The AdS3 propagator and the fate of locality

Abstract We recently used Virasoro symmetry considerations to propose an exact formula for a bulk proto-field ϕ in AdS3. In this paper we study the propagator 〈ϕϕ〉. We show that many techniques from the study of conformal blocks can be generalized to compute it, including the semiclassical monodromy method and both forms of the Zamolodchikov recursion relations. When the results from recursion are expanded at large central charge, they match gravitational perturbation theory for a free scalar field coupled to gravity in our chosen gauge. We find that although the propagator is finite and well-defined at long distances, its perturbative expansion in GN=32c $$ {G}_N=\frac{3}{2c} $$ exhibits UV/IR mixing effects. If we nevertheless interpret 〈ϕϕ〉 as a probe of bulk locality, then when GNmϕ≪1 $$ {G}_{N{m}_{\phi }}\ll 1 $$ locality breaks down at the new short-distance scale σ∗∼GNRAdS34 $$ {\sigma}_{\ast}\sim \sqrt[4]{G_N{R}_{\mathrm{AdS}}^3} $$. For ϕ with very large bulk mass, or at small central charge, bulk locality fails at the AdS length scale. In all cases, locality ‘breakdown’ manifests as singularities or branch cuts at spacelike separation arising from non-perturbative quantum gravitational effects