# Duality in the BTZ Black Hole and the Statistical Entropy

## Abstract

In Strominger’s proposal for the computation of the statistical entropy of black holes based on the asymptotic symmetry analysis of Brown and Henneaux a fundamental role is played by the asymptotic conditions that the considered metric must satisfy at infinity. Here it is shown that $`T`$-duality does not preserve such conditions. This observation is used to discuss a possible reformulation of the proposal.

The search for the ultimate foundation for the black hole statistical entropy is now the subject of many investigations. Due to the fact that string theory has been unable to solve this problem in the generic case, that is, including nonsupersymmetric black holes (see  for an extensive review), new directions are being explored. A very strong approach has been proposed by Strominger  where the problem is reduced, in the case of black holes with near horizon geometry with an $`AdS_3`$ factor, to the counting of microstates for the Bañados-Teitelboim-Zanelli black hole . Strominger’s proposal has been tested in a variety of black holes and exact numerical agreement has been found in all cases . The formulation of the proposal is not quite definite yet and further investigation has been directed to the validity of the statistical counting of the microstates of the BTZ black hole itself  in some cases in the scope of the AdS/CFT correspondence .

A very exciting feature of this approach is that it does not rely on any specific quantum theory of gravity. Along these lines of reasoning it seems that finding the minimal set of conditions necessary for performing the count of microstates in the BTZ black hole is not merely a very interesting problem per se but it is a problem that will certainly shed some light on the common features that any consistent quantum theory of gravity must share. The purpose of this paper is to take a step in this direction by studying the role of the geometric conditions used in .

The initial motivation for this work arose from the following puzzling fact: Strominger’s proposal focuses in the near horizon geometry asserting that the statistical entropy of any black hole whose near horizon geometry contains an $`AdS_3`$ factor can be computed using the statistical counting of microstates of the BTZ black hole. At the same time the counting of microstates proposed is based in the asymptotic form of the metric at infinity <sup>1</sup><sup>1</sup>1The fact that the BTZ entropy can be obtained from the results of Brown and Henneaux was obtained independently in .. In most of the analyzed cases the near horizon region is at $`r0`$ while the conformal field theory lives at $`r\mathrm{}`$. This clearly suggests a kind of $`r1/r`$ relation which is nothing but the cornerstone of $`T`$-duality. Some arguments have been presented to fill this gap, most notably in  and recently in . In this paper we present an argument that shows the near horizon geometry as being more fundamental than the asymptotic conditions to the formulation of . The argument is based on the fact that $`T`$-duality does not preserve the asymptotic conditions and thus any argument based on them is not compatible with string theory.

The low energy string effective action that we will consider in this paper is $`(\alpha ^{}=1)`$

$$\frac{1}{16\pi G}d^3x\sqrt{g}e^{2\varphi }\left(R+4(\varphi )^2\frac{1}{12}H^2+\frac{4}{l^2}\right).$$
(1)   
The conformal field theory origin of the last term is a central charge deficit but from the gravitational point of view it is a cosmological constant. Using dualities it is possible to consider not only the heterotic case. Given a solution to the equations of motion implied by this action $`(g_{\mu \nu },B_{\mu \nu },\varphi )`$ that is independent of one coordinate, say $`\theta `$, there exists another solution to these equations of the form 

$`\stackrel{~}{g}_{\theta \theta }`$ $`=`$ $`1/g_{\theta \theta },\stackrel{~}{g}_{\theta \alpha }={\displaystyle \frac{B_{\theta \alpha }}{g_{\theta \theta }}},\stackrel{~}{B}_{\theta \alpha }={\displaystyle \frac{g_{\theta \alpha }}{g_{\theta \theta }}},\stackrel{~}{\varphi }=\varphi {\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{ln}g_{\theta \theta },`$   
$`\stackrel{~}{g}_{\alpha \beta }`$ $`=`$ $`g_{\alpha \beta }{\displaystyle \frac{g_{\theta \alpha }g_{\theta \beta }B_{\theta \alpha }B_{\theta \beta }}{g_{\theta \theta }}},\stackrel{~}{B}_{\alpha \beta }=B_{\alpha \beta }+{\displaystyle \frac{g_{\theta \alpha }B_{\theta \beta }+B_{\alpha \theta }g_{\theta \beta }}{g_{\theta \theta }}}.`$   
Central to Strominger’s proposal is a result of Brown and Henneaux  stating that in any consistent gravity theory with metric with the following asymptotic behavior <sup>2</sup><sup>2</sup>2This behavior is inspired by $`AdS_3`$

