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# References

## Abstract

We derive an exact expression for the partition function of the Euclidean BTZ black hole. Using this, we show that for a black hole with large horizon area, the correction to the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy is $`3/2log(area)`$, in agreement with that for the Schwarzschild black hole obtained in the four dimensional canonical gravity formalism and also in a Lorentzian computation of BTZ black hole entropy. We find that the right expression for the logarithmic correction in the context of the BTZ black hole comes from the modular invariance associated with the toral boundary of the black hole.
PACS No.: 04.60.-m, 04.60.Kz, 04.70.Dy

Logarithmic correction to the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of BTZ black hole

T. R. Govindarajan, R. K. Kaul and V. Suneeta 111e-mail: trg, kaul, suneeta@imsc.ernet.in

aThe Institute of Mathematical Sciences, CIT Campus, Chennai 600113, India

Within the quantum geometry formulation of gravity, it has been argued that the quantum degrees of freedom of a (3+1)-dimensional black hole can be described in terms of a Chern-Simons theory on the horizon, . For a (3+1)-dimensional Schwarzschild black hole, this allows an exact calculation of the entropy  which for a large horizon area yields, besides the usual Bekenstein-Hawking entropy proportional to the area, a next order log(area) correction with a definite numerical coefficient, $`3/2`$ . $`SU(2)`$ Wess-Zumino conformal field theory on the boundary plays an important role in this calculation. There are other methods which can been employed to evaluate black hole entropy. Exploiting the nature of corrections to the Cardy formula for density of states in a two-dimensional conformal field theory, Carlip has evaluated this logarithmic correction in several black hole models including those from certain string theories. Contrary to the expectations that these corrections may lead to distinguishing various formulations of quantum gravity, as emphasized by Carlip, the coefficient of logarithmic correction to the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy for large horizon area may have a universal character. The same value of the coefficient appears for a variety of black holes independent of the dimensions. In particular, the same correction was obtained for the entropy of the (2+1)-dimensional Lorentzian BTZ black hole  in  by studying the growth of states in the asymptotic conformal field theory at the boundary of the black hole spacetime. The semi-classical entropy of the BTZ black hole has been earlier obtained in different Lorentzian ,  and Euclidean ,  formulations of gravity. However, the correction term to semi-classical entropy seen in  has not been reproduced in the Euclidean path integral calculations for BTZ black hole, which is surprising.

In this paper, we derive an exact expression for the partition function of the BTZ black hole in the Euclidean path integral approach. In this framework, three-dimensional gravity with a negative cosmological constant is described in terms of two $`SU(2)`$ Chern-Simons theories , . Then, $`SU(2)`$ Wess-Zumino conformal field theories are naturally induced on the boundary . The quantum degrees of freedom corresponding to the entropy of the black hole are described by these conformal field theories. From the exact expression of the partition function, we show that there is indeed a correction to the semi-classical entropy that is proportional to the logarithm of the area (horizon length in this case) with a coefficient $`3/2`$ again in agreement with the result for a four dimensional black hole obtained in ref. .

The gravity action $`I_{grav}`$ written in a first-order formalism (using triads $`e`$ and spin connection $`\omega `$) is the difference of two Chern-Simons actions.

$`I_{\text{grav}}=I_{\text{CS}}[A]I_{\text{CS}}[\overline{A}],`$ (1)
where

$`A=\left(\omega ^a+{\displaystyle \frac{i}{l}}e^a\right)T_a,\overline{A}=\left(\omega ^a{\displaystyle \frac{i}{l}}e^a\right)T_a`$ (2)
are $`\text{SL}(2,𝐂)`$ gauge fields (with $`T_a=i\sigma _a/2`$). Here, the negative cosmological constant $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=(1/l^2)`$. The Chern-Simons action $`I_{\text{CS}}[A]`$ is

$`I_{\text{CS}}={\displaystyle \frac{k}{4\pi }}{\displaystyle _M}\text{Tr}\left(AdA+{\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}AAA\right)`$ (3)
and the Chern-Simons coupling constant is $`k=l/4G`$. We note that we can rewrite the Lorentzian gravity action also as a Chern-Simons theory, and in that case, the Chern-Simons coupling constant $`k=l/4G`$; Lorentzian gravity is obtained from the Euclidean theory by a continuation $`GG`$.

