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PreprintarXiv licencearXiv

Quantum gravity on the bulk cone

  • Ahmed Almheiri
  • Matthew Dodelson
  • Zohar Komargodski
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Abstract

Bulk-cone singularities in holographic correlators encode propagation along bulk null geodesics. The prototypical example is an AdS black hole, where incoming null geodesics can wind around the photon sphere and return to the boundary. These singularities appear in real time in the thermal two-point function at finite volume. We show that conformal field theories dual to gravitational theories at finite GN cannot have such singularities. We rule out these singularities both for individual microstates and for the thermal state. The main thrust of the argument is to invoke an analytic continuation in the temperature. As a microscopic example, we construct an AdS3 geometry with two colliding shocks which exhibits a bulk cone singularity. We show by an explicit calculation in the CFT that this singularity is smoothed out at finite GN. Qualitatively, the singularity resolution is a consequence of the fuzziness of the bulk solution in quantum gravity.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@misc{almheiri2026quantum,
  title = {{Quantum gravity on the bulk cone}},
  author = {Ahmed Almheiri and Matthew Dodelson and Zohar Komargodski},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.31610},
  eprint = {2610.31610},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.31610},
}
RIS
TY  - UNPB
TI  - Quantum gravity on the bulk cone
AU  - Ahmed Almheiri
AU  - Matthew Dodelson
AU  - Zohar Komargodski
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/22
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.31610
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.31610
AB  - Bulk-cone singularities in holographic correlators encode propagation along bulk null geodesics. The prototypical example is an AdS black hole, where incoming null geodesics can wind around the photon sphere and return to the boundary. These singularities appear in real time in the thermal two-point function at finite volume. We show that conformal field theories dual to gravitational theories at finite G_N cannot have such singularities. We rule out these singularities both for individual microstates and for the thermal state. The main thrust of the argument is to invoke an analytic continuation in the temperature. As a microscopic example, we construct an AdS_3 geometry with two colliding shocks which exhibits a bulk cone singularity. We show by an explicit calculation in the CFT that this singularity is smoothed out at finite G_N. Qualitatively, the singularity resolution is a consequence of the fuzziness of the bulk solution in quantum gravity.
ER  -