Microscopics of de Sitter Entropy from Precision Holography

TL;DR

This paper investigates quantum corrections to de Sitter entropy using holographic duality, embedding in M-theory, and one-loop calculations, providing evidence for a microscopic CFT description of de Sitter space.

Contribution

It introduces a holographic approach to compute quantum corrections to de Sitter entropy, linking gravitational and CFT calculations, and confirms the microscopic origin of entropy.

Findings

Logarithmic correction coefficient matches one-loop calculations.

Holographic duality relates de Sitter entropy to Euclidean CFT path integral.

Quantum corrections are expressed via regularized Euclidean anti-de Sitter action.

Abstract

We calculate quantum corrections to the entropy of four-dimensional de Sitter space induced by higher-derivative terms in the gravitational action and by one-loop effects. Employing the intertwinement in semiclassical gravity of Euclidean de Sitter and anti-de Sitter saddles, we embed effective de Sitter gravity theories in M-theory and express the entropy in terms of the regularized Euclidean anti-de Sitter action on an auxiliary $\mathrm{EAdS}_4 \times S^7/\mathbb{Z}_k$ background. We conjecture that the partition function of the holographically dual 3d ABJM CFT determines the explicit form of the corrections to the de Sitter entropy. This includes a logarithmic term, the coefficient of which, we show, agrees with an independent one-loop calculation around the $-S^4 \times S^7/\mathbb{Z}_k$ Euclidean de Sitter saddle. This provides evidence that the microscopic degrees of freedom behind the entropy of four-dimensional de Sitter space in gravitational theories with a holographic dual description are encapsulated by the path integral of the Euclidean CFT on the three-sphere.