Abstract
We analyse the properties of Wilson loop observables for holographic gauge theories, when the dual bulk geometries have a single and/or multiple boundaries (Euclidean spacetime wormholes). Such observables lead to a generalisation and refinement of the characterisation in [1] based on the compressibility of cycles and the pinching limit of higher genus Riemann surfaces, since they carry information about the dynamics and phase structure of the dual gauge theory of an arbitrary dimensionality. Finally, we describe how backreacting correlated observables such as Wilson loops can lead to wormhole saddles in the dual gravitational path integral, by taking advantage of a representation theoretic entanglement structure proposed in [13, 15].
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Acknowledgments
We wish to thank Ofer Aharony, Costas Bachas, Yiming Chen, Nava Gaddam, Kristan Jensen, Arjun Kar, Elias Kiritsis, Ji-Hoon Lee, Juan Maldacena, Kyriakos Papadodimas, Mark van Raamsdonk, Gordon Semenoff and Ioannis Tsiares for various discussions on topics related to this work. We also wish to thank the participants of the Physics Sessions Initiative, for their comments on our ideas presented there and the anonymous referee for suggestions that helped us to clarify and improve the text.
The research of P.B. is supported in part by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Research at Perimeter Institute is supported in part by the Government of Canada through the Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and by the Province of Ontario through the Ministry of Colleges and Universities. P.B. and O.P. acknowledge support by the Simons foundation.
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Betzios, P., Papadoulaki, O. Wilson loops and wormholes. J. High Energ. Phys. 2024, 66 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP03(2024)066
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP03(2024)066