Exact Embeddings of JT Gravity in Strings and M-theory

TL;DR

The paper constructs exact higher-dimensional embeddings of two-dimensional JT gravity by performing consistent Kaluza-Klein reductions of Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton theories in general dimensions. It shows that the $D=4$ and $D=5$ cases can be truncated from gauged supergravities, enabling explicit realizations of JT gravity within string and M-theory, including time-dependent extremal black holes that can be lifted to D1/D5-like brane systems with Milne-universe worldvolumes. The authors also demonstrate how JT gravity solutions uplift to higher-dimensional spacetimes, and how the Schwarzian action describing SYK holography can be derived in these higher-dimensional settings. These exact embeddings provide a concrete holographic bridge between JT/SYK physics and fundamental string/M-theory constructions, with implications for brane intersections and nontrivial worldvolume geometries.

Abstract

We show that two-dimensional JT gravity, the holographic dual of the IR fixed point of the SYK model, can be obtained from the consistent Kaluza-Klein reduction of a class of EMD theories in general $D$ dimensions. For $D=4$, $5$, the EMD theories can be themselves embedded in supergravities. These exact embeddings provide the holographic duals in the framework of strings and M-theory. We find that a class of JT gravity solutions can be lifted to become time-dependent charged extremal black holes. They can be further lifted, for example, to describe the D1/D5-branes where the worldsheet is the Milne universe, rather than the typical Minkowski spacetime.