Non-Unitary Holography

Abstract

We propose gauge theory/gravity duality involving conformal theories based on U(N+k|k) gauge groups. We show that to all orders in 1/N these non-unitary theories based on supergroups are indistinguishable from the corresponding unitary theories where the gauge group is replaced by U(N). This leads to non-unitary gravity duals which to all orders in 1/N are indistinguishable from their unitary cousins. They are distinguished by operators whose correlation functions differ by O(exp(-aN)). The celebrated type IIB on AdS^5 x S^5 and M-theory on AdS^4 x S^7 fall in this class and thus seem to also admit non-unitary non-perturbative completions. It is tempting to conjecture that this setup may provide a non-unitary model for black hole evaporation.

13 pages, note added and additional references and minor edits

References in corpus (7)

• AdS3 Black Holes and a Stringy Exclusion Principle
• Better Late than Never: Information Retrieval from Black Holes
• Toda Theories, Matrix Models, Topological Strings, and N=2 Gauge Systems
• Euclidean Wormholes in String Theory
• Supermanifolds, Rigid Manifolds and Mirror Symmetry
• Correlators of Wilson loops and local operators from multi-matrix models and strings in AdS
• Holographic applications of logarithmic conformal field theories

Cited by in corpus (11)

• Bounding the Space of Holographic CFTs with Chaos
• Negative Branes, Supergroups and the Signature of Spacetime
• Free box^k Scalar Conformal Field Theory
• Page Curve and the Information Paradox in Flat Space
• Magnetized Kerr/CFT Correspondence
• How General Is Holography?
• Super instanton counting and localization
• Matrix Quantum Mechanics on $S^1/{\mathbb{Z}}_2$
• Negative anomalous dimensions in N=4 SYM
• Quasinormal modes and black hole hairs in AdS
• Strong gauging or decoupling ghost matter