Now, for a manifold with boundary, the Chern-Simons field theory is described by a Wess-Zumino conformal field theory on the boundary. Under the decomposition

$`A=g^1dg+g^1\stackrel{~}{A}g,`$ (4)
the Chern-Simons action (3) becomes ,

$`I_{\text{CS}}[A]=I_{\text{CS}}[\stackrel{~}{A}]+kI_{\text{WZW}}^+[g,\stackrel{~}{A}_z],`$ (5)
where $`I_{\text{WZW}}^+[g,\stackrel{~}{A}_z]`$ is the action of a chiral $`SU(2)`$ Wess-Zumino model on the boundary $`M`$,

$`I_{\text{WZW}}^+[g,\stackrel{~}{A}_z]`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4\pi }}{\displaystyle _M}\text{Tr}\left(g^1_zgg^1_{\overline{z}}g2g^1_{\overline{z}}g\stackrel{~}{A}_z\right)`$ (6)
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{12\pi }}{\displaystyle _M}\text{Tr}\left(g^1dg\right)^3.`$
The ‘pure gauge’ degrees of freedom $`g`$ are now true dynamical degrees of freedom at the boundary.

We are interested in computing the entropy of the Euclidean BTZ black hole. The Euclidean continuation of the BTZ black hole has the topology of a solid torus . The metric for the Euclidean BTZ black hole in the usual Schwarzschild-like coordinates is

$`ds^2=N^2d\tau ^2+N^2dr^2+r^2(d\varphi +N^\varphi d\tau )^2`$ (7)
where $`\tau `$ here is the Euclidean time coordinate and

$`N=\left(M+{\displaystyle \frac{r^2}{l^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{J^2}{4r^2}}\right)^{\frac{1}{2}},N_\varphi ={\displaystyle \frac{J}{2r^2}}`$ (8)
The inner and the outer horizons of the Lorentzian black hole solution get mapped in the Euclidean continuation to $`ir_{}`$ and $`r_+`$ respectively, where

$$r_\pm ^2=\frac{Ml^2}{2}\left[1\pm \left(1+\frac{J^2}{M^2l^2}\right)^{1/2}\right]$$
(9)
$`M`$ and $`J`$ are the mass and angular momentum of the black hole respectively.

As shown by Carlip and Teitelboim , after a coordinate transformation,

$`x`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{r^2r_+^2}{r^2r_{}^2}}\right)^{1/2}\mathrm{cos}\left({\displaystyle \frac{r_+}{l^2}}\tau +{\displaystyle \frac{|r_{}|}{l}}\varphi \right)\mathrm{exp}\left\{{\displaystyle \frac{r_+}{l}}\varphi {\displaystyle \frac{|r_{}|}{l^2}}\tau \right\}`$
$`y`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{r^2r_+^2}{r^2r_{}^2}}\right)^{1/2}\mathrm{sin}\left({\displaystyle \frac{r_+}{l^2}}\tau +{\displaystyle \frac{|r_{}|}{l}}\varphi \right)\mathrm{exp}\left\{{\displaystyle \frac{r_+}{l}}\varphi {\displaystyle \frac{|r_{}|}{l^2}}\tau \right\}`$ (10)
$`z`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{r_+^2r_{}^2}{r^2r_{}^2}}\right)^{1/2}\mathrm{exp}\left\{{\displaystyle \frac{r_+}{l}}\varphi {\displaystyle \frac{|r_{}|}{l^2}}\tau \right\}`$
The black hole metric is just the metric for hyperbolic three-space $`_3`$

$`ds^2={\displaystyle \frac{l^2}{z^2}}(dx^2+dy^2+dz^2),z>0,`$ (11)
Changing to spherical coordinates

$`x=R\mathrm{cos}\theta \mathrm{cos}\chi ,y=R\mathrm{sin}\theta \mathrm{cos}\chi ,z=R\mathrm{sin}\chi ,`$ (12)
the metric is

$`ds^2={\displaystyle \frac{l^2}{R^2\mathrm{sin}^2\chi }}\left[dR^2+R^2d\chi ^2+R^2\mathrm{cos}^2\chi d\theta ^2\right],`$ (13)
However, one must make global identifications to account for the periodicity of the $`\varphi `$ coordinate in (7). These are

$`(\mathrm{ln}R,\theta ,\chi )(\mathrm{ln}R+{\displaystyle \frac{2\pi r_+}{l}},\theta +{\displaystyle \frac{2\pi |r_{}|}{l}},\chi ).`$ (14)
The Euclidean BTZ black hole is obtained from hyperbolic space $`_3`$ by these global identifications.

Using (2), the connection $`A^a`$ corresponding to the metric (13) may be written as:

$`A^1=\mathrm{csc}\chi (d\theta i{\displaystyle \frac{dR}{R}}),A^2=i\mathrm{csc}\chi d\chi ,A^3=i\mathrm{cot}\chi (d\theta i{\displaystyle \frac{dR}{R}}).`$ (15)
The Chern-Simons formulation of gravity was used to describe the BTZ black hole first in , where for the Lorentzian black hole, the corresponding gauge fields were evaluated.

