Squashed Holography with Scalar Condensates

Abstract: We evaluate the partition function of the free and interacting O(N) vector model on a two-parameter family of squashed three spheres in the presence of a scalar deformation. We also find everywhere regular solutions of Einstein gravity coupled to a scalar field in AdS and in dS with the same double squashed boundary geometry. Remarkably, the thermodynamic properties of the AdS solutions qualitatively agree with the behavior predicted by the free O(N) model with a real mass deformation. The dS bulk solutions specify the semiclassical `no-boundary' measure over anisotropic deformations of inflationary, asymptotic de Sitter space. Through dS/CFT the partition function of the interacting O(N) model yields a holographic toy model of the no-boundary measure. We find this yields a qualitatively similar probability distribution which is normalizable and globally peaked at the round three sphere, with a low amplitude for strong anisotropies.