Higher-Dimensional Supertranslations and Weinberg's Soft Graviton Theorem

By D. Kapec, V. Lysov, Sabrina Pasterski, Andrew Strominger. 2015

150 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Asymptotic symmetries of theories with gravity in d = 2m+2 spacetime dimensions are reconsidered for m > 1 in light of recent results concerning d = 4 BMS symmetries. Weinberg’s soft graviton theorem in 2m + 2 dimensions is re-expressed as a Ward identity for the gravitational S-matrix. The corresponding asymptotic symmetries are identified with 2m + 2-dimensional supertranslations. An alternate derivation of these asymptotic symmetries as diffeomorphisms which preserve finite-energy boundary conditions at null infinity and act non-trivially on physical data is given. Our results differ from those of previous analyses whose stronger boundary conditions precluded supertranslations for d > 4. We find for all even d that supertranslation symmetry is spontaneously broken in the conventional vacuum and identify soft gravitons as the corresponding Goldstone bosons.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Nuclear and High Energy Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/00742cea5f66f6744a558c1af4a8d62a8b8df1d1

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The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. S. Raju
2. Ashoke Sen
3. Andrew Strominger
4. Biswajit Sahoo
5. S. Trivedi
6. J. Maldacena
7. Y. Nakayama
8. L. Rastelli

In Nuclear and High Energy Physics

1. S. Raju
2. Ashoke Sen
3. Andrew Strominger
4. Biswajit Sahoo
5. J. Maldacena
6. S. Trivedi
7. L. Rastelli
8. Y. Nakayama

Citations in the corpus

• Classical and quantum results on logarithmic terms in the soft theorem in four dimensions (2018, background): “Soft theorems [1–12] have been analyzed recently from different perspectives, both using asymptotic symmetries [13–36] and also by direct analysis of amplitudes in field theory and string theory [37–87].”
• Lectures on the Infrared Structure of Gravity and Gauge Theory (2017, background): “However, the triangle also appears in both higher dimensions [95,118,119] and in cosmology, where there are also soft theorems [120–122] and asymptotic symmetries [123].”
• Flat holography: aspects of the dual field theory (2016, unknown): “This has been recently discussed in [67]6.”
• Lessons from the information paradox (2020, background): “We direct the reader to [105–109] for some recent discussion and differing perspectives.”