REVIEW
Asymptotically Anti-de Sitter Space-times: Conserved Quantities
High Energy Physics - Theory · Submitted 29 Nov 1999 · 24 references
Pith's verdict: The derivation and the d=4/d=5 comparison are solid and worth citing; the covariance no-go is a good argument carrying one unstated premise, and the paper never actually checks its own charges against the residual conformal freedom.
T0 · AI review
Why Pith says this
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Referee report
The paper
The paper claims
Using Penrose's conformal completion in any dimension $d$ from 4 up, the paper defines a charge for each generator of the asymptotic anti-de Sitter symmetry group, shows those charges balance against matter flux across infinity, and argues—
The reading
What carries the argument
The load-bearing device is the conformal completion: a rescaled metric $g_{ab} = Ω^2 ĝ_{ab}$ that brings infinity to a finite surface $I$ where $Ω=0$ and $∇_aΩ$ is nonvanishing, with a conformal frame chosen so that $∇_a n_b = 0$ on $I$. This turns delicate limits into ordinary local geometry at $I$. On that surface the intrinsic metric $h_{ab}$ is conformally flat, which is what fixes the asymptotic symmetry group to be the conformal isometry group of $I$ — the anti-de Sitter group. The charge itself is the electric part of the leading Weyl fall-off, $E_{ab} = ℓ^2 K_{ambn}n^m n^n$, integrated against a conformal Killing field; its trace-free property is exactly what makes the charges conserved when no matter flows through infinity.
Extended reading notes
Core claim
The central claim is that for asymptotically anti-de Sitter space-times in any dimension $d ≥ 4$, the asymptotic symmetry group is the anti-de Sitter group, and each of its generators carries a conserved quantity built from the leading fall-off of the Weyl tensor at conformal infinity. The derivation runs through a key identity, $D_d E^{md} = -8πG^{(d)}(d-3)T_{ab}n^a h^{bm}$, relating the divergence of the electric Weyl field $E_{ab}$ on the boundary to the pull-back of the matter stress-energy; integrating it gives the balance equation and, in the absence of matter flux, absolute conservation. Because the Weyl tensor vanishes identically in anti-de Sitter space, all these charges vanish there, and the authors add a covariance argument: if a charge assignment is defined purely from the boundary conditions, then acting with an asymptotic symmetry must rotate the charges among themselves, and since the anti-de Sitter metric is invariant under its own isometry group, only the zero assignment is compatible. The paper then compares its charges with those of the counterterm-subtraction method, finding agreement in $d=4$ for all asymptotically anti-de Sitter space-times and disagreement in $d=5$, where the difference is a constant shift equal to $3A^{(3)}ℓ/(64πG)$ in the pure anti-de Sitter case.
Load-bearing premise
The covariance argument assumes that under any asymptotic symmetry a candidate charge assignment must transform in the natural way, with the new charges being the old ones evaluated on the transformed generator; a definition allowed to depend on a preferred boundary frame would escape the conclusion.
Editorial extensions
If this is right
- Every asymptotically anti-de Sitter space-time in $d ≥ 4$ admits $d(d+1)/2$ conserved charges, one per asymptotic symmetry generator, with a balance law that accounts for matter flux across infinity.
- In pure anti-de Sitter space all of these charges vanish in every dimension, so there is no distinguished 'vacuum energy' in the classical gravitational description.
- In four dimensions, the conformal-completion charges and the counterterm-subtraction charges agree for all asymptotically anti-de Sitter space-times, not only for Kerr-anti-de Sitter metrics.
- In five dimensions the two definitions differ by a term that is a constant shift in the Schwarzschild-anti-de Sitter family but appears to vary from one space-time to another in general.
- Because the counterterm integrand is not trace-free, its charges need not be independent of the choice of cross-section, which undermines their use as Hamiltonians generating asymptotic symmetries.
Reading between the lines
- If the covariance argument holds, the disagreement is not a calculational discrepancy to be fixed by a better counterterm but a structural constraint: any dictionary matching bulk charges to boundary symmetry generators must map the anti-de Sitter ground state to zero charge, and the boundary side must explain where a nonzero Casimir energy sits instead.
- The paper's distinction between charges tied to a chosen conformal frame and charges defined from the equivalence class of boundary metrics suggests a clean diagnostic: test candidate holographic stress tensors for cross-section independence in a non-stationary bulk, where the trace-free condition is easiest to violate.
- The absence of gravitational radiation carrying charge through infinity in this setting, contrasted with null infinity in asymptotically flat space-times, suggests that the anti-de Sitter boundary behaves partly like spatial infinity; charge definitions that work at spatial infinity may transfer more directly than Bondi-style ones.
