Euclidean de Sitter action and entropy Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-10-25
In units , a smooth Wick rotation of the four-dimensional static patch of de Sitter spacetime has Euclidean time period . Its compact geometry is a round four-sphere of radius . The Einstein field equations give , and direct integration gives volume , hence gravitational Euclidean action . With zero assigned internal energy, gives Bekenstein-Hawking entropy .
For the complete observer in two-dimensional de Sitter spacetime, let be shortest angular distance. An event can signal to the observer exactly when , and can receive its signals exactly when . Equality describes its future and past observer event horizons. Their intersection is the static patch of de Sitter spacetime containing the observer. These are observer-dependent cosmological horizons; constant- circles are Cauchy hypersurfaces, so there are no Cauchy horizons in the full spacetime.
Take the unhalved geodesic Lagrangian
The cyclic coordinates give and . The other two Euler-Lagrange equations are
These reproduce the supplied geodesic equations. Expanding the derivatives and comparing with , in coordinates , gives all nonzero Christoffel symbols:
Here . This is the static patch of de Sitter spacetime, with for the stationary observers used below. Apparent divergences at the polar axis, origin or horizon belong to the chosen coordinate chart; they are not themselves evidence of a curvature singularity.
Use units and put . The static patch of de Sitter spacetime has radial factor . A Wick rotation makes its radial-time metric positive:
Near the cosmological horizon, write . Then and
in the radial-time directions. Thus must be an angle of period . A larger integer multiple would give a conical excess rather than a smooth origin. The Euclidean black-hole regularity condition gives
This de Sitter horizon temperature uses the time normalization at , where is proper time; static observers at other radii see the corresponding Tolman temperature law redshift.
Vary the gravitational Euclidean action with respect to . The identities and the integrated variation of the scalar curvature yield, after discarding the assumed boundary term,
The resulting vacuum Einstein field equations are therefore
Tracing in four dimensions gives , and substitution gives .
The smooth Euclidean geometry is compact. Explicitly, in Euclidean five-space use
These obey and induce precisely the above metric, so with the identified Euclidean time covers a round four-sphere once. Neither the collapsing two-sphere at nor the collapsing time circle at is a physical boundary. Since , its volume and on-shell Euclidean action are
The semiclassical partition function is , and follows from the free energy relation . With the stipulated zero internal energy,
Thus the Euclidean de Sitter action and entropy reproduce the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of the cosmological horizon without a boundary contribution. Restoring constants, .
Take both curvature radii to be one. Coordinate ranges depend on the global identification, which a line element alone cannot fix. For the ordinary two-dimensional de Sitter spacetime,
This is the unit hyperboloid in ambient signature , parametrized by , , . Unwrapping instead gives its universal cover.
For two-dimensional anti-de Sitter spacetime, the embedding in ambient signature is parametrized by , , . On this hyperboloid and is periodic modulo , creating closed timelike circles. The physically usual universal cover removes that periodicity:
Both signs of are needed for the full two-dimensional spatial line. Taking without an additional construction would omit one of its two ends. The following causal comparison uses the AdS universal cover.
Both models are maximally symmetric Lorentzian manifolds, with constant sectional curvature and no curvature singularities. In the paper's convention their Ricci scalars are respectively and . The de Sitter spatial scale factor contracts to a nonzero minimum and then expands; is not a big-bang singularity. The AdS metric is static, and is timelike everywhere because .
The embeddings give a concise classification of all affinely parametrized geodesics. Geodesic acceleration in the ambient space is normal to the hyperboloid, hence proportional to . Differentiating the constraint and setting , with for timelike, null and spacelike curves, gives
Every solution stays in the two-plane spanned by its initial point and tangent , so every geodesic is a plane section through the ambient origin. For de Sitter, these are for timelike curves, for null curves, and for spacelike curves. Thus timelike geodesics and null geodesics are complete and nonclosed, while spacelike geodesics are closed circles on the ordinary hyperboloid. These are the geodesics of two-dimensional de Sitter spacetime.
For AdS the roles of the circular and hyperbolic solutions are reversed: timelike curves are , null curves are , and spacelike curves are . Timelike curves close after proper time on the hyperboloid, but their lifts on the universal cover continue to ever later time rather than forming closed curves. All three kinds extend for arbitrary affine parameter. This is geodesics of two-dimensional anti-de Sitter spacetime, not an assertion that geodesics reach the conformal boundary in finite physical affine length.
The coordinate first integrals make the behavior concrete. In de Sitter, spatial rotational symmetry gives a conserved , and normalization gives
Constant- observers are timelike geodesics. Nontrivial null geodesics have affine parameter proportional to , which diverges at both . In AdS the conserved static energy is , with
For timelike curves, and
They oscillate through the center and never reach spatial infinity; is the geodesic. For null curves, , so both ends are at infinite affine parameter. Spacelike AdS geodesics likewise extend to the two spatial ends.
For the conformal structure, introduce de Sitter conformal time
Multiplying by gives the conformal cylinder of two-dimensional de Sitter spacetime. The past and future conformal infinities are spacelike circles at . Null curves are modulo . Although the conformal-time interval is finite, their physical affine parameters and timelike observers' proper times are infinite at its ends. Constant- circles are Cauchy hypersurfaces; global de Sitter is globally hyperbolic.
