoam formalism. We use boundary-amplitude and group-field-theory techniques, and compute one component of the propagator to first order, under a number of approximations, obtaining the correct spacetime dependence. In the large distance limit, the only term of the vertex amplitude that contributes is the exponential of the Regge action: the other terms, that have raised doubts on the physical viability of the model, are suppressed by the phase of the vacuum state, which is determined by the extrinsic geometry of …
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…
We investigate, in any spacetime dimension >=3, the problem of consistent couplings for a finite collection of massless, spin-2 fields described, in the free limit, by a sum of Pauli-Fierz actions. We show that there is no consistent (ghost-free) coupling, with at most two derivatives of the fields, that can mix the various "gravitons". In other words, there are no Yang-Mills-like spin-2 theories. The only possible deformations are given by a sum of individual Einstein-Hilbert actions. The impossibility of cross-couplings subsists in the presence of scalar matter. Our approach is based on the …
The partition function of gravitons with Casimir-type boundary conditions is worked out. The simplest box that allows one to achieve full analytical control consists of a slab geometry with two infinite parallel planes separated by a distance d. In this setting, linearized gravity, like electromagnetism, is equivalent to two free massless scalar fields, one with Dirichlet and one with Neumann boundary conditions, which in turn may be combined into a single massless scalar with periodic boundary conditions on an interval of length 2d. When turning on a chemical potential for suitably adapted sp…
Inspired by the recent progress in the field of scattering amplitudes, we discuss hypothetical particles which can be characterised as the double copies of fermions -- in the same way gravitons can be viewed as double copies of gauge bosons. As the gravitons, these hypothetical particles interact only through gravitational interactions. We present two equivalent methods for the computation of the relevant scattering amplitudes. The hypothetical particles can be massive and non-relativistic.
In this note we present several ideas toward the solution to the giant graviton puzzle - the apparent multiplicity of supergravity states dual to field theory chiral primary operators. We use the fact that, for certain ranges of the angular momentum, giant gravitons can be mapped into vacua of a dual theory to argue that the sphere and $AdS$ giant gravitons have very different boundary descriptions, and that an unpolarized KK graviton is unphysical in the regime where giant gravitons exist. We also show that a generic boundary state can correspond to different giant graviton configurations, wh…
It is shown by the author that if gravitons are super-strong interacting particles and the low-temperature graviton background exists, the basic cosmological conjecture about the Dopplerian nature of redshifts may be false. In this case, a full magnitude of cosmological redshift would be caused by interactions of photons with gravitons. A new dimensional constant which characterizes one act of interaction is introduced and estimated. Non-forehead collisions with gravitons will lead to a very specific additional relaxation of any photonic flux. It gives a possibility of another interpretation o…
Products of large-N conformal field theories coupled by multi-trace interactions in diverse dimensions are used to define quantum multi-gravity (multi-string theory) on a union of (asymptotically) AdS spaces. One-loop effects generate a small O(1/N) mass for some of the gravitons. The boundary gauge theory and the AdS/CFT correspondence are used as guiding principles to study and draw conclusions on some of the well known problems of massive gravity - classical instabilities and strong coupling effects. We find examples of stable multi-graviton theories where the usual strong coupling effects …
Recently, a proposal has appeared for the extraction of the 2-point function of linearised quantum gravity, within the spinfoam formalism. This relies on the use of a boundary state, which introduces a semi-classical flat geometry on the boundary. In this paper, we investigate this proposal considering a toy model in the (Riemannian) 3d case, where the semi-classical limit is better understood. We show that in this limit the propagation kernel of the model is the one for the harmonic oscillator. This is at the origin of the expected 1/L behaviour of the 2-point function. Furthermore, we numeri…
We study the generalized massive gravity in three dimensional flat spacetime. A massive logarithmic mode is propagating in the flat spacetime at the critical point where two masses degenerate. Furthermore, we discuss the logarithmic extension of the Galilean conformal algebra (GCA) which may arise from the exotic and standard rank-2 logarithmic conformal field theory (LCFT) on the boundary of AdS3 spacetime.
