A perturbative CFT dual for pure NS-NS AdS3 strings

We construct a conformal field theory dual to string theory on AdS3 with pure NS-NS flux. It is given by a symmetric orbifold of a linear dilaton theory deformed by a marginal operator from the twist-2 sector. We compute two- and three-point functions on the CFT side to 4th order in conformal perturbation theory at large N. They agree with the string computation at genus 0, thus providing ample evidence for a duality. We also show that the full spectra of both short and long strings on the CFT and the string side match. The duality should be understood as perturbative in 1/N.

Semi-classical analysis of the string theory cigar

We study the semi-classical limit of the reflection coefficient for the SL(2, ℝ)k/U(1) CFT. For large k, the CFT describes a string in a Euclidean black hole of 2-dimensional dilaton-gravity, whose target space is a cigar with an asymptotically linear dilaton. This sigma-model description is weakly coupled in the large k limit, and we investigate the saddle-point expansion of the functional integral that computes the reflection coefficient. As in the semi-classical limit of Liouville CFT studied in [1], we find that one must complexify the functional integral and sum over complex saddles to reproduce the limit of the exact reflection coefficient. Unlike Liouville, the SL(2, ℝ)k/U(1) CFT admits bound states that manifest as poles of the reflection coefficient. To reproduce them in the semi-classical limit, we find that one must sum over configurations that hit the black hole singularity, but nevertheless contribute to the saddle-point expansion with finite action.

Islands in multiverse models

We consider multiverse models in two-dimensional linear dilaton-gravity theories as toy models of false vacuum eternal inflation. Coupling conformal matter we calculate the Von Neumann entropy of subregions. When these are sufficiently large we find that an island develops covering most of the rest of the multiverse, leading to a Page-like transition. This resonates with a description of multiverse models in semiclassical quantum cosmology, where a measure for local predictions is given by saddle point geometries which coarse-grain over any structure associated with eternal inflation beyond one’s patch.

Black hole entropy sourced by string winding condensate

We calculate the entropy of an asymptotically Schwarzschild black hole, using an effective field theory of winding modes in type II string theory. In Euclidean signature, the geometry of the black hole contains a thermal cycle which shrinks towards the horizon. The light excitations thus include, in addition to the metric and the dilaton, also the winding modes around this cycle. The winding modes condense in the near-horizon region and source the geometry of the thermal cycle. Using the effective field theory action and standard thermodynamic relations, we show that the entropy, which is also sourced by the winding modes condensate, is exactly equal to the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of the black hole. We then discuss some properties of the winding mode condensate and end with an application of our method to an asymptotically linear-dilaton black hole.

Analytical Green’s functions for continuum spectra

Green’s functions with continuum spectra are a way of avoiding the strong bounds on new physics from the absence of new narrow resonances in experimental data. We model such a situation with a five-dimensional model with two branes along the extra dimension z, the ultraviolet (UV) and the infrared (IR) one, such that the metric between the UV and the IR brane is AdS5, thus solving the hierarchy problem, and beyond the IR brane the metric is that of a linear dilaton model, which extends to z → ∞. This simplified metric, which can be considered as an approximation of a more complicated (and smooth) one, leads to analytical Green’s functions (with a mass gap mg ∼ TeV and a continuum for s >$$ {m}_g^2 $$ m g 2 ) which could then be easily incorporated in the experimental codes. The theory contains Standard Model gauge bosons in the bulk with Neumann boundary conditions in the UV brane. To cope with electroweak observables the theory is also endowed with an extra custodial gauge symmetry in the bulk, with gauge bosons with Dirichlet boundary conditions in the UV brane, and without zero (massless) modes. All Green’s functions have analytical expressions and exhibit poles in the second Riemann sheet of the complex plane at s = $$ {M}_n^2 $$ M n 2 − iMnΓn, denoting a discrete (infinite) set of broad resonances with masses (Mn) and widths (Γn). For gauge bosons with Neumann or Dirichlet boundary conditions, the masses and widths of resonances satisfy the (approximate) equation s = −4$$ {m}_g^2{\mathcal{W}}_n^2 $$ m g 2 W n 2 [±(1 + i)/4], where $$ \mathcal{W} $$ W n is the n-th branch of the Lambert function.

