Flat-space Quantum Gravity in AdS/CFT

TL;DR

This paper develops a scheme to describe the microscopic quantum gravitational dynamics of black holes in asymptotically flat spacetime using CFT operators, providing insights into Hawking radiation and black hole evolution.

Contribution

It introduces a gauge-fixed continuous time evolution framework for quantum gravity in flat space via CFT, linking black hole dynamics to nonperturbative CFT properties.

Findings

Scheme describes Hawking emission process microscopically

Predicts nonperturbative properties of dual CFTs

Relates black hole evolution to operator algebra in CFT

Abstract

Motivated by the task of understanding microscopic dynamics of an evolving black hole, we present a scheme describing gauge-fixed continuous time evolution of quantum gravitational processes in asymptotically flat spacetime using the algebra of CFT operators. This allows us to study the microscopic dynamics of the Hawking emission process, although obtaining a full S-matrix may require a modification of the minimal scheme. The role of the operator product expansion is to physically interpret the resulting time evolution by decomposing the Hilbert space of the states for the entire system into those for smaller subsystems. We translate the picture of an evaporating black hole previously proposed by the authors into predictions for nonperturbative properties of the CFTs that have weakly coupled dual gravitational descriptions. We also discuss a possible relationship between the present scheme and a reference frame change in the bulk.