Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: We formulate perturbative Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity as an ensemble of ordinary one-dimensional Hamiltonians with a confining random potential. The leading profile reproduces the disk density of states, while connected cumulants of a single master field encode the topological expansion. After formulating the cumulant power counting required by the topological expansion, we show that the cumulants reproduce all genus-zero multi-boundary amplitudes $\mathcal Z_{0,n}$. At higher genus, we show that a renormalization scheme can be chosen consistently order by order so that imposing one-boundary polynomiality recursively reproduces the perturbative JT string equation and yields the standard JT one-boundary amplitudes $\mathcal Z_{g,1}$. The framework provides a self-contained finite-$S_0$ quantum dynamics with a discrete spectrum and unitary real time evolution, beyond a mere rewriting of the matrix integral. The same confining dynamics also underlies late-time saturation and the dynamical avoidance of the would-be black hole singularity, as shown in our earlier work.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Bak, Dongsu, Kim, Chanju, Yi, Sang-Heon
Institutions: University of Seoul, Ewha Womans University
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G2871729594, G2961567836
OpenAlex ID: W7221527867