Stokes Phenomena between AdS/CFT and dS/CFT

Abstract

As parameters are varied, the set of saddle points contributing to a (path) integral may change discontinuously, leading to a corresponding change in the asymptotic expansion of the integral. This behavior is known as the Stokes phenomenon. We explore this phenomenon in the context of the analytic continuation problem relating the AdS/CFT and dS/CFT correspondences. In this paper, we study these correspondences for three-dimensional pure gravity and two-dimensional Liouville theory, using independent calculations in bulk minisuperspace and in the boundary Liouville zero-mode. In the bulk, the dS contour selects a single saddle and yields the tunneling wave function. Upon continuation to AdS, the contour instead selects an infinite family of saddles. The boundary calculation independently reproduces the same Stokes structure at leading semiclassical order, providing a nontrivial holographic consistency check. Our construction also offers a contour prescription for the conformal factor problem in Euclidean AdS$_3$ quantum gravity within minisuperspace.