In order to compute the black hole partition function, we first evaluate the Chern-Simons path integral on a solid torus. This path integral has been discussed in , ,  and . Through a suitable gauge transformation, the connection is set to a constant value on the toral boundary. In terms of coordinates on the toral boundary $`x`$ and $`y`$ with unit period, we can define $`z=(x+\tau y)`$ such that

$`{\displaystyle _A}𝑑z=1,{\displaystyle _B}𝑑z=\tau `$ (16)
where $`A`$ is the contractible cycle and $`B`$ the non-contractible cycle of the solid torus and $`\tau =\tau _1+i\tau _2`$ is the modular parameter of the boundary torus. Then, the connection can be written as :

$`A=\left({\displaystyle \frac{i\pi \stackrel{~}{u}}{\tau _2}}d\overline{z}+{\displaystyle \frac{i\pi u}{\tau _2}}dz\right)T_3`$ (17)
where $`u`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{u}`$ are canonically conjugate fields and obey the canonical commutation relation:

$`[\stackrel{~}{u},u]={\displaystyle \frac{2\tau _2}{\pi (k+2)}}`$ (18)
They can be related to the black hole parameters by computing the holonomies of $`A`$ around the contractible and non-contractible cycles of the solid torus. These holonomies have been computed in  for the general case of a rotating BTZ black hole solution with a conical singularity ($`\mathrm{\Theta }`$) at the horizon such that the identifications (14) characterizing the black hole now generalize to

$`(\mathrm{ln}R,\theta ,\chi )(\mathrm{ln}R,\theta +\mathrm{\Theta },\chi )`$
$`(\mathrm{ln}R,\theta ,\chi )(\mathrm{ln}R+{\displaystyle \frac{2\pi r_+}{l}},\theta +{\displaystyle \frac{2\pi |r_{}|}{l}},\chi )`$ (19)
The former identification corresponds to the $`A`$ cycle and the latter to the $`B`$ cycle. Then the trace of the holonomies around the contractible cycle $`A`$ and non-contractible cycle $`B`$ are:

$$Tr(H_A)=2\mathrm{cosh}(i\mathrm{\Theta }),Tr(H_B)=2\mathrm{cosh}\left(\frac{2\pi }{l}(r_++i|r_{}|)\right)$$
(20)
For the classical black hole solution, $`\mathrm{\Theta }=2\pi `$. From (17),

$`A_z={\displaystyle \frac{i\pi }{\tau _2}}\stackrel{~}{u},A_{\overline{z}}={\displaystyle \frac{i\pi }{\tau _2}}u`$ (21)
where

$`u={\displaystyle \frac{i}{2\pi }}\left(i\mathrm{\Theta }\tau +{\displaystyle \frac{2\pi (r_++i|r_{}|)}{l}}\right),\stackrel{~}{u}={\displaystyle \frac{i}{2\pi }}\left(i\mathrm{\Theta }\overline{\tau }+{\displaystyle \frac{2\pi (r_++i|r_{}|)}{l}}\right)`$ (22)
We note here that $`\stackrel{~}{u}`$ is the canonical conjugate, but not the complex conjugate of $`u`$. This is so because $`A`$ is a complex $`SU(2)`$ connection.

Now, we write the Chern-Simons path integral on a solid torus with a boundary modular parameter $`\tau `$. For a fixed boundary value of the connection, i.e. a fixed value of $`u`$, this path integral is formally equivalent to a state $`\psi _0(u,\tau )`$ with no Wilson lines in the solid torus. The states corresponding to having closed Wilson lines (along the non-contractible cycle) carrying spin $`j/2`$ ($`jk`$) representations in the solid torus are given by , , , :

$`\psi _j(u,\tau )=\mathrm{exp}\left\{{\displaystyle \frac{\pi k}{4\tau _2}}u^2\right\}\chi _j(u,\tau ),`$ (23)
where $`\chi _j`$ are the Weyl-Kac characters for affine $`\text{SU}(2)`$. The Weyl-Kac characters can be expressed in terms of the well-known Theta functions as

$`\chi _j(u,\tau )={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Theta }_{j+1}^{(k+2)}(u,\tau ,0)\mathrm{\Theta }_{j1}^{(k+2)}(u,\tau ,0)}{\mathrm{\Theta }_1^2(u,\tau ,0)\mathrm{\Theta }_1^2(u,\tau ,0)}}`$ (24)
where Theta functions are given by:

$`\mathrm{\Theta }_\mu ^k(u,\tau ,z)=\mathrm{exp}(2\pi ikz){\displaystyle \underset{n𝒵}{}}\mathrm{exp}2\pi ik\left[(n+{\displaystyle \frac{\mu }{2k}})^2\tau +(n+{\displaystyle \frac{\mu }{2k}})u\right]`$ (25)
The black hole partition function is to be constructed from the boundary state $`\psi _0(u,\tau )`$. To do that, we note the following:

a) We must first choose the appropriate ensemble. Here, we choose the microcanonical ensemble. This corresponds in our picture, to keeping the holonomy around the non-contractible cycle $`B`$ fixed . The holonomy around the contractible cycle $`A`$ is $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$, which has a value $`2\pi `$ for the classical solution. But it is not held fixed any more, and we must sum over contributions to the partition function from all values of $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$. This corresponds to starting with the value of $`u`$ for the classical solution, i.e. with $`\mathrm{\Theta }=2\pi `$ in (20), and then considering all other shifts of $`u`$ of the form