For AdS put
The conformal strip of two-dimensional anti-de Sitter spacetime has unbounded time and timelike conformal boundaries at . Null curves have . A signal from any finite reaches the center in coordinate time , and a null curve crosses the entire conformal strip in time . This finite coordinate travel time coexists with infinite physical affine length to the boundary. The covering spacetime has no closed timelike curves, but is not globally hyperbolic: causal curves can arrive from timelike infinity without meeting a proposed initial slice. Field evolution consequently requires boundary conditions as well as initial data. Unwrapping time removes closed timelike curves, not the timelike boundary.
The contrast in observer event horizons follows directly from these null curves. For the complete de Sitter observer , let be shortest angular distance. An event can send a signal to this observer before its future endpoint precisely when
Equality is its future observer event horizon. It can receive a signal emitted by the observer after its past endpoint precisely when , whose equality is the past horizon. In the observer's fundamental domain these horizons are null lines
Their intersection encloses the observer's static patch of de Sitter spacetime, the diamond . They are observer-dependent cosmological horizons, not curvature singularities or Cauchy horizons. Every inertial observer has the corresponding horizons by de Sitter symmetry.
For the complete AdS static observer at , every event at finite can send a signal to the observer, and can receive one, because time is unbounded and the coordinate distance is finite. Thus there is no corresponding global static-observer event horizon. The lapse never vanishes in these coordinates. Restricted accelerated-observer patches can have observer horizons, but those are distinct from the global static model. On the original periodic-time AdS hyperboloid, the more serious issue is closed timelike curves.
Figure 1.
Conformal cylinder of de Sitter and covering anti-de Sitter strip, showing null geodesics, observer horizons and causal boundaries
. Details.
The figure identifies the de Sitter spatial edges and displays only a finite time window of the AdS covering strip, whose time continues indefinitely. Solid red curves are null geodesics; the oscillating AdS curve is a timelike geodesic. The shaded de Sitter diamond is the static observer's two-way communication region, not the entire spacetime.
The concise comparison is de Sitter has spacelike conformal infinities and cosmological observer horizons; covering AdS has timelike conformal boundaries and no horizon for an eternal global static observer. Both are constant-curvature and geodesically complete, but their geodesic recurrence, global topology, causal boundaries and initial-value properties differ.
For the full unit-radius two-dimensional de Sitter spacetime, the coordinate ranges are
One can use with endpoints identified. If the identification is omitted, the same line element describes the universal covering spacetime instead. The periodicity follows from the hyperboloid embedding
The induced ambient Minkowski metric is precisely the given Lorentzian metric.
Using an affine parameter , the geodesic Lagrangian is . The nonzero Christoffel symbols are
Thus the geodesic equations and their first integrals are
Here for unit-speed timelike geodesics, for null geodesics and for unit-speed spacelike geodesics. The conserved is the geodesic conserved quantity from a Killing vector for the angular symmetry.
All geodesics of two-dimensional de Sitter spacetime can be written especially simply in the embedding. If is the initial point and the initial tangent, with , , , the geodesic has normal ambient acceleration . Therefore
These curves stay in the two-plane spanned by and , preserve both constraints and have no tangential acceleration. They consequently solve the geodesic equation and exhaust all initial directions.
An isometry can move the chosen point to , namely . For future-directed timelike geodesics take , obtaining
The continuous angular branch has , and every real gives a distinct timelike direction. The two null geodesics have and
For spacelike geodesics take , giving
They are closed with period in affine arclength and . In particular, is the equatorial geodesic . These three families, with reversals of parametrization allowed, are the requested complete set through the chosen point.
The conformal time substitution gives
Hence
Multiplying by gives the regular conformal cylinder of two-dimensional de Sitter spacetime. Adding completes the conformal compactification; both boundary circles are spacelike. Null geodesics are straight lines through the origin. The other families have the useful diagram equations
The image sketches representative directions from each family; the formulas allow all intermediate directions.
Figure 1.
Geodesics through one point and observer horizons on the two-dimensional de Sitter conformal cylinder
. Details.
For the complete observer , let be the shortest angular distance on the circle. Since light travels one unit of angular distance per unit conformal time, an event at can signal to the observer at some finite future time precisely when
Equality defines its future observer event horizon. Likewise an event can receive a signal emitted by the observer precisely when
and equality defines the past horizon. In the lift , their branches are and . The common communication region is the diamond , the observer's static patch of de Sitter spacetime. These are the observer horizons in two-dimensional de Sitter spacetime. Every complete timelike observer has analogous horizons after a de Sitter isometry; they depend on the observer, rather than enclosing an intrinsic black-hole region.
Despite these horizons, each constant- circle is a Cauchy hypersurface of the full spacetime: any inextendible causal curve crosses it exactly once. The global spacetime is therefore globally hyperbolic and has no Cauchy horizons. The conformal boundaries lie at infinite proper time for complete timelike geodesics and infinite affine distance for complete null geodesics, so their finite height in the diagram is not a physical incompleteness.
For the static patch of de Sitter spacetime, . With or , respectively,
Both radial blocks have determinant and smooth coefficients at . The normal has norm , so that surface is null. There has covector , or has covector , making it normal as well as tangent: it is a Killing horizon.
For the signed surface gravity of a de Sitter horizon, since , part a gives in the ingoing chart on the past branch, and in the outgoing chart on the future branch, with future-directed in the static patch. The physical magnitude is , normalized by central proper time. A negative signed must not become a negative temperature.
Signed surface gravity of a de Sitter horizon Created 2026-10-07 Updated 2026-10-25
For the future-directed central-time Killing vector field in a static patch of de Sitter spacetime, the outgoing null chart gives the future branch coefficient in . The ingoing chart gives on the past branch. Both follow from ; the cross-term sign changes the horizon covector. The physical Hawking temperature uses , not a signed negative temperature.