Tom Hartman - Averaged 2d CFTs and holography

Tuesday 21 Dec 2021, 14:00 → 16:00 Europe/Zurich

Zoom Only (CERN)

In some models, the sum over topologies in quantum gravity appears to be related to an average over coupling constants. I will describe some general features of this correspondence in 3d gravity, and discuss an interacting toy model in 2d CFT where it can be studied in detail. The boundary theory is a WZW model averaged over exactly marginal deformations, and the bulk theory is a Chern-Simons-like theory in three dimensions. I will also discuss a variant of the duality, where the boundary theory is simpler, to illustrate why averaging over couplings projects onto smooth 3-geometries.