2,191 research outputs found
Holographic studies of quasi-topological gravity
Quasi-topological gravity is a new gravitational theory including
curvature-cubed interactions and for which exact black hole solutions were
constructed. In a holographic framework, classical quasi-topological gravity
can be thought to be dual to the large limit of some non-supersymmetric
but conformal gauge theory. We establish various elements of the AdS/CFT
dictionary for this duality. This allows us to infer physical constraints on
the couplings in the gravitational theory. Further we use holography to
investigate hydrodynamic aspects of the dual gauge theory. In particular, we
find that the minimum value of the shear-viscosity-to-entropy-density ratio for
this model is .Comment: 45 pages, 6 figures. v2: References adde
Hyperspherical entanglement entropy
The coefficient of the log term in the entanglement entropy associated with
hyperspherical surfaces in flat space-time is shown to equal the conformal
anomaly by conformally transforming Euclideanised space--time to a sphere and
using already existing formulae for the relevant heat--kernel coefficients
after cyclic factoring. The analytical reason for the result is that the
conformal anomaly on the lune has an extremum at the ordinary sphere limit. A
proof is given. Agreement with a recent evaluation of the coefficient is found.Comment: 7 pages. Final revision. Historical comments amended. Minor remarks
adde
A Complete Classification of Higher Derivative Gravity in 3D and Criticality in 4D
We study the condition that the theory is unitary and stable in
three-dimensional gravity with most general quadratic curvature,
Lorentz-Chern-Simons and cosmological terms. We provide the complete
classification of the unitary theories around flat Minkowski and (anti-)de
Sitter spacetimes. The analysis is performed by examining the quadratic
fluctuations around these classical vacua. We also discuss how to understand
critical condition for four-dimensional theories at the Lagrangian level.Comment: 20 pages, v2: minor corrections, refs. added, v3: logic modified, v4:
typos correcte
Black Holes in Quasi-topological Gravity
We construct a new gravitational action which includes cubic curvature
interactions and which provides a useful toy model for the holographic study of
a three parameter family of four- and higher-dimensional CFT's. We also
investigate the black hole solutions of this new gravity theory. Further we
examine the equations of motion of quasi-topological gravity. While the full
equations in a general background are fourth-order in derivatives, we show that
the linearized equations describing gravitons propagating in the AdS vacua
match precisely the second-order equations of Einstein gravity.Comment: 33 pages, 4 figures; two references adde
A new cubic theory of gravity in five dimensions: Black hole, Birkhoff's theorem and C-function
We present a new cubic theory of gravity in five dimensions which has second
order traced field equations, analogous to BHT new massive gravity in three
dimensions. Moreover, for static spherically symmetric spacetimes all the field
equations are of second order, and the theory admits a new asymptotically
locally flat black hole. Furthermore, we prove the uniqueness of this solution,
study its thermodynamical properties, and show the existence of a C-function
for the theory following the arguments of Anber and Kastor (arXiv:0802.1290
[hep-th]) in pure Lovelock theories. Finally, we include the
Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet and cosmological terms and we find new asymptotically AdS
black holes at the point where the three maximally symmetric solutions of the
theory coincide. These black holes may also possess a Cauchy horizon.Comment: 21 pages, no figures, V2: two appendices and some references added,
V3: New section on the generalization to arbitrary higher order. Analogy with
BHT new massive gravity Lagrangian made more precise, V4: Typos corrected. To
appear in CQ
Holographic GB gravity in arbitrary dimensions
We study the properties of the holographic CFT dual to Gauss-Bonnet gravity
in general dimensions. We establish the AdS/CFT dictionary and in
particular relate the couplings of the gravitational theory to the universal
couplings arising in correlators of the stress tensor of the dual CFT. This
allows us to examine constraints on the gravitational couplings by demanding
consistency of the CFT. In particular, one can demand positive energy fluxes in
scattering processes or the causal propagation of fluctuations. We also examine
the holographic hydrodynamics, commenting on the shear viscosity as well as the
relaxation time. The latter allows us to consider causality constraints arising
from the second-order truncated theory of hydrodynamics.Comment: 48 pages, 9 figures. v2: New discussion on free fields in subsection
3.3 and new appendix B on conformal tensor fields. Added comments on the
relation between the central charge appearing in the two-point function and
the "central charge" characterizing the entropy density in the discussion.
