Related papers: Allowable Complex Black Holes in the Euclidean Gra…
We discuss the Kontsevich-Segal-Witten criterion for the allowability of complex metrics, in the context of the gravitational path integral that calculates the supersymmetric index. We focus on the saddle points that capture the…
We study the Kontsevich-Segal-Witten criterion for allowable complex metrics, in the context of the gravitational path integral corresponding to the supersymmetric index. In various theories of supergravity in asymptotically flat and…
Kontsevich and Segal (K-S) have proposed a criterion to determine which complex metrics should be allowed, based on the requirement that quantum field theories may consistently be defined on these metrics, and Witten has recently suggested…
For various reasons, it seems necessary to include complex saddle points in the "Euclidean" path integral of General Relativity. But some sort of restriction on the allowed complex saddle points is needed to avoid various unphysical…
We use diffeomorphic mappings to connect black hole metrics with complex solutions allowed by the Kontsevich-Segal criterion. By swapping radial and time-like coordinates and applying complex mappings, we derive dynamic metrics suitable for…
The Bekenstein-Hawking entropy formula $\rho = e^{A/4G}$ receives significant corrections for charged black holes near extremality. Using standard results in JT gravity, the correction term can semiclassically be expressed as minus the…
We perform a nontrivial check of Witten's recently proposed admissibility criterion for complex metrics. We consider the `quasi-Euclidean' metrics obtained from continuing the BTZ class of metrics to imaginary time. Of special interest are…
Schwarzschild-de Sitter black holes have two horizons that are at different temperatures for generic values of the black hole mass. Since the horizons are out of equilibrium the solutions do not admit a smooth Euclidean continuation and it…
Thermal partition functions for gravitational systems have traditionally been studied using Euclidean path integrals. But in Euclidean signature the gravitational action suffers from the conformal factor problem, which renders the action…
We revisit the stability of black hole saddles for the Euclidean path integral describing the canonical partition function $Z(\beta)$ for gravity inside a spherical reflecting cavity. The boundary condition at the cavity wall couples the…
Complex metrics are a double-edged sword: they allow one to replace singular spacetimes, such as those containing a big bang, with regular metrics, yet they can also describe unphysical solutions in which quantum transitions may be more…
We construct the phase diagram of supersymmetric ground states in AdS$_4\times S^7$ supergravity. BPS black holes exist only when the conserved charges satisfy a certain non-linear constraint. For other charge sectors, we propose two…
The counting of microstates of supersymmetric black holes with anti-de Sitter or flat asymptotics is obtained by computing a supersymmetric index in a weakly coupled string theory or a dual superconformal field theory. These indices are…
The very early universe is understood in terms of quantum field theories on curved spacetime, where the classical background spacetime is typically an FLRW cosmology and the quantum fields which propagate on it include gravitational waves…
The extent to which quantum mechanical features of black holes can be understood from the Euclidean gravity path integral has recently received significant attention. In this paper, we examine this question for the calculation of the…
In this note we consider no-boundary instantons and wine-glass geometries which are of interest in the context of quantum cosmology. While the former usually appears as a dominant saddle in the path-integral, the wineglass geometry can…
In this paper, we establish a universal equality governing Euclidean integrals of gravitational actions in higher-derivative theories. This relation is shown to hold universally for asymptotically flat black holes in pure gravity, and is…
The fundamental heterotic string has a tower of BPS states whose supersymmetric index has an exponential growth in the charges. We construct the saddle-point of the gravitational path integral corresponding to this index. The saddle-point…
In the context of thermodynamics of asymptotically anti-de Sitter spaces, it is often stated that at very low temperatures, there is only one saddle point available-namely, thermal AdS-and hence this sole saddle dictates the low-temperature…
We study complex saddles of the Lorentzian path integral for 4D axion gravity and its dual description in terms of a 3-form flux, which include the Giddings-Strominger Euclidean wormhole. Transition amplitudes are computed using the…