Nov. 6, 2017
We recently used Virasoro symmetry considerations to propose an exact formula for a bulk proto-field in AdS3. We show that many techniques from the study of conformal blocks can be generalized to compute the propagator, including the semiclassical monodromy method and both forms of the Zamolodchikov recursion relations. When the results from recursion are expanded at large central charge, they match gravitational perturbation theory for a free scalar field coupled to gravity in our chosen gauge. We find that although the propagator is finite and well-defined at long distances, its perturbative expansion exhibits UV/IR mixing effects. If we nevertheless interpret the propagator as a probe of bulk locality, then when G_N m_φ much less than 1 locality breaks down at the new short-distance scale (G_N R^3)^1/4. For a very large bulk mass, or at small central charge, bulk locality fails at the AdS length scale. In all cases, locality ‘breakdown’ manifests as singularities or branch cuts at spacelike separation arising from non-perturbative quantum gravitational effects.
Nov. 6, 2017
