$T \bar T$ Deformations, Massive Gravity and Non-Critical Strings

Abstract: The $T \bar T$ deformation of a 2 dimensional field theory living on a curved spacetime is equivalent to coupling the undeformed field theory to 2 dimensional `ghost-free' massive gravity. We derive the equivalence classically, and using a path integral formulation of the random geometries proposal, which mirrors the holographic bulk cutoff picture. We emphasize the role of the massive gravity \stu fields which describe the diffeomorphism between the two metrics. For a general field theory, the dynamics of the \stu fields is non-trivial, however for a CFT it trivializes and becomes equivalent to an additional pair of target space dimensions with associated curved target space geometry and dynamical worldsheet metric. That is, the $T \bar T$ deformation of a CFT on curved spacetime is equivalent to a non-critical string theory in Polyakov form, with a non-zero $B$-field. We give a direct proof of the equivalence classically without relying on gauge fixing, and determine the explicit form for the classical Hamiltonian of the $T\bar T$ deformation of an arbitrary CFT on a curved spacetime. When the QFT action is a sum of a CFT plus an operator of fixed scaling dimension, as for example in the sine-Gordon model, the equivalence to a non-critical theory string holds with a modified target space metric and modified $B$-field. Finally we give a stochastic path integral formulation for the general $T \bar T+J \bar T+T \bar J$ deformation of a general QFT, and show that it reproduces a recent path integral proposal in the literature.