Black holes in three dimensional higher spin gravity: A review

TL;DR

This review discusses recent advances in constructing black holes within three-dimensional higher spin gravity theories, emphasizing higher spin gauge invariance, conserved charges, and their holographic duals in conformal field theories.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of black hole solutions in higher spin gravity, including their conserved charges and holographic correspondence, extending known gravity concepts to higher spins.

Findings

Construction of higher spin black holes with conserved charges

Calculation of their partition functions in the asymptotic regime

Comparison with conformal field theory results in a generalized Cardy regime

Abstract

We review recent progress in the construction of black holes in three dimensional higher spin gravity theories. Starting from spin-3 gravity and working our way toward the theory of an infinite tower of higher spins coupled to matter, we show how to harness higher spin gauge invariance to consistently generalize familiar notions of black holes. We review the construction of black holes with conserved higher spin charges and the computation of their partition functions to leading asymptotic order. In view of the AdS/CFT correspondence as applied to certain vector-like conformal field theories with extended conformal symmetry, we successfully compare to CFT calculations in a generalized Cardy regime. A brief recollection of pertinent aspects of ordinary gravity is also given.