- A useful extension would be to recompute the difference term for a rotating or collapsing bulk configuration, since the paper only evaluates it explicitly for pure anti-de Sitter and states that the general case was not settled.
Original abstract
Asymptotically anti-de Sitter space-times are considered in a general dimension $d\ge 4$. As one might expect, the boundary conditions at infinity ensure that the asymptotic symmetry group is the anti-de Sitter group (although there is an interesting subtlety if d=4). Asymptotic field equations imply that, associated with each generator $\xi$ of this group, there is a quantity $Q_\xi$ which satisfies the expected `balance equation' if there is flux of physical matter fields across the boundary $\I$ at infinity and is absolutely conserved in absence of this flux. Irrespective of the dimension d, all these quantities vanish if the space-time under considerations is (globally) anti-de Sitter. Furthermore, this result is required by a general covariance argument. However, it contradicts some of the recent findings based on the conjectured ADS/CFT duality. This and other features of our analysis suggest that, if a consistent dictionary between gravity and conformal field theories does exist in fully non-perturbative regimes, it would have to be more subtle than the one used currently.
The compiled record
The paper's own sentences, arranged, kept beside the review and separate from it. Each label is drawn from a closed vocabulary; the number beside it is the probability the classifier gave that label. Numbers in the tables are the authors', checked by code. No sentence in this record was written by a model.
The abstract, sentence by sentence
Asymptotically anti-de Sitter space-times are considered in a general dimension $d\ge 4$. As one might expect, the boundary conditions at infinity ensure that the asymptotic symmetry group is the anti-de Sitter group (although there is an interesting subtlety if d=4). Asymptotic field equations imply that, associated with each generator $\xi$ of this group, there is a quantity $Q_\xi$ which satisfies the expected `balance equation' if there is flux of physical matter fields across the boundary $\I$ at infinity and is absolutely conserved in absence of this flux. Irrespective of the dimension d, all these quantities vanish if the space-time under considerations is (globally) anti-de Sitter. Furthermore, this result is required by a general covariance argument. However, it contradicts some of the recent findings based on the conjectured ADS/CFT duality. This and other features of our analysis suggest that, if a consistent dictionary between gravity and conformal field theories does exist in fully non-perturbative regimes, it would have to be more subtle than the one used currently.
background contribution method result interpretation main claim
| # | sentence | role | the authors' own work | states the main conclusion | strength |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| s0 | Asymptotically anti-de Sitter space-times are considered in a general dimension $d\ge 4$. | background 0.76 | 0.38 | 0.02 | asserted 0.95 |
| s1 | As one might expect, the boundary conditions at infinity ensure that the asymptotic symmetry group is the anti-de Sitter group (although there is an interesting subtlety if d=4). | result 0.72 | 0.28 | 0.05 | asserted 0.81 |
| s2 | Asymptotic field equations imply that, associated with each generator $\xi$ of this group, there is a quantity $Q_\xi$ which satisfies the expected `balance equation' if there is flux of physical matter fields across the boundary $\I$ at infinity and is absolutely conserved in absence of this flux. | result 0.94 | 0.74 | 0.30 | asserted 1.00 |
| s3 | Irrespective of the dimension d, all these quantities vanish if the space-time under considerations is (globally) anti-de Sitter. | result 1.00 | 0.83 | 0.26 | asserted 1.00 |
| s4 | Furthermore, this result is required by a general covariance argument. | interpretation 0.77 | 0.41 | 0.07 | asserted 0.99 |
| s5 | However, it contradicts some of the recent findings based on the conjectured ADS/CFT duality. | interpretation 0.50 | 0.34 | 0.13 | asserted 0.99 |
| s6 | This and other features of our analysis suggest that, if a consistent dictionary between gravity and conformal field theories does exist in fully non-perturbative regimes, it would have to be more subtle than the one used currently. | interpretation 1.00 | 0.41 | 0.46 | hedged possibility 0.97 |
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References
How later papers used it
119 later papers cite it
4 later papers by other authors are listed below: 4 used its method or tool.
Uses its method or tool 4 of 41 papers with this label
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Used the Ashtekar-Das formalism to compute the energy of the hairy black hole in AdS.
A scalar field condensation instability of rotating anti-de Sitter black holes (2010) · 1.00 · paraphrased: the licence does not allow quoting
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Computed the black hole mass using the conformal method.
Thermodynamics of charged and accelerating black holes (2025) · 0.98 · paraphrased: the licence does not allow quoting
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Computed M also using a 5-dimensional definition involving the intrinsic 5-dimensional Weyl tensor due to Ashtekar and collaborators.