$`uu+\alpha \tau `$ (26)
where $`\alpha `$ is an arbitrary number. This is implemented by a translation operator of the form

$`T=\mathrm{exp}\left(\alpha \tau {\displaystyle \frac{}{u}}\right)`$ (27)
However, this operator is not gauge invariant. The only gauge-invariant way of implementing these translations is through Verlinde operators of the form

$`W_j={\displaystyle \underset{n\mathrm{\Lambda }_j}{}}\mathrm{exp}\left({\displaystyle \frac{n\pi \overline{\tau }u}{\tau _2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{n\tau }{k+2}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{u}}\right)`$ (28)
where $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_j=j,j+2,\mathrm{},j2,j`$. This means that all possible shifts in $`u`$ are not allowed, and from considerations of gauge invariance, the only possible shifts are

$`uu+{\displaystyle \frac{n\tau }{k+2}}`$ (29)
where $`n`$ is always an integer taking a maximum value of $`k`$. Thus, the only allowed values of $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$ are $`2\pi (1+\frac{n}{k+2})`$. We know that acting on the state with no Wilson lines in the solid torus with the Verlinde operator $`W_j`$ corresponds to inserting a Wilson line of spin $`j/2`$ around the non-contractible cycle. Thus, taking into account all states with different shifted values of $`u`$ as in $`(\text{29})`$ means that we have to take into account all the states in the boundary corresponding to the insertion of such Wilson lines. These are the states $`\psi _j(u,\tau )`$ given in (23).

b) In order to obtain the final partition function, we must integrate over all values of the modular parameter, i.e. over all inequivalent tori with the same holonomy around the non-contractible cycle. The integrand, which is a function of $`u`$ and $`\tau `$, must be the square of the partition function of a gauged $`SU(2)_k`$ Wess-Zumino model corresponding to the two $`SU(2)`$ Chern-Simons theories. It must be modular invariant – modular invariance corresponds to large diffeomorphisms of the torus, and the partition function must not change under a modular transformation.

The partition function is then of the form

$`Z={\displaystyle 𝑑\mu (\tau ,\overline{\tau })\left|\underset{j=0}{\overset{k}{}}a_j(\tau )\psi _j(u,\tau )\right|^2}`$ (30)
where $`d\mu (\tau ,\overline{\tau })`$ is the modular invariant measure, and the integration is over a fundamental domain in the $`\tau `$ plane. Coefficients $`a_j(\tau )`$ must be chosen such that the integrand is modular invariant. Under an $`𝒮`$ modular transformation, $`\tau 1/\tau `$ and $`uu/\tau `$, the $`SU(2)_k`$ characters transform as

$`\chi _j(u,\tau )`$ $``$ $`\mathrm{exp}\left(2\pi ik{\displaystyle \frac{u^2}{4\tau }}\right)\chi _j({\displaystyle \frac{u}{\tau }},{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\tau }})`$ (31)
$`=`$ $`\mathrm{exp}\left(2\pi ik{\displaystyle \frac{u^2}{4\tau }}\right){\displaystyle \underset{l}{}}S_{jl}\chi _l(u,\tau )`$
where matrix $`S_{jl}`$ given by

$`S_{jl}=\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{2}{k+2}}}\mathrm{sin}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\pi (j+1)(l+1)}{k+2}}\right],0j,lk`$ (32)
We note here that this $`S`$ matrix is orthogonal: $`_jS_{lj}S_{jp}=\delta _{lp}`$.

We are interested in the transformation property of the state $`\psi _j(u,\tau )`$ under an $`𝒮`$ modular transformation. The prefactor in (23) transforms into itself under such a transformation apart from an extra piece that exactly cancels the prefactor in (31). Thus, under an $`𝒮`$ transformation ($`\tau 1/\tau `$),

$`\psi _j(u,\tau ){\displaystyle \underset{l}{}}S_{jl}\psi _l(u,\tau )`$ (33)
Under a $`𝒯`$ modular transformation ($`\tau \tau +1`$), $`\psi _j(u,\tau )`$ picks up a phase,

