In the last two decades the anti-de Sitter/conformal field theory (AdS/CFT) correspondence has emerged as a focal point of many research interests. In particular, it functions as a stepping stone to a still-missing full quantum theory of gravity. In this context, a pivotal question is if and how cosmological physics can be studied using AdS/CFT. Motivated by string theory, braneworld cosmologies propose that our universe is a four-dimensional membrane embedded in a bulk five-dimensional AdS spacetime. We show how such a scenario can be microscopically realized in AdS/CFT using special field theory states dual to an ‘end-of-the-world brane’ moving in a charged black hole spacetime. Observers on the brane experience cosmological physics and approximately four-dimensional gravity, at least locally in spacetime. This result opens a path towards a description of quantum cosmology and the simulation of cosmology on quantum machines.
CITATION STYLE
Antonini, S., & Swingle, B. (2020). Cosmology at the end of the world. Nature Physics, 16(8), 881–886. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-020-0909-6
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