Half BPS states in AdS_5 x Y^{p,q} (2007) · 0.94 · paraphrased: the licence does not allow quoting
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In this subsection, we calculate the mass of the hairy black hole using the AMD prescription [ref] .
Analytic topological hairy dyonic black holes and thermodynamics (2021) · Mass from AMD prescription · 1.00
How the literature uses it
106 arXiv papers cite this in 142 sentences
Papers citing it · 73 sentences without a confident label
Builds on it 2 papers
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In nondegenerate Lovelock theories, this polynomial can be truncated so that it becomes linear in the Weyl tensor [ref] [equation] This expression corresponds to Conformal Mass for nondegenerate Lovelock AdS gravity [ref] , as an extension of the concept developed by Ashtekar, Magnon and Das [ref] .
Mass in Lovelock Unique Vacuum gravity theories · Kounterterms and conserved charges · 0.94
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As a matter of fact, the above formula corresponds to the generalization of the Ashtekar-Magnon-Das mass [ref] for nondegenerate Lovelock-AdS gravity (see <ref>).
Black Hole Energy in Lovelock Unique Vacuum theories · Even dimensions $D=2n$ · 0.93
Uses its method or tool 37 papers
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The first argument uses the Ashtekar–Das definition of conformal mass [ref] , which extracts the mass via conformal regularisation of the AdS C-metric near the boundary.
Holographic Thermodynamics of Accelerating Black Holes · Introduction · 1.00
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Note that similar to what was done in [ref] , the thermodynamic quantities [ref] (in the limit $a→ℓ$) can be directly obtained from the Superentropic metric [ref] by using the conformal method [ref] .
Are Superentropic black holes superentropic? · Kerr-AdS with conical deficits · 0.80
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To obtain the expression for the mass, we use a prescription due to Ashtekar, Magnon and Das (AMD) [ref] .
Thermodynamics and Entanglement Entropy with Weyl Corrections · First law of Weyl corrected black hole thermodynamics · 1.00
Compares with it 9 papers
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The formula obtained for the mass satisfies the first law of thermodynamics and coincide with the value obtained with the Astekar-Magnon-Das (AMD) formalism [ref] .
First order flow for non-extremal AdS black holes and mass from holographic renormalization · Introduction · 0.98
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In this paper, we relate Kounterterms charges to another definition of conserved quantities in AAdS spacetimes, which was given for Einstein gravity by Ashtekar-Magnon-Das (AMD) [ref] .
Vacuum Degeneracy and Conformal Mass in Lovelock AdS Gravity · Introduction · 0.83
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We also mention that Ref. [ref] gives the same result as ours for the neutral black hole based on the surface integral using the 'effective stress-energy tensor'.
Conserved charges in general relativity · The Komar integral · 0.98
Cites it as support 1 paper
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This choice of setting the vacuum energy to zero is also in agreement with other definitions of the asymptotic energy in asymptotically AdS spacetimes [ref] , which are not based on the counterterm subtraction method.
Holographic CFT Phase Transitions and Criticality for Charged AdS Black Holes · CFT thermodynamics with a chemical potential for the central charge · 0.99
Cites it as background 12 papers
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It is known that the Riemann curvature of a maximally symmetric spacetime can be written explicitly as [equation] Note that this condition can be written in terms of the Riemann curvature 2-form $ℛ^ab$ as [equation] The curvature 2-form $ℛ̅^ab$ also satisfies the differential Bianchi equation: [equation] Inspired by equation [ref], we define alAdS spacetimes [ref] (see also [ref] ) to be a solution of ([ref]) such that its metric obeys the fall-off condition [equation] with $ℐ$ the conformal boundary of $ℳ$.[In contrast, we define an asymptotically AdS spacetime to be alAdS spacetime together with a Dirichlet boundary condition that fixes the induced boundary $ℝ×S^2$.] It was proven by Fefferman-Graham [ref] that one can always find a set of coordinates $(z,x^a)$ at least near the conformal boundary $ℐ$ such that ${z=0}⊂ℐ$ and the metric is of the form [equation] where we have an expansi
Dual Charges for AdS Spacetimes and the First Law of Black Hole Mechanics · Definition, action and topological renormalization · 0.89
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Conformal Mass is the expression for energy in AAdS spacetimes [ref] .
Black Hole Energy in Lovelock Unique Vacuum theories · Odd dimensions · 0.83
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In this section, we will study the dynamics of the “physical boundary” in the vacuum asymptotically AdS$_3$ $(_3)$ spacetime [ref] .
On boundary degrees of freedom in three dimensional Anti-de Sitter spacetime and thermofield-double · The Gibbons-Hawking-York action close to the boundary of AdS$_3$ · 0.89
Discussion
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