$`g_{tt}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{r^2}{l^2}}+𝒪(1),g_{t\varphi }=𝒪(1),`$   
$`g_{\varphi \varphi }`$ $`=`$ $`r^2+𝒪(1),g_{r\varphi }=𝒪({\displaystyle \frac{1}{r^3}}),`$   
$`g_{rr}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{l^2}{r^2}}+𝒪({\displaystyle \frac{1}{r^4}}),g_{tr}=𝒪({\displaystyle \frac{1}{r^3}}),`$ (3)   
there is an underlying conformal field theory associated with the asymptotic symmetry group. To make the $`T`$-duality analysis relevant to the work of Brown and Henneaux one has to consider the Einstein metric $`g_{\mu \nu }^E=e^{4\varphi }g_{\mu \nu }^S`$ which under the duality (Duality in the BTZ Black Hole and the Statistical Entropy) transforms as

$`\stackrel{~}{g}_{\theta \theta }^E`$ $`=`$ $`e^{4\stackrel{~}{\varphi }}\stackrel{~}{g}_{\theta \theta }=g_{\theta \theta }^E`$   
$`\stackrel{~}{g}_{rr}^E`$ $`=`$ $`g_{rr}^Eg_{\theta \theta }^2g_{\theta \theta }^E\left((g_{r\theta })^2(B_{\theta r})^2\right)`$ (4)   
This shows that in the general case the asymptotic conditions (Duality in the BTZ Black Hole and the Statistical Entropy) are not preserved under the duality transformation (Duality in the BTZ Black Hole and the Statistical Entropy), and therefore, the computation of the statistical entropy of 3D string black holes using the Virasoro algebra associated with diffeomorphism invariance of metrics with asymptotic behavior (Duality in the BTZ Black Hole and the Statistical Entropy) needs further investigation within string theory.

A very important example is the BTZ black hole which is a solution of 3D string theory  with the following background

$`ds_{BTZ}^2`$ $`=`$ $`N^2dt^2+r^2(d\theta +N_\theta dt)^2+N^2dr^2,`$   
$`N^2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{r^2}{l^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{16J^2G^2}{r^2}}8GM,N_\theta =4{\displaystyle \frac{JG}{r^2}},`$   
$`B_{\theta t}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{r^2}{l^2}},\varphi =0.`$ (5)   
This background satisfies the asymptotic conditions (Duality in the BTZ Black Hole and the Statistical Entropy). Dualizing over the $`\theta `$ coordinate yields

$`d\stackrel{~}{s}^2`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{16J^2G^2}{r^2}}8GM\right)dt^2+{\displaystyle \frac{2}{l}}d\theta dt+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{r^2}}d\theta ^2+\left({\displaystyle \frac{r^2}{l^2}}8GM+{\displaystyle \frac{16J^2G^2}{r^2}}\right)^1dr^2`$   
$`B_{\theta \tau }`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{4JG}{r^2}},\varphi =\mathrm{ln}r.`$ (6)   
The asymptotic behavior of this metric is not of the form required in (Duality in the BTZ Black Hole and the Statistical Entropy), in particular

$$\stackrel{~}{g}_{rr}^E=r^4\left(\frac{r^2}{l^2}8GM+\frac{16J^2G^2}{r^2}\right)^1r^2.$$
(7)   
This result logically prevents us from studying this background along the lines of .

Changing to the following coordinates 

$$t=\frac{l(\widehat{x}\widehat{t})}{(r_+^2r_{}^2)^{1/2}},\theta =\frac{r_+^2\widehat{t}r_{}^2\widehat{x}}{(r_+^2r_{}^2)^{1/2}},r^2=l\widehat{r},$$
(8)   
where $`8GM=\frac{r_+^2+r_{}^2}{l^2},8GJ=\frac{2r_+r_{}}{l}`$, the solution becomes

$`d\stackrel{~}{s}^2`$ $`=`$ $`(1{\displaystyle \frac{}{\widehat{r}}})d\widehat{t}^2+(1{\displaystyle \frac{𝒬}{\widehat{r}}})d\widehat{x}^2+(1{\displaystyle \frac{}{\widehat{r}}})^1(1{\displaystyle \frac{𝒬}{\widehat{r}}})^1{\displaystyle \frac{l^2d\widehat{r}^2}{4\widehat{r}^2}}`$   
$`\varphi `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{ln}\widehat{r}l,B_{\widehat{x}\widehat{t}}=𝒬\widehat{r}`$ (9)   
where $`=r_+^2/l`$ and $`𝒬=4GJ`$. This solution is precisely the black string of . It is important to notice that although the duality transformation changes the asymptotic behavior from $`AdS_3`$ to flat, the entropy of the black string equals exactly that of the BTZ black hole ).

