Gauge from holography and holographic gravitational observables

Abstract

In a spacetime divided into two regions $U_1$ and $U_2$ by a hypersurface $\Sigma$, a perturbation of the field in $U_1$ is coupled to perturbations in $U_2$ by means of the holographic imprint that it leaves on $\Sigma$. The linearized gluing field equation constrains perturbations on the two sides of a dividing hypersurface, and this linear operator may have a nontrivial null space. A nontrivial perturbation of the field leaving a holographic imprint on a dividing hypersurface which does not affect perturbations on the other side should be considered physically irrelevant. This consideration, together with a locality requirement, leads to the notion of gauge equivalence in Lagrangian field theory over confined spacetime domains. Physical observables in a spacetime domain $U$ can be calculated integrating (possibly non local) gauge invariant conserved currents on hypersurfaces such that $\partial \Sigma \subset \partial U$. The set of observables of this type is sufficient to distinguish gauge inequivalent solutions. The integral of a conserved current on a hypersurface is sensitive only to its homology class $[\Sigma]$, and if $U$ is homeomorphic to a four ball the homology class is determined by its boundary $S = \partial \Sigma$. We will see that a result of Anderson and Torre implies that for a class of theories including vacuum General Relativity all local observables are holographic in the sense that they can be written as integrals of over the two dimensional surface $S$. However, non holographic observables are needed to distinguish between gauge inequivalent solutions.