$`\psi _j(u,\tau )\mathrm{exp}(2\pi im_j)\psi _j(u,\tau )`$ (34)
where $`m_j=\frac{(j+1)^2}{2(k+2)}\frac{1}{4}`$. For the integrand in (30) to be modular invariant, the coefficient $`a_j(\tau )`$ must transform under the $`𝒮`$ transformation as $`a_j(\tau )_pa_p(\tau )S_{pj}`$ and under the $`T`$ transformation as $`a_j(\tau )\mathrm{exp}(2\pi im_j)a_j(\tau )`$. Further, since the integrand must correspond to the square of the partition function of a gauged $`SU(2)_k`$ Wess-Zumino model, the coefficients $`a_j(\tau )`$ are just the complex conjugate of $`SU(2)_k`$ characters corresponding to $`u=0`$, i.e $`(\psi _j(0,\tau ))^{}`$. The black hole partition function therefore is

$`Z_{bh}={\displaystyle 𝑑\mu (\tau ,\overline{\tau })\left|\underset{j=0}{\overset{k}{}}(\psi _j(0,\tau ))^{}\psi _j(u,\tau )\right|^2}`$ (35)
Finally the modular invariant measure is

$`d\mu (\tau ,\overline{\tau })={\displaystyle \frac{d\tau d\overline{\tau }}{\tau _2^2}}`$ (36)
The expression (35) is an exact expression for the partition function of Euclidean black hole. To make a comparison with the semi-classical entropy of black hole, we evaluate the expression (35) for large horizon radius $`r_+`$ by the saddle-point method. Substituting from (23), (24) and (25), the saddle point of the integrand occurs when $`\tau _2`$ is proportional to $`r_+`$ and therefore large. But for $`\tau _2`$ large, the character $`\chi _j`$ is

$`\chi _j(\tau ,u)\mathrm{exp}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\pi i\left(\frac{(j+1)^2}{k+2}\frac{1}{2}\right)}{2}}\tau \right]{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{sin}\pi (j+1)u}{\mathrm{sin}\pi u}}`$ (37)
We now use in (35) the form of the character for large $`\tau _2`$ from (37). In the expression for $`u`$ in (20), we replace $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$ by its classical value $`2\pi `$. The computation has been done with positive coupling constant $`k`$ and at the end, we must perform an analytic continuation to the Lorentzian black hole, by taking $`GG`$. It can be checked that after the analytic continuation, it is the spin $`j=0`$ in the sum over characters in (35) that dominates the partition function.

We obtain the leading behaviour of the partition function (35) for large $`r_+`$ (and when $`|r_{}|<<r_+`$) by first performing the integration over $`\tau _1`$ in this regime. The $`\tau _2`$ integration is done by the method of steepest descent. The saddle-point is at $`\tau _2=r_+/l`$. Expanding around the saddle-point, by writing $`\tau _2=r_+/l+x`$ and then integrating over $`x`$, we obtain

$`Z_{bh}={\displaystyle \frac{l^2}{r_+^2}}\mathrm{exp}\left({\displaystyle \frac{2\pi kr_+}{l}}\right){\displaystyle 𝑑x\mathrm{exp}\left[\frac{\pi kl}{2r_+}x^2\right]}`$ (38)
The integration produces a factor proportional to $`\sqrt{r_+}`$. The partition function for the Lorentzian black hole of large horizon area $`2\pi r_+`$ after the analytic continuation $`GG`$ is then

$`Z_{Lbh}={\displaystyle \frac{l^2}{r_+^2}}\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{8r_+G}{\pi l^2}}}\mathrm{exp}\left({\displaystyle \frac{2\pi r_+}{4G}}\right)`$ (39)
upto a multiplicative constant. The logarithm of this expression yields the black hole entropy for large horizon length $`r_+`$:

$`S={\displaystyle \frac{2\pi r_+}{4G}}{\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}}\mathrm{log}\left({\displaystyle \frac{2\pi r_+}{4G}}\right)+....`$ (40)
The leading contribution to the black hole entropy is the familiar Bekenstein-Hawking term. The next-order correction to the semi-classical entropy is the logarithm of the black hole area $`2\pi r_+`$. The coefficient $`3/2`$ of this correction is in agreement with that of the logarithmic correction of semi-classical entropy of four dimensional Schwarzschild black hole first observed in ref.  in the quantum geometry formulation of gravity. The semi-classical Bekenstein-Hawking entropy for Euclidean BTZ black hole was previously studied in the path integral formulation in ref. , but the logarithmic correction was not seen there. As described above, the right logarithmic correction is obtained by considering the correct modular invariant measure while integrating over all inequivalent tori (as the holonomy around the non-contractible cycle is held fixed).

The calculation presented here should be contrasted with an earlier calculation of partition function of a BTZ black hole coupled to a scalar field . This is a perturbative one-loop calculation which incorporates a specific type of fluctuation, namely a scalar field. For small $`r_+`$, this leads to a different coefficient of the the logarithmic correction in the entropy. On the other hand, our calculation is exact; it includes all possible quantum gravity fluctuations. It is therefore not surprising that the results differ.

