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Questions tagged [ads-cft]

AdS/CFT is a special case of the holographic principle. It states that a quantum gravitating theory in Anti-de-Sitter (AdS) space is exactly equivalent to the gauge theory/Conformal Field Theory (CFT) on its boundary.

The AdS/CFT correspondence is a special case of the holographic principle. It states that a quantum gravitating theory in Anti-de-Sitter (AdS) space is exactly equivalent to the gauge theory/Conformal Field Theory (CFT) on its boundary.

Use this tag for questions pertaining to the AdS/CFT correspondence, matrix models, etc.

It is also known as Maldacena Duality or Gauge-Gravity Duality. It is commonly applied in the context of string theory, and has given rise to various important results. Notable examples include:

  • BFSS Matrix theory, also known as M(atrix) theory.

  • Matrix Type IIA string theory.

  • Matrix Horava-Witten string theory.

Note, however, that all three of these were discovered before AdS/CFT was. Maldacena proposed AdS/CFT as a generalisation of these examples.

Relevant questions:

http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/6424/good-introductory-text-for-matrix-string-theory

Introduction to AdS/CFT

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Why is Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) Model model important?

In the past one or two years, there are a lot of papers about the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev Model (SYK) model, which I think is an example of $\mathrm{AdS}_2/\mathrm{CFT}_1$ correspondence. Why is this model important?
Nahc
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Introduction to AdS/CFT

AdS/CFT seems like a really hot topic and I'd like to start reading about. I am looking for the best introduction at my level, i.e. I have a background in QFT, CFT and general relativity at the level of a master student in theoretical physics. What…
Just_a_wannabe
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Why are anti-de Sitter spaces so interesting when we believe the universe is expansionary?

Perhaps this is a naive question, but in my recent (admittedly limited) readings about AdS spaces, I keep wondering why they seem to be such a hotbed for theoretical research (AdS/CFT correspondence, etc.). To my understanding, an AdS space has…
JotThisDown
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When one discusses the "boundary" of Anti-de Sitter space, what do they mean precisely?

The AdS/CFT correspondence refers to the "boundary" of AdS space but I'm a little confused about what this means. Typically, one writes the AdS metric in the form $$ds^2= \frac{L^2}{z^2}(-dt^2+d\vec x^2+dz^2)$$ and then refers to the point $z=0$…
user26866
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Which CFTs have AdS/CFT duals?

The AdS/CFT correspondence states that string theory in an asymptotically anti-De Sitter spacetime can be exactly described as a CFT on the boundary of this spacetime. Is the converse true? Does any CFT in a suitable number of spacetime dimensions…
Squark
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What's so special about AdS?

This question is coming from someone who has very little experience with M-Theory but is intrigued by the AdS/CFT correspondence and is beginning to study it. Why is the gauge/gravity duality discussed almost always in the context of anti-deSitter…
dbrane
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What is the definition of a "UV-complete" theory?

I would like to know (1) what exactly is a UV-complete theory and (2) what is a confirmatory test of that? Is asymptotic freedom enough to conclude that a theory is UV-complete? Does it become conclusive a test if the beta-function is shown to be…
user6818
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Mathematics of AdS/CFT

To date, what is the most mathematically precise formulation of the AdS/CFT correspondence, and what are the most robust tests of the conjecture?
Eric Zaslow
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Reversing gravitational decoherence

[Update: Thanks, everyone, for the wonderful replies! I learned something extremely interesting and relevant (namely, the basic way decoherence works in QFT), even though it wasn't what I thought I wanted to know when I asked the question. Partly…
Scott Aaronson
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Duality between Euclidean time and finite temperature, QFT and quantum gravity, and AdS/CFT

The thoughts below have occurred to me, several years ago (since 200x), again and again, since I learn quantum field theory(QFT) and statistical mechanics, and later AdS/CFT. It is about the duality and the correspondence between Euclidean time and…
wonderich
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Does local physics depend on global topology?

Motivating Example In standard treatments of AdS/CFT (MAGOO for example), one defines $\mathrm{AdS}_{p+2}$ as a particular embedded submanifold of $\mathbb R^{2,p+1}$ which gives it topology $S^1\times \mathbb R^{p+1}$ where the $S^1$ factor is…
joshphysics
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Has the black hole information loss paradox been settled?

This question was triggered by a comment of Peter Shor's (he is a skeptic, it seems.) I thought that the holographic principle and AdS/CFT dealt with that, and was enough for Hawking to give John Preskill a baseball encyclopedia; but Kip Thorne is…
Gordon
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What is the CFT dual to pure gravity on AdS$_3$?

Pure $2+1$-dimensional gravity in $AdS_3$ (parametrized as $S= \int d^3 x \frac{1}{16 \pi G} \sqrt{-g} (R+\frac{2}{l^2})$) is a topological field theory closely related to Chern-Simons theory, and at least naively seems like it may be renormalizable…
user32020
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Isn't gravity non-local and non-causal?

The way I think of this is that, I can ask physical questions about a space-time which are impossible to answer unless one knows the full space-time, and hence I am inclined to believe that gravity is non-local. For example, sitting at a point in a…
user6818
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AdS/CFT at D = 3

AdS/CFT at D = 3 (on the AdS side) seems to have some special issues which I bundled into a single question The CFT is 2D hence it has an infinite-dimensional group of symmetries (locally). The global (Mobius) conformal transformations correspond…
Squark
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