A JT/KPZ correspondence

Abstract

We point out a correspondence between the Jackiw--Teitelboim (JT) gravity and the stationary measure of the Kardar--Parisi--Zhang (KPZ) equation on an interval. By relating the Schwarzian limit of the double-scaled SYK to the weakly asymmetric limit of the open ASEP, we establish that the path-integral measure defining the Euclidean evolution between two end-of-the-world branes in JT gravity can be interpreted as the stationary measure of the KPZ equation on an interval with Neumann boundary conditions. We also establish the match between correlation functions.