Systematics of boundary actions in gauge theory and gravity

• Published in: The journal of high energy physics Vol. 2023; no. 4; pp. 121 - 58
• Main Authors: Kim, Seolhwa, Kraus, Per, Myers, Richard M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 26.04.2023; Springer Nature B.V; SpringerOpen
• Subjects: AdS-CFT Correspondence; Asymptotic properties; Boundary conditions; Classical and Quantum Gravitation; Classical Theories of Gravity; Coordinate transformations; Elementary Particles; Gauge Symmetry; Gauge theory; Gravitation theory; Gravity; High energy physics; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Quantum Field Theories; Quantum Field Theory; Quantum Physics; Regular Article - Theoretical Physics; Relativity Theory; Space-Time Symmetries; String Theory; Symmetry; AdS-CFT Correspondence; Classical Theories of Gravity; Space-Time Symmetries; Gauge Symmetry
• ISSN: 1029-8479; 1029-8479
• DOI: 10.1007/JHEP04(2023)121

A bstract We undertake a general study of the boundary (or edge) modes that arise in gauge and gravitational theories defined on a space with boundary, either asymptotic or at finite distance, focusing on efficient techniques for computing the corresponding boundary action. Such actions capture all the dynamics of the system that are implied by its asymptotic symmetry group, such as correlation functions of the corresponding conserved currents. Working in the covariant phase space formalism, we develop a collection of approaches for isolating the boundary modes and their dynamics, and illustrate with various examples, notably AdS 3 gravity (with and without a gravitational Chern-Simons terms) subject to assorted boundary conditions.