Aspects of compactification on a linear dilaton background

We consider the most general Kaluza-Klein (KK) compactification on S1/ℤ2 of a five dimensional (5D) graviton-dilaton system, with a non-vanishing dilaton background varying linearly along the fifth dimension. We show that this background produces a Higgs mechanism for the KK vector coming from the 5D metric, which becomes massive by absorbing the string frame radion. The $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 2 minimal supersymmetric extension of this model, recently built as the holographic dual of Little String Theory, is then reinvestigated. An analogous mechanism can be considered for the 4D vector coming from the (universal) 5D Kalb-Ramond two-form. Packaging the two massive vectors into a spin-3/2 massive multiplet, it is shown that the massless spectrum arranges into a $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 1, D = 4 supersymmetric theory. This projection is compatible with an orbifold which preserves half of the original supersymmetries already preserved by the background. The description of the partial breaking $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 2 → $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 1 in this framework, with only vector multiplets and no hypermultiplets, remains an interesting open question which deserves further investigation.

On gapped continuum resonance spectra

In this work, we study a warped five-dimensional (5D) model with ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) branes, that solves the hierarchy problem with a fundamental 5D Planck scale [Formula: see text], and curvature parameter [Formula: see text], of the order of the 4D Planck mass [Formula: see text] TeV. The model exhibits a continuum of Kaluza–Klein (KK) modes with different mass gaps, at the TeV scale, for all fields. We have computed Green’s functions and spectral densities, and shown how the presence of a continuum KK spectrum can produce an enhancement in the cross-section of some Standard Model processes. The metric is linear near the IR, in conformal coordinates, as in the linear dilaton (LD) and 5D clockwork models, for which [Formula: see text] TeV. We also analyze a pure (continuum) LD scenario, solving the hierarchy problem with more conventional fundamental [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] scales of the order of [Formula: see text], and a continuum spectrum.

Wrapped fivebranes redux

The near-horizon region of Neveu-Schwarz fivebranes provides interesting examples of gauge/gravity duality. We revisit the structure of wrapped and/or intersecting fivebranes using the tools of null-gauged WZW models in worldsheet string theory, revealing the effective geometry of the fivebrane throat in a variety of examples. Variant gaugings yield linear dilaton fivebrane throats with AdS3 caps, providing a wealth of information about the near-BPS structure of the corresponding spacetime CFT duals.

A substrate for brane shells from $$ T\overline{T} $$

A solvable current-current deformation of the worldsheet theory of strings on AdS3 has been recently conjectured to be dual to an irrelevant deformation of the spacetime orbifold CFT, commonly referred to as single-trace $$ T\overline{T} $$ T T ¯ . These deformations give rise to a family of bulk geometries which realize a non-trivial flow towards the UV. For a particular sign of this deformation, the corresponding three-dimensional geometry approaches AdS3 in the interior, but has a curvature singularity at finite radius, beyond which there are closed timelike curves. It has been suggested that this singularity is due to the presence of “negative branes,” which are exotic objects that generically change the metric signature. We propose an alternative UV-completion for geometries displaying a similar singular behavior by cutting and gluing to a regular background which approaches a linear dilaton vacuum in the UV. In the S-dual picture, a singularity resolution mechanism known as the enhançon induces this transition by the formation of a shell of D5-branes at a fixed radial position near the singularity. The solutions involving negative branes gain a new interpretation in this context.

FIMP Dark Matter in Clockwork/Linear Dilaton extra-dimensions

We study the possibility that Dark Matter (DM) is made of Feebly Interacting Massive Particles (FIMP) interacting just gravitationally with the Standard Model particles in the framework of a Clockwork/Linear Dilaton (CW/LD) model. We restrict here to the case in which the DM particles are scalar fields. This paper extends our previous study of FIMP’s in Randall-Sundrum (RS) warped extra-dimensions. As it was the case in the RS scenario, also in the CW/LD model we find a significant region of the parameter space in which the observed DM relic abundance can be reproduced with scalar DM mass in the MeV range, with a reheating temperature varying from 10 GeV to 109 GeV. We comment on the similarities of the results in both extra-dimensional models.