Many three-dimensional N = 2 SCFTs admit a universal partial topological twist when placed on hyperbolic Riemann surfaces. We exploit this fact to derive a universal formula which relates the planar limit of the topologically twisted index of these SCFTs and their three-sphere partition function. We then utilize this to account for the entropy of a large class of supersymmetric asymptotically AdS 4 magnetically charged black holes in Mtheory and massive type IIA string theory. In this context we also discuss novel AdS 2 solutions of eleven-dimensional supergravity which describe the near horizon region of large new families of supersymmetric black holes arising from M2-branes wrapping Riemann surfaces.

We study several aspects of higher-order gravities constructed from general contractions of the Riemann tensor and the metric in arbitrary dimensions. First, we use the fast-linearization procedure presented in arXiv:1607.06463 to obtain the equations satisfied by the metric perturbation modes on a maximally symmetric background in the presence of matter and to classify $\mathcal{L}($Riemann$)$ theories according to their spectrum. Then, we linearize all theories up to quartic order in curvature and use this result to construct quartic versions of Einsteinian cubic gravity (ECG). In addition, we show that the most general cubic gravity constructed in a dimension-independent way and which does not propagate the ghost-like spin-2 mode (but can propagate the scalar) is a linear combination of $f($Lovelock$)$ invariants, plus the ECG term, plus a New ghost-free gravity term. Next, we construct the generalized Newton potential and the Post-Newtonian parameter $\gamma$ for general $\mathcal{L}($Riemann$)$ gravities in arbitrary dimensions, unveiling some interesting differences with respect to the four-dimensional case. We also study the emission and propagation of gravitational radiation from sources for these theories in four dimensions, providing a generalized formula for the power emitted. Finally, we review Wald's formalism for general $\mathcal{L}($Riemann$)$ theories and construct new explicit expressions for the relevant quantities involved. Many examples illustrate our calculations.Comment: 83 pages, 3 figures, 4 tables; v2: minor modifications to match published version, references adde

We show that the linearized higher derivative gravitational field equations are equivalent to an equilibrium condition on the entanglement entropy of small spherical regions in vacuum. This extends Jacobson's recent derivation of the Einstein equation using entanglement to include general higher derivative corrections. The corrections are naturally associated with the subleading divergences in the entanglement entropy, which take the form of a Wald entropy evaluated on the entangling surface. Variations of this Wald entropy are related to the field equations through an identity for causal diamonds in maximally symmetric spacetimes, which we derive for arbitrary higher derivative theories. If the variations are taken holding fixed a geometric functional that we call the generalized volume, the identity becomes an equivalence between the linearized constraints and the entanglement equilibrium condition. We note that the fully nonlinear higher curvature equations cannot be derived from the linearized equations applied to small balls, in contrast to the situation encountered in Einstein gravity. The generalized volume is a novel result of this work, and we speculate on its thermodynamic role in the first law of causal diamond mechanics, as well as its possible application to holographic complexity.

We find new asymptotically locally AdS4 Euclidean supersymmetric solutions of the STU model in four-dimensional gauged supergravity. These “black saddles” have an S1×$$ {\Sigma}_{\mathfrak{g}} $$ Σ g boundary at asymptotic infinity and cap off smoothly in the interior. The solutions can be uplifted to eleven dimensions and are holographically dual to the topologically twisted ABJM theory on S1×$$ {\Sigma}_{\mathfrak{g}} $$ Σ g . We show explicitly that the on-shell action of the black saddle solutions agrees exactly with the topologically twisted index of the ABJM theory in the planar limit for general values of the magnetic fluxes, flavor fugacities, and real masses. This agreement relies on a careful holographic renormalization analysis combined with a novel UV/IR holographic relation between supergravity parameters and field theory sources. The Euclidean black saddle solution space contains special points that can be Wick-rotated to regular Lorentzian supergravity backgrounds that correspond to the well-known supersymmetric dyonic AdS4 black holes in the STU model.

We find a class of new supersymmetric Euclidean solutions in four-dimensional maximal gauged supergravity. The holographic dual description of these backgrounds is given by a massdeformation of the ABJM theory with general values for the R-charges. We calculate the S 3 free energy for the supergravity backgrounds and find agreement with the supersymmetric localization calculation of the free energy in the large N limit.