Warped AdS3/Dipole-CFT Duality

TL;DR

The paper investigates warped $AdS_3$ holography by identifying the IR limit of dipole-deformed 2D D-brane gauge theories (dipole CFTs) with bulk $WAdS_3$ geometries. It derives a null-warped $AdS_3$ background via TsT from the D1-D5 system and extends to finite temperature, showing central charges $c_L=6Q^2$ or $c_R=6Q^2$ independent of the dipole parameter $\lambda$, and entropy density from Cardy matching bulk area, suggesting deformation-resilient high-energy states. The authors find the dipole deformation preserves key CFT-like features while introducing a nonlocal dipole structure, and show that circle-identifications generally produce bulk CTCs, linking nonlocality to causality structure, with a special null-aligned case avoiding CTCs. These results illuminate holography for nonlocal deformations and bear on related Kerr/CFT frameworks.

Abstract

String theory contains solutions with SL(2,R)_R x U(1)_L-invariant warped AdS3 (WAdS3) factors arising as continuous deformations of ordinary AdS3 factors. We propose that some of these are holographically dual to the IR limits of nonlocal dipole-deformed 2D D-brane gauge theories, referred to as "dipole CFTs". Neither the bulk nor boundary theories are currently well-understood, and consequences of the proposed duality for both sides is investigated. The bulk entropy-area law suggests that dipole CFTs have (at large N) a high-energy density of states which does not depend on the deformation parameter. Putting the boundary theory on a spatial circle leads to closed timelike curves in the bulk, suggesting a relation of the latter to dipole-type nonlocality.