Holography without counter terms

Abstract

By considering the behavior of the reduced action under the scaling transformation, we present a unified derivation of the Smarr-like relation for asymptotically anti-de-Sitter planar black holes. This novel Smarr-like relation leads to useful information in the condensed matter systems through the AdS/CMT correspondence. By using our results, we provide an efficient way to obtain the holographically renormalized on-shell action without the information on the explicit forms of counter terms. We find the complete consistency of our results with those in various models discussed in the recent literatures and obtain new implications.

1+13 pages, plain LaTeX; v2: minor improvements; v3 version to appear in PRD