Cosmological singularities encoded in IR boundary correlations

TL;DR

This paper investigates how cosmological singularities in AdS spaces are reflected in boundary correlations within a dual gauge theory, revealing critical behavior and enhanced correlations near the singularity.

Contribution

It identifies the critical deformation in ABJM theory on de Sitter space where the theory becomes unstable and analyzes the boundary correlators near this critical point.

Findings

Critical deformation causes instability in the dual theory.

Enhanced long-distance correlations near the singularity.

Second saddle point contribution probes high curvature regions.

Abstract

We study the dynamics near big crunch singularities produced in asymptotic AdS cosmologies using gauge/gravity duality. The dual description consists of a constant mass deformation of ABJM theory on de Sitter space and is well-defined and stable for small deformations. We identify the critical deformation where the theory becomes unstable at weak and at strong coupling. Using spacelike geodesics anchored on the boundary we compute two-point correlators of ABJM operators of large dimensions. Near the critical deformation a second saddle point contribution enters, in which the spacelike geodesics probe the high curvature region near the singularity. Its contribution strongly enhances the long-distance correlations. This has a natural interpretation in the weakly coupled boundary theory where the critical point corresponds to a massless limit.