Finally, we make a few remarks on the $`AdS`$ gas partition function. As is well known , the action for the $`AdS`$ gas can be obtained from that of the BTZ black hole by a transformation. For the case of a non-rotating black hole, this transformation has the form $`r_+/ll/r_+`$. With this change, the $`AdS`$ gas partition function is

$`Z_{AdS}[r_+]={\displaystyle 𝑑\mu (\tau ,\overline{\tau })\left|\underset{j=0}{\overset{k}{}}(\psi _j(0,\tau ))^{}\psi _j(u^{},\tau )\right|^2}`$ (41)
where $`u^{}=\frac{i}{2\pi }\left(i2\pi \tau +\frac{2\pi l}{r_+}\right)`$.

The $`AdS`$ gas partition function can again be evaluated by saddle-point method. Small $`r_+`$ leads to a saddle-point with $`\tau _2`$ large. In this limit of small $`r_+`$ (i.e small temperature), the partition function is

$`Z_{AdS}[r_+]=({\displaystyle \frac{r_+}{l}})^{\frac{3}{2}}\mathrm{exp}\left({\displaystyle \frac{2\pi l^2}{4r_+G}}\right)`$ (42)
This, at the leading order, agrees with the corresponding expression obtained in ref. .

V.S. would like to thank S. Carlip for useful discussions. We would also like to thank N. D. Hari Dass for comments and discussions on the results of our paper.


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# References

A phenomenological description of quantum-gravity-induced space-time noise

Giovanni AMELINO-CAMELIA

Dipartimento di Fisica, Universitá “La Sapienza”, P.le Moro 2, I-00185 Roma, Italy

ABSTRACT

I propose a phenomenological description of space-time foam and discuss the experimental limits that are within reach of forthcoming experiments.

“Space-time foam” is a geometric picture of the smallest size scales of the Universe, which is characterized mainly by the presence of quantum uncertainties in the measurement of distances. All quantum-gravity theories should have some kind of foam , but the description of foam varies according to the theory. Experimental observations establishing some of the properties of space-time foam would provide a crucial hint for the search of the correct quantum gravity. I previously showed  that foam-induced distance fluctuations would affect gravity-wave interferometers by introducing a new source of noise, but the present level of development of candidate theories of quantum gravity does not allow  to derive detailed distance-fluctuation predictions to guide the work of experimentalists. Here I propose a phenomenological approach that describes directly space-time foam and this new approach naturally leads to a picture of quantum distance fluctuations that is independent of the specific setup of a given interferometer. The only unknown in the model is the length scale that sets the overall magnitude of the effect. I find that recent data  already rule out the possibility that this length scale be identified with the “string length” ($`10^{34}m<L_s<10^{33}m`$). Experiments that will soon start operating will probe values of the length scale even smaller than the “Planck length” ($`L_p10^{35}m`$).

One of the most robust  expectations for quantum gravity, as the theory describing the interplay between gravity and quantum mechanics, is that space-time itself at the smallest scales should manifest quantum fluctuations of geometry, which could be described in terms of a highly non-trivial structure of (3+1-dimensional) space-time. This can be roughly visualized using an analogy with ordinary “foamy” or “spongy” materials, imagining however that physical processes are confined to the material of the “sponge”. Another useful intuition-building analogy can be made with the Heisenberg uncertainty principle: while that principle assigns a minimum on uncertainties relevant for the combined measurement of the position and the momentum of a particle in a fixed (background) space-time, we now expect an uncertainty principle for space-time itself. This would set an absolute limit on the measurability of distances.

It is natural  to characterize operatively this space-time foam through its implications for an ideal interferometer. Quantum fluctuations of distances would be observed in an interferometer as a source of noise. Theoretical predictions for this noise could be tested by comparing them with the noise levels actually found experimentally. In particular, a given picture of foam-induced distance fluctuations is of course ruled out if it predicts more noise than the total noise seen experimentally.

The first studies on this subject  indicated in various ways that the sensitivity of modern interferometers could be sufficient for the detection of space-time fluctuations originating at Planckian distance scales. Of course, in order to provide guidance to the experimentalists involved in interferometric tests, it would be useful to have a detailed description of the fluctuations induced by space-time foam. Unfortunately, the scarcity of experimental information on the quantum-gravity realm has not yet allowed a proper “selection process”, so there are a large number of quantum-gravity candidates. Moreover, even the two approaches whose mathematical/logical consistency has been already explored in some depth, the one based on “critical superstrings”  and the one based on “canonical/loop quantum gravity” , have not yet matured a satisfactory understanding of their physical implications, such as the properties of space-time foam. In the few phenomenological programmes investigating other quantum properties of space-time  the difficulties deriving from the preliminary status of quantum-gravity theories have been circumvented by developing direct phenomenological descriptions of the relevant phenomena. I propose to apply the same strategy to the description of the noise induced in interferometers by quantum gravity.