We extend the Zamolodchikov-Faddeev algebra for the superstring sigma model on $AdS_{5}\times S^{5}$, which was formulated by Arutyunov, Frolov and Zamaklar, to the case of open strings attached to maximal giant gravitons, which was recently considered by Hofman and Maldacena. We obtain boundary $S$-matrices which satisfy the standard boundary Yang-Baxter equation.
A special class of higher curvature theories of gravity, Ricci Cubic Gravity (RCG), in general d dimensional space-time has been investigated in this paper. We have used two different approaches, the linearized equations of motion and auxiliary field formalism to study the massive and massless graviton propagating modes of the AdS background. Using the auxiliary field formalism, we have found the renormalized boundary stress tensor to compute the mass of Schwarzschild AdS and Lifshitz black holes in RCG theory.
We explore whether perturbative interacting fixed points in matter systems can persist under the impact of quantum gravity. We first focus on semi-simple gauge theories and show that the leading order gravity contribution evaluated within the functional Renormalization Group framework preserves the perturbative fixed-point structure in these models discovered in [1]. We highlight that the quantum-gravity contribution alters the scaling dimension of the gauge coupling, such that the system exhibits an effective dimensional reduction. We secondly explore the effect of metric fluctuations on asym…
We produce the open strings on $\mathbb{R}\times S^{2}$ that correspond to the solutions of integrable boundary sine-Gordon theory by making use of the $N$-magnon solutions provided in \cite{KPV} together with explicit moduli. Relating the two boundary parameters in a special way we describe the scattering of giant magnons with non-maximal $Y=0$ giant gravitons and calculate the leading contribution to the associated magnon scattering phase.
We revisit the description of the space of asymptotically AdS3 solutions of pure gravity in three dimensions with a negative cosmological constant as a collection of coadjoint orbits of the Virasoro group. Each orbit corresponds to a set of metrics related by diffeomorphisms which do not approach the identity fast enough at the boundary. Orbits contain more than a single element and this fact manifests the global degrees of freedom of AdS3 gravity, being each element of an orbit what we call boundary graviton. We show how this setup allows to learn features about the classical phase space that…
In the sea of super-strong interacting gravitons, non-forehead collisions with gravitons deflect photons, and this deflection may differ for soft and hard radiations. As a result, the Hubble diagram would not be a universal function and it will have a different view for such sources as supernovae in visible light and gamma-ray bursts. Observations of these two kinds are compared here with the limit cases of the Hubble diagram.
In this paper, we generalize the simplified Dark Matter models with graviton mediator to the curved space-time, in particular to the de Sitter space. We obtain the generating functional of the Green's functions in the Euclidean de Sitter space for the covariant free gravitons. We determine the generating functional of the interacting theory between Dark Matter particles and the covariant gravitons. Also, we calculate explicitly the 2-point and 3-point interacting Green's functions for the symmetric traceless divergence-less covariant graviton. The results derived here are general in the sense …
Asymptotic symmetries of theories with gravity in d=2m+2 spacetime dimensions are reconsidered for m>1 in light of recent results concerning d=4 BMS symmetries. Weinberg's soft graviton theorem in 2m+2 dimensions is re-expressed as a Ward identity for the gravitational S-matrix. The corresponding asymptotic symmetries are identified with 2m+2-dimensional supertranslations. An alternate derivation of these asymptotic symmetries as diffeomorphisms which preserve finite-energy boundary conditions at null infinity and act non-trivially on physical data is given. Our results differ from those of pr…
In this review, we summarize recent findings that show how standard 4-d Einstein gravity coupled to a conformal field theory can become massive in Anti de Sitter Space. Key ingredients in this phenomenon are non-standard ``transparent'' boundary condition given to the CFT fields and the fact that AdS space is not globally hyperbolic, due to the presence of a time-like boundary.
