Three-dimensional gravity provides a tractable setting in which questions about the quantum nature of black holes and the structure of holography can be addressed exactly. This course surveys recent developments in the subject, including the holographic dictionary, ensemble interpretations of the gravitational path integral, and conformal bootstrap methods.
Schedule
Wednesdays, Aug 26 – Sep 23
Fridays, Nov 6 – Dec 18
09:50–11:25 & 13:30–15:05, Room A14-201
Online on
Zoom, password: BIMSA
Syllabus and lecture notes
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Week 1 Three-dimensional gravity
Notes: Lecture 1
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Week 2 Three-dimensional gravity with a
negative cosmological constant
Notes: Lecture 2
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Week 3 The D1-D5 system
Notes: Lecture 3
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Week 4 The partition function of
holographic CFTs
Notes: Lecture 4
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Week 5 Extremal CFTs and the Farey-tail
expansion
Notes: Lecture 5
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Week 6 The partition function of pure
three-dimensional gravity
Notes: Lecture 6
- Week 7 Point particles, spinning strings, and defects
- Week 8 Summing over topologies in three-dimensional gravity, part 1
- Week 9 Summing over topologies in three-dimensional gravity, part 2
- Week 10 Three-dimensional gravity from Virasoro TQFT
- Week 11 Seifert manifolds and the partition function of three-dimensional gravity
- Week 12 The modular bootstrap