Andres Gomberoff

Flat limit of three dimensional asymptotically anti–de Sitter spacetimes

In order to get a better understanding of holographic properties of gravitational theories with a vanishing cosmological constant, we analyze in detail the relation between asymptotically anti-de Sitter and asymptotically flat spacetimes in three dimensions. This relation is somewhat subtle because the limit of vanishing cosmological constant cannot be naively taken in standard Fefferman-Graham coordinates. After reformulating the standard anti-de Sitter results in Robinson-Trautman coordinates, a suitably modified Penrose limit is shown to connect both asymptotic regimes.

Duality, self-duality, sources and charge quantization in abelian N-form theories

We investigate duality properties of N-form fields, provide a symmetric way of coupling them to electric/magnetic sources, and check that these charges obey the appropriate quantization requirements. First, we contrast the D = 4k case, in which duality is a well-defined SO(2) rotation generated by a Chern-Simons form leaving the action invariant, and D = 4k + 2 where the corresponding ostensibly SO(1, 1) rotation is not only not an invariance but does not even have a generator. When charged sources are included we show explicitly in the Maxwell case how the usual Dirac quantization arises in a fully symmetric approach attaching strings to both types of changes. Finally, for D = 4k + 2 systems, we show how charges can be introduced for self-dual (2k)-forms, and obtain the D = 4k models with sources by dimensional reduction, tracing their duality invariance to a partial invariance in the higher dimensions.

ANTI-DE SITTER SPACE AND BLACK HOLES

Anti-de Sitter space with identified points give rise to black-hole structures. This was first pointed out in three dimensions and generalized to higher dimensions by Aminneborg et al. In this paper, we analyse several aspects of the five-dimensional anti-de Sitter black hole, including its relation to thermal anti-de Sitter space, its embedding in a Chern - Simons supergravity theory, its global charges and holonomies and the existence of Killing spinors.

Three dimensional origin of Gödel spacetimes and black holes

We construct Godel-type black hole and particle solutions to Einstein-Maxwell theory in 2+1 dimensions with a negative cosmological constant and a Chern-Simons term. On-shell, the electromagnetic stress-energy tensor effectively replaces the cosmological constant by minus the square of the topological mass and produces the stress-energy of a pressure-free perfect fluid. We show how a particular solution is related to the original Godel universe and analyze the solutions from the point of view of identifications. Finally, we compute the conserved charges and work out the thermodynamics.

Three-dimensional Bondi-Metzner-Sachs invariant two-dimensional field theories as the flat limit of Liouville theory

In the gravitational context, Liouville theory is the two-dimensional conformal field theory that controls the boundary dynamics of asymptotically AdS_3 spacetimes at the classical level. By taking a suitable limit of the coupling constants of the Hamiltonian formulation of Liouville, we construct and analyze a BMS_3 invariant two-dimensional field theory that is likely to control the boundary dynamics at null infinity of three dimensional asymptotically flat gravity.

p-Brane dyons and electric-magnetic duality

We discuss dyons, charge quantization and electric-magnetic duality for self-interacting, abelian, p-form theories in the space-time dimensions D = 2(p + 1) where dyons can be present. The corresponding quantization conditions and duality properties are strikingly different depending on whether p is odd or even. If p is odd one has the familiar eg − ge = 2φ, whereas for even p one finds the opposite relative sign, eg + ge = 2π. These conditions are obtained by introducing Dirac strings and taking due account of the multiple connectedness of the configuration space of the strings and the dyons. A two-potential formulation of the theory that treats the electric and magnetic sources on the same footing is also given. Our results hold for arbitrary gauge invariant self-interaction of the fields and are valid irrespective of their duality properties.

de Sitter black holes with either of the two horizons as a boundary

The action and the thermodynamics of a rotating black hole in the presence of a positive cosmological constant are analyzed. Since there is no spatial infinity, one must bring in, instead, a platform where the parameters characterizing the thermodynamic ensemble are specified. In the present treatment the platform in question is taken to be one of the two horizons, which is considered as a boundary. If the boundary is taken to be the cosmological horizon one deals with the action and thermodynamics of the black hole horizon. Conversely, if one takes the black hole horizon as the boundary, one deals with the action and thermodynamics of the cosmological horizon. The two systems are different. Their energy and angular momenta are equal in magnitude but have opposite sign. In either case, the energy and the angular momentum are obtained as surface terms on the boundary, according to the standard Hamiltonian procedure. The temperature and the rotational chemical potential are also expressed in terms of magnitudes on the boundary. If, in the resulting expressions, one continues the cosmological constant to negative values, the black hole thermodynamic parameters defined on the cosmological horizon coincide with those calculated at spatial infinity in the asymptotically anti-de Sitter case.

Generalized phase transitions in Lovelock gravity

We investigate a novel mechanism for phase transitions that is a distinctive feature of higher-curvature gravity theories. For definiteness, we bound ourselves to the case of Lovelock gravities. These theories are known to have several branches of asymptotically anti–de Sitter solutions. Here, extending our previous work, we show that phase transitions among some of these branches are driven by a thermalon configuration: a bubble separating two regions of different effective cosmological constants, generically hosting a black hole in the interior. Above some critical temperature, this thermalon configuration is preferred with respect to the finite-temperature anti–de Sitter space, triggering a sophisticated version of the Hawking-Page transition. After being created, the unstable bubble configuration can in general dynamically change the asymptotic cosmological constant. While this phenomenon already occurs in the case of a gravity action with square curvature terms, we point out that in the case of Lovelock theory with cubic (and higher) terms new effects appear. For instance, the theory may admit more than one type of bubble and branches that are in principle free of pathologies may also decay through the thermalon mechanism. We also find ranges of the gravitational couplings for which the theory becomes sick. These add up to previously found restrictions to impose tighter constraints on higher-curvature gravities. The results of this paper point to an intricate phase diagram which might accommodate similarly rich behavior in the dual conformal field theory side.

Bigravity black hole and its thermodynamics

We argue that the Isham-Storey exact solution to bigravity does not describe black holes because the horizon is a singular surface. However, this is not a generic property of bigravity, but a property of a particular potential. More general potentials do accept regular black holes. For regular black holes, we compute the total energy and thermodynamical parameters. Phase transitions occur for certain critical temperatures. We also find a novel region on phase space describing up to 4 allowed states for a given temperature.

(2+1)-dimensional charged black hole in topologically massive electrodynamics.

The 2+1 black hole coupled to a Maxwell field can be charged in two different ways. Besides a Coulomb field, whose potential grows logarithmically in the radial coordinate, there also exists a topological charge due to the existence of a noncontractible cycle. The topological charge does not gravitate and is somehow decoupled from the black hole. This situation changes if one turns on the Chern-Simons term for the Maxwell field. First, the flux integral at infinity becomes equal to the topological charge. Second, demanding regularity of the black hole horizon, the Coulomb charge must vanish identically. Hence, in 2+1 topologically massive electrodynamics coupled to gravity, the black hole can support holonomies only for the Maxwell field. This means that the charged black hole is constructed from the vacuum by means of spacetime identifications.