On aspects of 2-dim dilaton gravity, dimensional reduction and holography

We discuss aspects of generic 2-dimensional dilaton gravity theories. The 2-dim geometry is in general conformal to $AdS_2$ and has IR curvature singularities at zero temperature: this can be regulated by a black hole. The on-shell action is divergent: we discuss the holographic energy-momentum tensor by adding appropriate counterterms. For theories obtained by dimensional reduction of the gravitational sector of higher dimensional theories, for instance higher dimensional $AdS$ gravity as a concrete example, the 2-dimensional description dovetails with the higher dimensional one. We also discuss more general theories containing an extra scalar field which now drives nontrivial dynamics. Finally we discuss aspects of the 2-dimensional cosmological singularities discussed in earlier work. These studies suggest that generic 2-dim dilaton gravity theories are somewhat distinct from JT gravity and theories "near JT".

K. Narayan · 2020