A new mechanism which leads to a linearized massless graviton localized on the brane is found in the $AdS$/CFT setting, {\it i.e.} in a single copy of $AdS_5$ spacetime with a singular brane on the boundary, within the Randall-Sundrum brane-world scenario. With an help of a recent development in path-integral techniques, a one-parameter family of propagators for linearized gravity is obtained analytically, in which a parameter $ξ$ reflects various kinds of boundary conditions that arise as a result of the half-line constraint. In the case of a Dirichlet boundary condition ($ξ= 0$) the graviton…
We explore the relationship between the quantum state of a compact matter source and of its asymptotic graviton field. For a matter source in an energy eigenstate, the graviton state is determined at leading order by the energy eigenvalue. Insofar as there are no accidental energy degeneracies there is a one to one map between graviton states on the boundary of spacetime and the matter source states. A typical semiclassical matter source results in an entangled asymptotic graviton state. We exhibit a purely quantum gravitational effect which causes the subleading asymptotic behavior of the gra…
We study the remnants of Yangian symmetry of AdS/CFT magnons reflecting from boundaries with no degrees of freedom. We present the generalized twisted boundary Yangian of open strings ending on boundaries which preserve only a subalgebra h of the bulk algebra g, where (g,h) is a symmetric pair. This is realized by open strings ending on the D3 brane known as the Y=0 maximal giant graviton in AdS_5 x S^5. We also consider the Yangian symmetry of the boundary which preserves an su(1|2) subalgebra only.
The scale invariance of the quantum fluctuations in de Sitter space leads to the appearance of de Sitter symmetry breaking infra-red logarithms in the graviton propagator. We investigate physical effects of soft gravitons on the local dynamics of matter fields well inside the cosmological horizon. We show that the IR logarithms do not spoil Lorentz invariance in scalar and Dirac field theory. The leading IR logarithms can be absorbed by a time dependent wave function renormalization factor in the both cases. In the interacting field theory with $λϕ^4$ and Yukawa interaction, we find that the c…
We continue to develop the pure connection formalism for gravity. We derive the Feynman rules for computing the connection correlation functions, as well as the prescription for obtaining the Minkowski space graviton scattering amplitudes from the latter. The present formalism turns out to be simpler than the metric based one in many aspects. Simplifications result from the fact that the conformal factor of the metric, a source of complications in the usual approach, does not propagate in the connection formulation even off-shell. This simplifies both the linearized theory and the interactions…
We consider the worldsheet boundary scattering and the corresponding boundary algebras for the Z=0 giant graviton and the Z=0 D7-brane in the AdS/CFT correspondence. We consider two approaches to the boundary scattering, the usual one governed by the (generalized) twisted Yangians and the q-deformed model of these boundaries governed by the quantum affine coideal subalgebras. We show that the q-deformed approach leads to boundary algebras that are of a more compact form than the corresponding twisted Yangians, and thus are favourable to use for explicit calculations. We obtain the q-deformed r…
In a recent paper (arXiv: 0801.4566) it was shown that all global energy eigenstates of asymptotically $AdS_3$ chiral gravity have non-negative energy at the linearized level. This result was questioned (arXiv: 0803.3998) by Carlip, Deser, Waldron and Wise (CDWW), who work on the Poincare patch. They exhibit a linearized solution of chiral gravity and claim that it has negative energy and is smooth at the boundary. We show that the solution of CDWW is smooth only on that part of the boundary of $AdS_3$ included in the Poincare patch. Extended to global $AdS_3$, it is divergent at the boundary …
We investigate the conditions for obtaining four-dimensional massless spin-2 states in the spectrum of fluctuations around an asymptotically $AdS_5$ solution of Einstein-Dilaton gravity. We find it is only possible to have normalizable massless spin-2 modes if the space-time terminates at some IR point in the extra dimension, far from the UV AdS boundary, and if suitable boundary conditions are imposed at the ``end of space.'' In some of these cases the 4D spectrum consists only of a massless spin-2 graviton, with no additional massless or light scalar or vector modes. These spin-2 modes have …
Special gravity refers to interacting theories of massless gravitons in Minkowski space-time which are invariant under the abelian gauge invariance $h_{ab}\rightarrow h_{ab}+\partial_{(a}χ_{b)}$ only. In this article we determine the most general form of special gravity free of Ostrogradski ghosts, meaning its equation of motion is of at most second order. Together with the recent works, this result could be helpful in formulating proofs of General Relativity as the unique physical theory of self-interacting massless gravitons. We also study how to construct gauge invariant couplings to matter…
