On Information Loss in AdS$_3$/CFT$_2$

TL;DR

This paper investigates how non-perturbative effects in AdS$_3$/CFT$_2$ can resolve information loss signatures in black hole correlators, revealing universal features and potential pathways to a refined gravitational path integral formulation.

Contribution

It demonstrates that non-perturbative effects at finite central charge $c$ resolve forbidden singularities and alter late-time correlator behavior, offering insights into information preservation in AdS$_3$/CFT$_2$.

Findings

Forbidden singularities are resolved by non-perturbative effects.

Correlator decay at late times is modified by these effects.

Heavy states contribute to information restoration, linked to classical solutions.

Abstract

We discuss information loss from black hole physics in AdS$_3$, focusing on two sharp signatures infecting CFT$_2$ correlators at large central charge $c$: 'forbidden singularities' arising from Euclidean-time periodicity due to the effective Hawking temperature, and late-time exponential decay in the Lorentzian region. We study an infinite class of examples where forbidden singularities can be resolved by non-perturbative effects at finite $c$, and we show that the resolution has certain universal features that also apply in the general case. Analytically continuing to the Lorentzian regime, we find that the non-perturbative effects that resolve forbidden singularities qualitatively change the behavior of correlators at times $t \sim S_{BH}$, the black hole entropy. This may resolve the exponential decay of correlators at late times in black hole backgrounds. By Borel resumming the $1/c$ expansion of exact examples, we explicitly identify 'information-restoring' effects from heavy states that should correspond to classical solutions in AdS$_3$. Our results suggest a line of inquiry towards a more precise formulation of the gravitational path integral in AdS$_3$.