New proposal for a holographic boundary conformal field theory

Abstract

We propose a new holographic dual of conformal field theory defined on a manifold with boundaries, i.e., boundary conformal field theory (BCFT). Our proposal can apply to general boundaries and agrees with Takayanagi [Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 101602 (2011)] for the special case of a disk and half-plane. Using the new proposal of $\mathrm{AdS}/\mathrm{BCFT}$, we successfully obtain the expected boundary Weyl anomaly, and the obtained boundary central charges naturally satisfy a c-like theorem holographically. We also investigate the holographic entanglement entropy of BCFT and find that the minimal surface must be normal to the bulk spacetime boundaries when they intersect. Interestingly, the entanglement entropy depends on the boundary conditions of BCFT and the distance to the boundary. The entanglement wedge has an interesting phase transition that is important for the self-consistency of $\mathrm{AdS}/\mathrm{BCFT}$.