×

Black holes, shock waves, and causality in the AdS/CFT correspondence. (English) Zbl 0956.83053

Summary: We find the expectation value of the energy-momentum tensor in the CFT corresponding to a moving black hole in AdS. Boosting the black hole to the speed of light, keeping the total energy fixed, yields a gravitational shock wave in AdS. The analogous procedure on the field theory side leads to “light cone” states, i.e., states with energy-momentum tensor localized on the light cone. The correspondence between the gravitational shock wave and these light cone states provides a useful tool for testing causality. We show, in several examples, how the CFT reproduces the causal relations in AdS.

MSC:

83E30 String and superstring theories in gravitational theory
81T30 String and superstring theories; other extended objects (e.g., branes) in quantum field theory
83C57 Black holes