In this article we study giant gravitons in the framework of AdS/CFT correspondence. First, we show how to describe these configurations in the CFT side using a matrix model. In this picture, giant gravitons are realized as single excitations high above a Fermi sea, or as deep holes into it. Then, we give a prescription to define quasi-classical states and we recover the known classical solution associated to the CFT dual of a giant graviton that grows in AdS. Second, we use the AdS/CFT dictionary to obtain the supergravity boundary stress tensor of a general state and to holographically recon…
In this paper we lay the foundations of causal quantum gravity (CQG), i.e. of a quantum theory of self-interacting symmetric massless rank-2 tensor gauge fields, the gravitons, on flat space-time, in the framework of causal perturbation theory. The causal inductive construction of the S-matrix for quantum gravity leads to a very satisfactory treatment of the ultraviolet problem. Here we concentrate on some main fundamental issues that concern the quantization of the gravitational interactions: the quantization of the free graviton field, the role of the fermionic ghost vector fields in preserv…
We introduce a technique for restoring general coordinate invariance into theories where it is explicitly broken. This is the analog for gravity of the Callan-Coleman-Wess-Zumino formalism for gauge theories. We use this to elucidate the properties of interacting massless and massive gravitons. For a single graviton with a Planck scale Mpl and a mass mg, we find that there is a sensible effective field theory which is valid up to a high-energy cutoff Lambda parametrically above mg. Our methods allow for a transparent understanding of the many peculiarities associated with massive gravitons, am…
We study a membrane -- anti-membrane system in Matrix theory. It in fact exhibits the tachyon instability. By suitably representing this configuration, we obtain a (2+1)-dimensional U(2) gauge theory with a 't Hooft's twisted boundary condition. We identify the tachyon field with a certain off-diagonal element of the gauge fields in this model. Taking into account the boundary conditions carefully, we can find vortex solutions which saturate the Bogomol'nyi-type bound and manifest the tachyon condensation. We show that they can be interpreted as gravitons in Matrix theory.
It is suggested in the model of low-energy quantum gravity by the author, that the background of super-strong interacting gravitons exists. It is shown here that micro-particles at very small distances should be almost free if the gravitational attraction is caused by a pressure of these gravitons.
We argue that gravity theories in AdS4 are holographically dual to either of two three-dimensional CFT's: the usual Dirichlet CFT1 where the fixed graviton acts as a source for the stress-energy tensor, and a dual CFT2 with a fixed dual graviton which acts as a source for a dual stress-energy tensor. The dual stress-energy tensor is shown to be the Cotton tensor of the Dirichlet CFT. The two CFT's are related by a Legendre transformation generated by a gravitational Chern-Simons coupling. This duality is a gravitational version of electric-magnetic duality valid at any radius r, where the reno…
We derive parity-even graviton bispectra in the Effective Field Theory of Inflation (EFToI) to all orders in derivatives. Working in perturbation theory, we construct all cubic interactions that can contribute to tree-level graviton bispectra, showing that they all come from EFToI operators containing two or three powers of the extrinsic curvature and its covariant derivatives: all other operators can be removed by field redefinitions or start at higher-order in perturbations. For operators cubic in the extrinsic curvature, where the single-clock consistency relations are satisfied without a c…
We compute the connected four-point correlation function of the primordial curvature perturbation generated during inflation with standard kinetic terms, where the correlation is established via exchange of a graviton between two pairs of scalar fluctuations. Any such correlation yields a contribution to the scalar trispectrum of the order of the tensor to scalar ratio r. This contribution is numerically one order of magnitude larger than the one previously calculated on the basis of scalar perturbations interacting at a point and satisfies a simple relation in the limit where the momentum of …
We study the holographic superconductor-normal metal-superconductor (SNS) Josephon junction in the massive gravity. In the homogeneous case of the chemical potential, we find that the graviton mass will make the normal metal-superconductor phase transition harder to take place. In the holographic model of Josephson junction, it is found that the maximal tunneling current will decrease according to the graviton mass. Besides, the coherence length of the junction decreases as well with respect to the graviton mass. If one interprets the graviton mass as the effect of momentum dissipation in the …