One question that in our opinion is at the core of the problem here is that although the black string is asymptotically flat, its near horizon geometry is of the $`AdS_3`$ type. This argument follows essentially in the same lines as that for the magnetic solution considered in . To visualize that the near horizon geometry is of $`AdS_3`$ type it is convenient to change to the following radial coordinate

$$\omega ^2=1\frac{}{\widehat{r}}.$$
(10)   
The Einstein metric becomes

$`d\stackrel{~}{s}^2`$ $`=`$ $`\left(\omega ^2{\displaystyle \frac{𝒬^2}{^2}}(1{\displaystyle \frac{𝒬^2}{^2}})\right){\displaystyle \frac{^2l^2}{(1\omega ^2)^2}}d\widehat{x}^2+{\displaystyle \frac{\omega ^2^2l}{(1\omega ^2)^2}}d\widehat{t}^2`$ (11)   
$`+`$ $`\left(\omega ^2{\displaystyle \frac{𝒬^2}{^2}}(1{\displaystyle \frac{𝒬^2}{^2}})\right)^1{\displaystyle \frac{l^4^2}{(1\omega ^2)^4}}d\omega ^2.`$   
Taking $`\omega i\omega `$ and considering $`\widehat{t}`$ compact and $`\widehat{x}`$ noncompact <sup>3</sup><sup>3</sup>3See  for a proof that this transformation is harmless for $`AdS_3`$. and changing to<sup>4</sup><sup>4</sup>4This change is motivated by the change (8), see  for a detailed discussion.

$$\rho =\omega \frac{𝒬l}{(r_+^2r_{}^2)^{1/2}},\tau =\widehat{x}\frac{^2l^2(r_+^2r_{}^2)^{1/2}}{𝒬},\theta =\widehat{t}\frac{}{𝒬}(\frac{r_+^2r_{}^2}{l})^{1/2}.$$
(12)   
In the near horizon limit $`\omega 0(\widehat{r})`$ and the near extremal limit $`(r_+,r_{}r_+r_{})`$<sup>5</sup><sup>5</sup>5The analysis of the extremal case is more subtle and has been developed in . Note that in the extremal case the change (8) and (12) are not defined. the metric can be written as

$$d\stackrel{~}{s}^2=\left(\frac{\rho ^2𝒬^2}{^4l^4}\frac{A^2}{^2l^4}(1\frac{𝒬^2}{^2})\right)d\tau ^2+\rho ^2d\theta ^2+\left(\frac{\rho ^2𝒬^2}{^4l^4}\frac{A^2}{^2l^4}(1\frac{𝒬^2}{^2})\right)^1d\rho ^2,$$
(13)   
with $`A=𝒬l/\sqrt{r_+^2r_{}^2}`$. This is a nonrotating BTZ black hole with entropy exactly equal to the starting seed solution (Duality in the BTZ Black Hole and the Statistical Entropy)

$$S=\frac{2\pi r_+}{4G}.$$
(14)   
Thus by studying only the near-horizon behavior of the metric one can retrive the entropy.

It is worth noting that $`T`$-Duality is intrinsically a string theory symmetry and therefore the arguments of this paper do not apply to other gravity theories. The fact that $`T`$-Duality trades momentum modes (associated with any field theory) for winding modes (inherently stringy degrees of freedom) is arguably the fundamental explanation of the mismatch found in this paper<sup>6</sup><sup>6</sup>6I thank Robert Myers raising this point. This point of view proved very useful in a similar case treated in .

Putting together some results on the near horizon approach to the statistical entropy and using very elementary mathematical vocabulary the situation seems to be the following. String theory embedding of a solution is a sufficient condition for the counting of microstates using Strominger’s proposal. The sufficiency of this condition arises from , the fact that it is not a necessary condition comes from the result of  where it was shown that for a solution that cannot be embedded in string theory the proposal proved right. The asymptotic behavior of the metric of the form prescribed by Brown and Henneaux is also a sufficient condition as shown in . The work in this paper shows that it is not a necessary condition. The only condition that seems to be necessary is that the near horizon geometry must be of $`AdS_3`$ type. Unfortunately it makes sense to speculate that some sort of supersymmetry can be a necessary condition because the proposal works only for near extremal black holes and in some sense extremality is related to supersymmetry. There is still some hope (raised by  and ) that the required supersymmetry is lower than the one required in . Certainly some work is still needed to clarify this issue.

Hopefully arguments similar to those presented here could be applied to the general case of the $`AdS/CFT`$ correspondence of which Strominger’s proposal is a special case. In particular it seems possible to generalize the $`AdS/CFT`$ correspondence to any space that needs not be of the $`AdS`$ type but needs only to be dual to the $`AdS`$ in some sense. Furthermore, this could eventually include string theory in asymptotically flat spaces.

Acknowledgments

It is a pleasure to thank M.Z. Iofa, Y.S. Myung and I. Sachs for useful comments on a preliminary version of this paper. I am especially grateful to Robert Myers for sharing some of his insights with me.