Timelike boundaries in de Sitter JT gravity and the Gao-Wald theorem

Abstract The Gao-Wald theorem says that the Penrose diagram of de Sitter spacetime reacts to a positive energy perturbation by getting “taller”. How does this change in the presence of timelike boundaries? We study this question in two-dimensional de Sitter JT gravity coupled to conformal matter. Th...

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Main Author: Gauri Batra
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2025-01-01
Series:Journal of High Energy Physics
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP01(2025)044
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author Gauri Batra
author_facet Gauri Batra
author_sort Gauri Batra
collection DOAJ
description Abstract The Gao-Wald theorem says that the Penrose diagram of de Sitter spacetime reacts to a positive energy perturbation by getting “taller”. How does this change in the presence of timelike boundaries? We study this question in two-dimensional de Sitter JT gravity coupled to conformal matter. The effect of the boundaries has its roots in quantum corrections to the vacuum energy of the CFT due to Casimir-like effects. We consider two different kinds of timelike boundaries, and for each kind we compute the vacuum expectation value of the matter CFT stress tensor. The stress tensor violates the null energy condition in the first case and saturates it in the second case, with each case exhibiting a negative energy density in the vacuum state. We then compute the semiclassical backreaction of this energy density and show how it can make the spacetime “fatter” or “taller” or a combination of both, depending on the regime. The spacetime getting fatter corresponds to an increase in the value of the dilaton at the horizon and hence also in the static patch horizon area in the higher-dimensional solution. We comment on the implications of our results for the quantum theories living on the timelike boundaries.
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spelling doaj-art-5ff3733ee6ed48b3af7a3d8d0df20a932025-01-19T12:07:03ZengSpringerOpenJournal of High Energy Physics1029-84792025-01-012025112510.1007/JHEP01(2025)044Timelike boundaries in de Sitter JT gravity and the Gao-Wald theoremGauri Batra0Stanford Institute for Theoretical PhysicsAbstract The Gao-Wald theorem says that the Penrose diagram of de Sitter spacetime reacts to a positive energy perturbation by getting “taller”. How does this change in the presence of timelike boundaries? We study this question in two-dimensional de Sitter JT gravity coupled to conformal matter. The effect of the boundaries has its roots in quantum corrections to the vacuum energy of the CFT due to Casimir-like effects. We consider two different kinds of timelike boundaries, and for each kind we compute the vacuum expectation value of the matter CFT stress tensor. The stress tensor violates the null energy condition in the first case and saturates it in the second case, with each case exhibiting a negative energy density in the vacuum state. We then compute the semiclassical backreaction of this energy density and show how it can make the spacetime “fatter” or “taller” or a combination of both, depending on the regime. The spacetime getting fatter corresponds to an increase in the value of the dilaton at the horizon and hence also in the static patch horizon area in the higher-dimensional solution. We comment on the implications of our results for the quantum theories living on the timelike boundaries.https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP01(2025)0442D GravityCosmological modelsde Sitter spaceGauge-Gravity Correspondence
spellingShingle Gauri Batra
Timelike boundaries in de Sitter JT gravity and the Gao-Wald theorem
Journal of High Energy Physics
2D Gravity
Cosmological models
de Sitter space
Gauge-Gravity Correspondence
title Timelike boundaries in de Sitter JT gravity and the Gao-Wald theorem
title_full Timelike boundaries in de Sitter JT gravity and the Gao-Wald theorem
title_fullStr Timelike boundaries in de Sitter JT gravity and the Gao-Wald theorem
title_full_unstemmed Timelike boundaries in de Sitter JT gravity and the Gao-Wald theorem
title_short Timelike boundaries in de Sitter JT gravity and the Gao-Wald theorem
title_sort timelike boundaries in de sitter jt gravity and the gao wald theorem
topic 2D Gravity
Cosmological models
de Sitter space
Gauge-Gravity Correspondence
url https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP01(2025)044
work_keys_str_mv AT gauribatra timelikeboundariesindesitterjtgravityandthegaowaldtheorem