English

Stringy ER=EPR

High Energy Physics - Theory 2022-11-23 v3

Abstract

The ER = EPR correspondence relates a superposition of entangled, disconnected spacetimes to a connected spacetime with an Einstein-Rosen bridge. We construct examples in which both sides may be described by weakly-coupled string theory. The relation between them is given by a Lorentzian continuation of the FZZ duality of the two-dimensional Euclidean black hole CFT in one example, and in another example by continuation of a similar duality that we propose for the asymptotic Euclidean AdS3 black hole. This gives a microscopic understanding of ER = EPR: one has a worldsheet duality between string theory in a connected, eternal black hole, and in a superposition of disconnected geometries in an entangled state. The disconnected description includes a condensate of entangled folded strings emanating from a strong-coupling region in place of a horizon. Our construction relies on a Lorentzian interpretation of Euclidean time winding operators via angular quantization, as well as some lesser known worldsheet string theories, such as perturbation theory around a thermofield-double state, which we define using Schwinger-Keldysh contours in target space.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2104.07233,
  title  = {Stringy ER=EPR},
  author = {Daniel L. Jafferis and Elliot Schneider},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2104.07233},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

94 pages, 19 figures. v2: Clarifications and summary added to the introduction, citations fixed

R2 v1 2026-06-24T01:11:10.396Z