References adde
Entropy Bound and Causality Violation in Higher Curvature Gravity
In any quantum theory of gravity we do expect corrections to Einstein gravity
to occur. Yet, at fundamental level, it is not apparent what the most relevant
corrections are. We argue that the generic curvature square corrections present
in lower dimensional actions of various compactified string theories provide a
natural passage between the classical and quantum realms of gravity. The
Gauss-Bonnet and gravities, in particular, provide concrete
examples in which inconsistency of a theory, such as, a violation of
microcausality, and a classical limit on black hole entropy are correlated. In
such theories the ratio of the shear viscosity to the entropy density,
, can be smaller than for a boundary conformal field theory with
Einstein gravity dual. This result is interesting from the viewpoint that the
nuclear matter or quark-gluon plasma produced (such as at RHIC) under extreme
densities and temperatures may violate the conjectured bound , {\it albeit} marginally so.Comment: 23 pages, several eps figures; minor changes, references added,
published versio
Comments on Holographic Entanglement Entropy and RG Flows
Using holographic entanglement entropy for strip geometry, we construct a
candidate for a c-function in arbitrary dimensions. For holographic theories
dual to Einstein gravity, this c-function is shown to decrease monotonically
along RG flows. A sufficient condition required for this monotonic flow is that
the stress tensor of the matter fields driving the holographic RG flow must
satisfy the null energy condition over the holographic surface used to
calculate the entanglement entropy. In the case where the bulk theory is
described by Gauss-Bonnet gravity, the latter condition alone is not sufficient
to establish the monotonic flow of the c-function. We also observe that for
certain holographic RG flows, the entanglement entropy undergoes a 'phase
transition' as the size of the system grows and as a result, evolution of the
c-function may exhibit a discontinuous drop.Comment: References adde
Holographic c-theorems in arbitrary dimensions
We re-examine holographic versions of the c-theorem and entanglement entropy
in the context of higher curvature gravity and the AdS/CFT correspondence. We
select the gravity theories by tuning the gravitational couplings to eliminate
non-unitary operators in the boundary theory and demonstrate that all of these
theories obey a holographic c-theorem. In cases where the dual CFT is
even-dimensional, we show that the quantity that flows is the central charge
associated with the A-type trace anomaly. Here, unlike in conventional
holographic constructions with Einstein gravity, we are able to distinguish
this quantity from other central charges or the leading coefficient in the
entropy density of a thermal bath. In general, we are also able to identify
this quantity with the coefficient of a universal contribution to the
entanglement entropy in a particular construction. Our results suggest that
these coefficients appearing in entanglement entropy play the role of central
charges in odd-dimensional CFT's. We conjecture a new c-theorem on the space of
odd-dimensional field theories, which extends Cardy's proposal for even
dimensions. Beyond holography, we were able to show that for any
even-dimensional CFT, the universal coefficient appearing the entanglement
entropy which we calculate is precisely the A-type central charge.Comment: 62 pages, 4 figures, few typo's correcte
On higher derivative gravity, c-theorems and cosmology
We consider higher derivative gravity lagrangians in 3 and 4 dimensions,
which admit simple c-theorems, including upto six derivative curvature
invariants. Following a suggestion by Myers, these lagrangians are restricted
such that the fluctuations around (anti) de Sitter spaces have second order
linearized equations of motion. We study c-theorems both in the context of
AdS/CFT and cosmology. In the context of cosmology, the monotonic function is
the entropy defined on the apparent horizon through Wald's formula. Exact black
hole solutions which are asymptotically (anti) de Sitter are presented. An
interesting lower bound for entropy is found in de Sitter space. Some aspects
of cosmology in both D=3 and D=4 are discussed.Comment: 23 pages, v3: clarifications added, references adde
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