Paper detail

The Microstate Physics of JT Gravity and Supergravity

It is proposed that a complete understanding of two-dimensional quantum gravity and its emergence in random matrix models requires fully embracing {\it both} Wigner (statistics) and 't Hooft (geometry). Using non-perturbative definitions of random matrix models that yield various JT gravity and JT supergravity models on Euclidean surfaces of arbitrary topology, Fredholm determinants are used to extract precise information about the spectra of discrete microstates that underlie the physics. A core result of the computations is that in each case, the (super) Schwarzian spectrum seen at leading order is only an approximation to a new kind of spectrum that is fundamentally discrete. It is further argued that the matrix models point to a {\it single} distinguished copy of the discrete spectrum that characterizes the holographic dual of the Lorentzian (super) gravity theory. These facts suggest that the factorization puzzle is entirely resolved since the discrete spectrum underlying the Schwarzian can have a sensible quantum mechanical origin in a single theory, without an appeal to an ensemble. It is argued that more generally, double-scaled matrix models contain information about both the Lorentzian and Euclidean approaches to quantum gravity. The former comes from the Wignerian approach while the latter from the 't Hooftian 1/N topological expansion.