A holographic reduction of Minkowski space-time

TL;DR

This paper explores a novel holographic approach to Minkowski space by slicing it into AdS and de Sitter segments, leading to a dual description on two spheres that reconstructs Minkowski physics via conformal field theories.

Contribution

It introduces a Minkowski/CFT correspondence based on slicing Minkowski space and reconstructs Minkowski Green's functions and S-matrix from dual CFT correlators on boundary spheres.

Findings

Reconstruction of Minkowski Green's functions from CFT two-point functions

Proposal of a Minkowski/CFT duality applicable to free and interacting fields

Interpretation of conformal symmetry in the context of Minkowski holography

Abstract

Minkowski space can be sliced, outside the lightcone, in terms of Euclidean Anti-de Sitter and Lorentzian de Sitter slices. In this paper we investigate what happens when we apply holography to each slice separately. This yields a dual description living on two spheres, which can be interpreted as the boundary of the light cone. The infinite number of slices gives rise to a continuum family of operators on the two spheres for each separate bulk field. For a free field we explain how the Green's function and (trivial) S-matrix in Minkowski space can be reconstructed in terms of two-point functions of some putative conformal field theory on the two spheres. Based on this we propose a Minkowski/CFT correspondence which can also be applied to interacting fields. We comment on the interpretation of the conformal symmetry of the CFT, and on generalizations to curved space.