Beatrix Mühlmann (IAS) — dS^4 Metamorphosis

Beatrix Mühlmann (IAS)

I will discuss the Euclidean path integral of minimal higher spin theory on the four-sphere and argue for a gluing formula in which the four-sphere is obtained by joining two hemispheres along an S³ boundary. The resulting boundary theory is the Sp(N)-invariant sector of N anticommuting, conformally coupled scalars, with conformal higher spin gauge fields mediating the gluing. This S³ theory was previously shown to compute the Hartle–Hawking wavefunction in dS₄/CFT₃ at future infinity, whereas here we realize it with conformal boundary conditions at finite size, and the four-sphere partition function captures aspects of its norm. By supersymmetrising the gluing formula we obtain a 𝒩=2 SCFT as the boundary theory, while the leading piece of the four-sphere partition function is 2^N.