Warped Entanglement Entropy

We study the applicability of the covariant holographic entanglement entropy proposal to asymptotically warped AdS$_3$ spacetimes with an SL(2,R) x U(1) isometry. We begin by applying the proposal to locally AdS$_3$ backgrounds which are written as a real-line fibration over AdS$_2$. We then perturb away from this geometry by considering a warping parameter $a=1+\delta$ to get an asymptotically warped AdS$_3$ spacetime and compute the dual entanglement entropy perturbatively in $\delta$. We find that for large separation in the fiber coordinate, the entanglement entropy can be computed to all orders in $\delta$ and takes the universal form appropriate for two-dimensional CFTs. The warping-dependent central charge thus identified exactly agrees with previous calculations in the literature. Performing the same perturbative calculations for the warped BTZ black hole again gives universal two-dimensional CFT answers, with the left-moving and right-moving temperatures appearing appropriately in the result.Comment: 25 pages plus appendices; v2 references added, discussions clarified and equations sharpene

Grassmann Matrix Quantum Mechanics

We explore quantum mechanical theories whose fundamental degrees of freedom are rectangular matrices with Grassmann valued matrix elements. We study particular models where the low energy sector can be described in terms of a bosonic Hermitian matrix quantum mechanics. We describe the classical curved phase space that emerges in the low energy sector. The phase space lives on a compact Kahler manifold parameterized by a complex matrix, of the type discovered some time ago by Berezin. The emergence of a semiclassical bosonic matrix quantum mechanics at low energies requires that the original Grassmann matrices be in the long rectangular limit. We discuss possible holographic interpretations of such matrix models which, by construction, are endowed with a finite dimensional Hilbert space.Comment: 25 pages + appendice

Marginal Deformations and Rotating Horizons

Motivated by the near-horizon geometry of four-dimensional extremal black holes, we study a disordered quantum mechanical system invariant under a global $SU(2)$ symmetry. As in the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model, this system exhibits an approximate $SL(2,\mathbb{R})$ symmetry at low energies, but also allows for a continuous family of $SU(2)$ breaking marginal deformations. Beyond a certain critical value for the marginal coupling, the model exhibits a quantum phase transition from the gapless phase to a gapped one and we calculate the critical exponents of this transition. We also show that charged, rotating extremal black holes exhibit a transition when the angular velocity of the horizon is tuned to a certain critical value. Where possible we draw parallels between the disordered quantum mechanics and charged, rotating black holes.Comment: 29 pages, 5 figure

Matrix integrals &\& finite holography

We explore the conjectured duality between a class of large $N$ matrix integrals, known as multicritical matrix integrals (MMI), and the series $(2m-1,2)$ of non-unitary minimal models on a fluctuating background. We match the critical exponents of the leading order planar expansion of MMI, to those of the continuum theory on an $S^2$ topology. From the MMI perspective this is done both through a multi-vertex diagrammatic expansion, thereby revealing novel combinatorial expressions, as well as through a systematic saddle point evaluation of the matrix integral as a function of its parameters. From the continuum point of view the corresponding critical exponents are obtained upon computing the partition function in the presence of a given conformal primary. Further to this, we elaborate on a Hilbert space of the continuum theory, and the putative finiteness thereof, on both an $S^2$ and a $T^2$ topology using BRST cohomology considerations. Matrix integrals support this finiteness.Comment: 42 pages + appendices, comments welcom

Higher Spin de Sitter Holography from Functional Determinants

We discuss further aspects of the higher spin dS/CFT correspondence. Using a recent result of Dunne and Kirsten, it is shown how to numerically compute the partition function of the free Sp(N) model for a large class of SO(3) preserving deformations of the flat/round metric on R^3/S^3 and the source of the spin-zero single-trace operator dual to the bulk scalar. We interpret this partition function as a Hartle-Hawking wavefunctional. It has a local maximum about the pure de Sitter vacuum. Restricting to SO(3) preserving deformations, other local maxima (which exceed the one near the de Sitter vacuum) can peak at inhomogeneous and anisotropic values of the late time metric and scalar profile. Numerical experiments suggest the remarkable observation that, upon fixing a certain average of the bulk scalar profile at I^+, the wavefunction becomes normalizable in all the other (infinite) directions of the deformation. We elucidate the meaning of double trace deformations in the context of dS/CFT as a change of basis and as a convolution. Finally, we discuss possible extensions of higher spin de Sitter holography by coupling the free theory to a Chern-Simons term.Comment: 30 pages plus appendices; v2 references adde