My task is partly facilitated by the fact that in order to guide interferometric studies of foam it is only necessary to estimate a relatively simple (single-variable) function: the power spectrum $`\rho _h(f)`$ of the strain noise . \[Strain here has the standard engineering definition $`h\mathrm{\Delta }L/L`$ in terms of the displacement $`\mathrm{\Delta }L`$ in a given distance $`L`$.\] In fact, the strain noise power spectrum, through its dependence on the frequency $`f`$ at which observations are performed, contains the most significant information on the distance fluctuations, such as the mean square deviation (which is given by the integral of the power spectrum over the bandwidth of operation of the detector), and is the quantity against which the observations are compared.

The quantum-gravity-induced strain noise should depend only on the Planck length, the speed-of-light constant $`c`$ ($`c310^8m/s`$), and, perhaps, a length scale characterizing the properties of the apparatus with respect to quantum gravity. I observe that within this conceptual framework there is a unique compellingly-simple candidate for a foam-induced “white noise” (noise with constant, $`f`$-independent, power spectrum). White noise is to be expected whenever the relevant stochastic phenomena are such that there is no correlation between one fluctuation and the next, an hypothesis which appears rather plausible for the case of space-time fluctuations. The hypothesis that foam-induced noise be white is also consistent with the the intuition emerging from analogies  between thermal environments and the environment provided by foam as a (dynamical) arena for physical processes. According to these studies one can see foam-induced noise as essentially analogous to thermal noise in various physical contexts (such as electric circuits, where noise is generated by the thermal agitation of the electrons), which is indeed white whenever the bandwidth of interest is below some characteristic (resonant) frequency. In the case of foam-induced noise the characteristic frequency (which should be somewhere in the neighborhood of the quantum-gravity frequency scale $`c/L_p`$) would be much higher than the frequencies of operation of our interferometers, and foam noise would be white at those frequencies.

Within a white-noise model, by observing that the strain noise power spectrum carries dimensions of $`Hz^1`$, one is naturally led to the estimate

$$\rho _h(f)=\mathrm{constant}\frac{L_p}{c}510^{44}Hz^1.$$
(1)
I also observe that, since, as mentioned, the frequencies we can access experimentally are much smaller than $`c/L_p`$, white noise is actually the only admissable structure for foam-induced strain noise within the hypothesis that this noise be independent of the characteristics of the apparatus which is used as a space-time probe. In fact this hypothesis implies that $`\rho _h`$ can only depend on its argument $`f`$, on the Planck length and on the speed-of-light constant, and therefore the most general low-frequency expansion is of the type

$$\rho _h(f)=a_0\frac{L_p}{c}+a_1\left(\frac{L_p}{c}\right)^2f+a_2\left(\frac{L_p}{c}\right)^3f^2+\mathrm{}$$
(2)
where the $`a_i`$ are numerical coefficients and all monomials of the type $`f^{|n|}`$ were not included in the expansion because they would require coefficients of the type $`L_p^{|n|+1}`$ (which would be inconsistent with the fact that quantum-gravity effects must disappear in the limit $`L_p0`$). For $`fc/L_p`$ the expansion (2) is well approximated by its first term, which corresponds to the dimensional estimate (1). From the point of view of experimental tests it is also important to consider the value of the coefficient $`a_0`$, i.e. to take into account the inherent uncertainty associated with the dimensional estimate (1). In this type of studies based on dimensional analysis, the natural guess, which often turns out to be correct, is that $`a_0`$ is of order 1, but it is not uncommon to find a disagreement between the dimensional estimate and the experimental result of a few orders of magnitude. In testing (1) we shall therefore be looking for sensitivities extending a few orders of magnitude below the $`L_p/c`$ level.

In the same sense that the estimate (1) provides a compelling candidate for foam-induced noise in quantum-gravity theories with ordinary point-like (particle) fundamental objects, in theories with extended (e.g. string-like) fundamental objects characterized by a length scale $`L_s`$ it appears natural to consider the low-frequency estimate

$$\rho _h\frac{L_s}{c}.$$
(3)
In string theories $`L_s`$ would be the string length, which is expected to be somewhere between a factor 10 and a factor 100 larger than the Planck length, and therefore for $`L_s/c`$ there is a range of values $`510^{43}Hz^1<L_s/c<510^{42}Hz^1`$.

Since they predict no dependence on the nature of the apparatus being used to probe space-time, these estimates (1) and (3) can be tested using any detector with sensitivity to distance strain, such as interferometers and resonant-bar detectors. Remarkably, in spite of the smallness of the effects predicted, these types of experiments are reaching such a high level of sensitivity that (1) and (3) are going to be completely tested (either discovered or ruled out) within a few years.

