We extend the discussion of the “Kerr/CFT correspondence” and its recent developments to the more general gauge/gravity correspondence in the full extremal black hole space-time of the bulk by using a technique of the holographic renormalization group (RG) flow. It is conjectured that the extremal black hole space-time is holographically dual to the chiral two-dimensional field theory. Our example is a typical four-dimensional Reissner-Nordstrom black hole, a system in which the M5-brane is wrapped on four cycles of Calabi-Yau threefold. In the five-dimensional supergravity viewpoint, this near horizon geometry is ${\mathrm{AdS}}_3\times {\mathrm{S}}^2$, and three-dimensional gravity coupled to moduli fields is effectively obtained after a dimensional reduction on ${\mathrm{S}}^2$. Constructing the Hamilton-Jacobi equation, we define the holographic RG flow from the three-dimensional gravity. The central charge of the Virasoro algebra is calculable from the conformal anomaly at the point where the beta function defined from the gravity side becomes zero. In general, we can also identify the $c$ function of the dual two-dimensional field theory. We show that these flow equations are completely equivalent to not only BPS but also non-BPS attractor flow equations of the moduli fields. The attractor mechanism by which the values of the moduli fields are fixed at the event horizon of the extremal black hole can be understood equivalently to the fact that the RG flows are fixed at the critical points in the dual field theory.

• Received 9 March 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.79.104018