Year: 2021
Type: article
Abstract: We explore thermodynamic contributions to the three-dimensional de Sitter horizon originating from metric and Chern-Simons gauge field fluctuations. In Euclidean signature these are computed by the partition function of gravity coupled to matter semi-classically expanded about the round three-sphere saddle. We investigate a corresponding Lorentzian picture — drawing inspiration from the topological entanglement entropy literature — in the form of an edge-mode theory residing at the de Sitter horizon. We extend the discussion to three-dimensional gravity with positive cosmological constant, viewed (semi-classically) as a complexified Chern-Simons theory. The putative gravitational edge-mode theory is a complexified version of the chiral Wess-Zumino-Witten model associated to the edge-modes of ordinary Chern-Simons theory. We introduce and solve a family of complexified Abelian Chern-Simons theories as a way to elucidate some of the more salient features of the gravitational edge-mode theories. We comment on the relation to the AdS4/CFT3 correspondence.
Source: Journal of High Energy Physics
Authors: Dionysios Anninos, Eleanor Harris
Institution: King's College London
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
Awards: G1643540916, G4768994529
OpenAlex ID: W3173318443