Denoting with $`\rho _h^{TOT}`$ the total strain noise power spectrum observed by the experiments, the present level of interferometric data is best characterized by the results obtained by the 40-meter interferometer  at Caltech and the TAMA interferometer  at the Mitaka campus of the Japanese National Astronomical Observatory, both reaching $`\rho _h^{TOT}`$ of order $`10^{40}Hz^1`$ (the lowest level has been achieved by TAMA around 1$`kHz`$: $`\rho _h^{TOT}310^{41}Hz^1`$). Even more remarkable is the present sensitivity $`\rho _h^{TOT}510^{43}Hz^1`$ of resonant-bar detectors such as NAUTILUS  (which achieved it near $`924Hz`$). This is already quite close to the natural quantum-gravity estimate $`L_p/c`$ of (1), and is already at the level $`L_s/c`$. We are already probing a potentially interesting region and in order to complete a satisfactory test of the estimates (1) and (3) we only need to improve the sensitivity by a few orders of magnitude (in order to exclude also the possibility that the coefficient $`a_0`$ be somewhat smaller than 1).

This will be accomplished in the near future. Planned upgrades of the NAUTILUS resonant-bar detector are expected  to reach sensitivity at the level $`710^{45}Hz^1`$. The LIGO/VIRGO generation of interferometers  should achieve sensitivity of the order of $`10^{44}Hz^1`$ within a year or two, during its first phase of operation. A few years later, with the space interferometer LISA  and especially with the “advanced phase”  of the LIGO/VIRGO interferometers, another significant sensitivity improvement should be achieved: according to recent estimates  it should be possible to reach sensitivity levels in the neighborhood of $`10^{48}Hz^1`$, more than four orders of magnitude below the natural $`L_p/c`$ estimate here considered!

This expected experimental progress is described in the figure together with the $`L_p/c`$ white-noise level and the analogous noise-level predictions that can be obtained by assuming instead that the foam-induced noise be of “random-walk” type (i.e. with $`f^2`$ frequency dependence of the power spectrum ). Through the example of random-walk noise the figure shows that the sensitivity of modern interferometers is significant also with respect to non-white models of foam-induced noise. This is an important consideration in assessing the overall significance of the interferometric studies here considered; in fact, the quantum-gravity realm is very far from the experimental contexts that formed our intuition, and, while the simple $`L_p`$-linear white-noise model may appear natural at present, it is reassuring that this experimental programme can explore a rather wide class of noise models.

The example of random-walk noise can also be used to illustrate what would be the implications of having noise that, unlike $`L_p`$-linear white noise, necessarily depends on some experiment-characteristic length scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. A model with random-walk strain noise linearly suppressed by the Planck length would have to predict a power spectrum of the form $`\rho _hcL_pf^2\mathrm{\Lambda }^2`$. Our capability to test such a model is to be described with the range of values of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ which we can exclude. As shown in the figure, for the $`L_p`$-linear random-walk-noise model the excluded range of values of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ extends all the way up to values of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ of the order of the optical length of the arms of the interferometer. In the random-walk case we will soon even reach some sensitivity to models with effects quadratically suppressed by the Planck length; in fact, as shown in the figure, the LISA interferometer  will be able to test the possibility of noise levels of the type $`\rho _hcL_p^2f^2\mathrm{\Lambda }^3`$ for plausible values of the experiment-characteristic length scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. Since other quantum-gravity-motivated experimental programmes can only achieve sensitivity to effects linear in the Planck length , LISA’s capability to reach “$`L_p^2`$ sensitivity” will mark the beginning of another significant phase in the search of quantum properties of space-time.

In order to render more powerful the phenomenological approach here proposed the most urgent challenge to theory concerns the understanding of the role of energy considerations in quantum gravity. If one applied a similar phenomenological approach to the analysis of other interferometric noise sources, it would be easy to find ways to discriminate between different noise models by evaluating the amount of energy required by the corresponding fluctuation schemes . Unfortunately, while energy considerations are rather elementary when the analysis is supported by a fixed background space-time, the fact that quantum gravity cannot rely on a background space-time renders energy considerations much more subtle . The role that this issue could play in the development of the approach here proposed will be discussed in detail elsewhere .

On the experiment side, my analysis of quantum-gravity noise provides additional motivation for the studies planned by LISA and by the “advanced phase” of the LIGO/VIRGO interferometers. The original classical-gravity objective of modern interferometers, the discovery of Einstein’s gravity waves, might well be achieved already by the “first phase” of LIGO/VIRGO, but even in that case it appears to be necessary to maintain the present ambitious sensitivity objectives for LISA and the LIGO/VIRGO “advanced phase”. The payoff could be the first experimental evidence of a quantum property of space-time.