A solvable 3d quantum gravity model is defined by summing Virasoro TQFT copies over all topologies, shown to be dual to a 2d CFT ensemble and to exhibit semiclassical features such as cured negative density of states and Hawking-Page transition in the large-c limit.
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Poincare Series, 3D Gravity and CFT Spectroscopy
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abstract
Modular invariance strongly constrains the spectrum of states of two dimensional conformal field theories. By summing over the images of the modular group, we construct candidate CFT partition functions that are modular invariant and have positive spectrum. This allows us to efficiently extract the constraints on the CFT spectrum imposed by modular invariance, giving information on the spectrum that goes beyond the Cardy growth of the asymptotic density of states. Some of the candidate modular invariant partition functions we construct have gaps of size (c-1)/12, proving that gaps of this size and smaller are consistent with modular invariance. We also revisit the partition function of pure Einstein gravity in AdS3 obtained by summing over geometries, which has a spectrum with two unphysical features: it is continuous, and the density of states is not positive definite. We show that both of these can be resolved by adding corrections to the spectrum which are subleading in the semi-classical (large central charge) limit.
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UNVERDICTED 10representative citing papers
Non-orientable topological gravity produces a resummed topological expansion whose late-time behavior matches the GOE universality class of random matrix theory for time-reversal invariant chaotic systems.
The Hartle-Hawking state for toroidal quantum cosmologies is expressed in the Langlands decomposition as a sum over zeta zeros whose near-singularity dynamics follow the Hilbert-Pólya Hamiltonian and as a Möbius average of CFT partition functions.
Unitary QFTs are determined up to unitary isomorphism by closed-manifold partition functions; every reflection-positive partition function comes from a unitary QFT, so spatial wormholes do not break Hilbert-space factorization once the full charged spectrum is included.
Proposes an SL(2,Z) sum of Kerr-lens geometries in 3d dS gravity whose spectral density is computed via crosscap amplitudes in CLS ⊗ CLS, matching semi-classical predictions and reducing in a simple case to GΣ ⊗ GΣ on the observer worldline.
Proposal that compact d-manifolds with elliptic data prepare boundary quantum states |J>, with Rényi entropies from path integrals agreeing with minimal-surface formulas after analytic continuation.
3d gravity on Σ_{g,n} × I with EOW branes equals the Virasoro minimal string random matrix model, with exact match for g=0 n=2 and inner-product formulation for negative Euler characteristic.
Introduces RMT surgery to relate off-shell 3D gravity partition functions to CFT spectral statistics via Euclidean wormholes with four-punctured sphere and trumpet boundaries.
Spinning states scaled with central charge cancel negative densities in 3D gravity, reinterpreted as bulk defects or overspinning BTZ quotients of AdS3 that preserve the gap but exhibit causal pathologies.
Open Virasoro TQFT computes 3d gravity path integrals on compact regions using threshold-dependent boundary conditions and yields an open-closed duality relating Conformal Turaev-Viro theory to the diagonal sector of two Virasoro TQFT copies.
citing papers explorer
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A solvable model of 3d quantum gravity
A solvable 3d quantum gravity model is defined by summing Virasoro TQFT copies over all topologies, shown to be dual to a 2d CFT ensemble and to exhibit semiclassical features such as cured negative density of states and Hawking-Page transition in the large-c limit.
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Mind the crosscap: $\tau$-scaling in non-orientable gravity and time-reversal-invariant systems
Non-orientable topological gravity produces a resummed topological expansion whose late-time behavior matches the GOE universality class of random matrix theory for time-reversal invariant chaotic systems.
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M\"obius randomness in the Hartle-Hawking state
The Hartle-Hawking state for toroidal quantum cosmologies is expressed in the Langlands decomposition as a sum over zeta zeros whose near-singularity dynamics follow the Hilbert-Pólya Hamiltonian and as a Möbius average of CFT partition functions.
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Wormholes as red herrings: reflection positivity and the reconstruction of unitary quantum field theories
Unitary QFTs are determined up to unitary isomorphism by closed-manifold partition functions; every reflection-positive partition function comes from a unitary QFT, so spatial wormholes do not break Hilbert-space factorization once the full charged spectrum is included.
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An observer's quantization of 3d de Sitter
Proposes an SL(2,Z) sum of Kerr-lens geometries in 3d dS gravity whose spectral density is computed via crosscap amplitudes in CLS ⊗ CLS, matching semi-classical predictions and reducing in a simple case to GΣ ⊗ GΣ on the observer worldline.
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Quantum State of a Gravitating Region
Proposal that compact d-manifolds with elliptic data prepare boundary quantum states |J>, with Rényi entropies from path integrals agreeing with minimal-surface formulas after analytic continuation.
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On random matrix statistics of 3d gravity
3d gravity on Σ_{g,n} × I with EOW branes equals the Virasoro minimal string random matrix model, with exact match for g=0 n=2 and inner-product formulation for negative Euler characteristic.
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Surgery and statistics in 3d gravity
Introduces RMT surgery to relate off-shell 3D gravity partition functions to CFT spectral statistics via Euclidean wormholes with four-punctured sphere and trumpet boundaries.
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Spinning States and Unitarity in 3D Gravity
Spinning states scaled with central charge cancel negative densities in 3D gravity, reinterpreted as bulk defects or overspinning BTZ quotients of AdS3 that preserve the gap but exhibit causal pathologies.
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The many facets of a hyperbolic tetrahedron: open and closed triangulations of 3d gravity
Open Virasoro TQFT computes 3d gravity path integrals on compact regions using threshold-dependent boundary conditions and yields an open-closed duality relating Conformal Turaev-Viro theory to the diagonal sector of two Virasoro TQFT copies.