A numerical approach to Virasoro blocks and the information paradox

A bstract We chart the breakdown of semiclassical gravity by analyzing the Virasoro conformal blocks to high numerical precision, focusing on the heavy-light limit correspond-ing to a light probe propagating in a BTZ black hole background. In the Lorentzian regime, we find empirically that the initial exponential time-dependence of the blocks transitions to a universal t − 3 2 power-law decay. For the vacuum block the transition occurs at t ≈ π c 6 h L , confirming analytic predictions. In the Euclidean regime, due to Stokes phenomena the naive semiclassical approximation fails completely in a finite region enclosing the ‘forbidden singularities’. We emphasize that limitations on the reconstruction of a local bulk should ultimately stem from distinctions between semiclassical and exact correlators.