Decoding multiway gravitational junctions in AdS in terms of holographic quantum maps

arXiv:2604.07463 · hep-th, cond-mat.str-el, gr-qc · Submitted 2026-04-08 · Read on arXiv

hep-th, cond-mat.str-el, gr-qc

Submitted: 2026-04-08

Updated: 2026-09-16

Comments: 25 pages, 1 figure; v2: corrected pseudo-topological limit, expanded discussion on negative reflection coefficients, matches version accepted at JHEP

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The gist: It has been shown that multiway junctions gluing n copies of locally AdS 3 spacetimes (n at least 2) can be described by n-1 strings obeying non-linear Nambu-Goto equations coupled by Monge-Ampère

Terminology

Abstract

It has been shown that multiway junctions gluing n copies of locally AdS 3 spacetimes (n at least 2) can be described by n-1 strings obeying non-linear Nambu-Goto equations coupled by Monge-Ampère like terms. Here we study how such junctions along with their stringy degrees of freedom can be interpreted in terms of an interface between n identical holographic conformal theories each defined on a semi-infinite line (wire). We study the gravitational scattering problem at the multiway junction, and show that at the linearized order the dual interfaces correspond to quantum maps which factorize into a product of a scattering matrix determined only by the tension of the dual junction and relative automorphisms of the Virasoro algebra governed by the n-1 stringy modes. Both of these are universal in the sense that they are independent of linear modifications of the background state. These generalize earlier results for the 2-way junctions implying that the dual interface is a tunable energy transmitter. We comment on understanding the quantum map corresponding to the full non-linear gravitational problem, and study Ward identities and unitarity bounds.

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