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A<sc>bstract</sc> Gravitational Rényi computations have traditionally been described in the language of Euclidean path integrals. In the semiclassical limit, such calculations are governed by Euclidean (or, more generally, complex) saddle-point geometries. We emphasize here that, at least in simple contexts, the Euclidean approach suggests an alternative formulation in terms of the bulk quantum wavefunction. Since this alternate formulation can be directly applied to the real-time quantum theory, it is insensitive to subtleties involved in defining the Euclidean path integral. In particular, it can be consistent with many different choices of integration contour. Despite the fact that self-adjoint operators in the associated real-time quantum theory have real eigenvalues, we note that the bulk wavefunction encodes the Euclidean (or complex) Rényi geometries that would arise in any Euclidean path integral. As a result, for any given quantum state, the appropriate real-time path integral yields both Rényi entropies and associated complex saddle-point geometries that agree with Euclidean methods. After brief explanations of these general points, we use JT gravity to illustrate the associated real-time computations in detail. 

A<sc>bstract</sc> Spacetime wormholes can provide non-perturbative contributions to the gravitational path integral that make the actual number of statese^Sin a gravitational system much smaller than the number of states$$ {e}^{S_{\textrm{p}}} $$ $e^{S_p}$predicted by perturbative semiclassical effective field theory. The effects on the physics of the system are naturally profound in contexts in which the perturbative description actively involvesN=O(e^S) of the possible$$ {e}^{S_{\textrm{p}}} $$ $e^{S_p}$perturbative states; e.g., in late stages of black hole evaporation. Such contexts are typically associated with the existence of non-trivial quantum extremal surfaces. However, by forcing a simple topological gravity model to evolve in time, we find that such effects can also have large impact forN≪e^S(in which case no quantum extremal surfaces can arise). In particular, even for smallN, the insertion of generic operators into the path integral can cause the non-perturbative time evolution to differ dramatically from perturbative expectations. On the other hand, this discrepancy is small for the special case where the inserted operators are non-trivial only in a subspace of dimensionD≪e^S. We thus study this latter case in detail. We also discuss potential implications for more realistic gravitational systems. 

A<sc>bstract</sc> Due to the conformal factor problem, the definition of the Euclidean gravitational path integral requires a non-trivial choice of contour. The present work examines a generalization of a recently proposed rule-of-thumb [1] for selecting this contour at quadratic order about a saddle. The original proposal depended on the choice of an indefinite-signature metric on the space of perturbations, which was taken to be a DeWitt metric with parameterα= – 1. This choice was made to match previous results, but was otherwise admittedlyad hoc. To begin to investigate the physics associated with the choice of such a metric, we now explore contours defined using analogous prescriptions forα≠ – 1. We study such contours for Euclidean gravity linearized about AdS-Schwarzschild black holes in reflecting cavities with thermal (canonical ensemble) boundary conditions, and we compare path-integral stability of the associated saddles with thermodynamic stability of the classical spacetimes. While the contour generally depends on the choice of DeWitt parameterα, the precise agreement between these two notions of stability found atα= – 1 continues to hold over the finite interval (– 2, – 2/d), wheredis the dimension of the bulk spacetime. This agreement manifestly fails forα> – 2/dwhen the DeWitt metric becomes positive definite. However, we also find dramatic failures forα< – 2 that correlate with breakdowns of the de Donder-like gauge condition defined byα, and at which the relevant fluctuation operator fails to be diagonalizable. This provides criteria that may be useful in predicting metrics on the space of perturbations that give physically-useful contours in more general settings. Along the way, we also identify an interesting error in [1], though we show this error to be harmless.