Three dimensional topologically massive gravity (TMG) with a negative cosmological constant -\ell^{-2} and positive Newton constant G admits an AdS_3 vacuum solution for any value of the graviton mass \mu. These are all known to be perturbatively unstable except at the recently explored chiral point \mu\ell=1. However we show herein that for every value of \mu\ell< 3 there are two other (potentially stable) vacuum solutions given by SL(2,R)x U(1)-invariant warped AdS_3 geometries, with a timelike or spacelike U(1) isometry. Critical behavior occurs at \mu\ell=3, where the warping transitions from a stretching to a squashing, and there are a pair of warped solutions with a null U(1) isometry. For \mu\ell>3, there are known warped black hole solutions which are asymptotic to warped AdS_3. We show that these black holes are discrete quotients of warped AdS_3 just as BTZ black holes are discrete quotients of ordinary AdS_3. Moreover new solutions of this type, relevant to any theory with warped AdS_3 solutions, are exhibited. Finally we note that the black hole thermodynamics is consistent with the hypothesis that, for \mu\ell>3, the warped AdS_3 ground state of TMG is holographically dual to a 2D boundary CFT with central charges c_R={15(\mu\ell)^2+81\over G\mu((\mu\ell)^2+27)} and c_L={12 \mu\ell^2\over G((\mu\ell)^2+27)}.

The first author constructed a q-parameterized spherical category $\sC$ over C(q) in [Liu15], whose simple objects are labelled by all Young diagrams. In this paper, we compute closed-form expressions for the fusion rule of $\sC$, using Littlewood-Richardson coefficients, as well as the characters (including a generating function), using symmetric functions with infinite variables.

We construct an integrable hierarchy in the form of Hirota quadratic equations (HQE) that governs the Gromov--Witten (GW) invariants of the Fano orbifold projective curve P^1_{a1,a2,a3}. The vertex operators in our construction are given in terms of the K-theory of P^1_{a1,a2,a3} via Iritani's Γ-class modification of the Chern character map. We also identify our HQEs with an appropriate Kac--Wakimoto hierarchy of ADE type. In particular, we obtain a generalization of the famous Toda conjecture about the GW invariants of P^1 .

The classical de Finetti theorem in probability theory relates symmetry under the permutation group with the independence of random variables. This result has application in quantum information. Here we study states that are invariant with respect to a natural action of the braid group, and we emphasize the pictorial formulation and interpretation of our results. We prove a new type of de Finetti theorem for the four-string, double-braid group acting on the parafermion algebra to braid qudits, a natural symmetry in the quon language for quantum information. We prove that a braid-invariant state is extremal if and only if it is a product state. Furthermore, we provide an explicit characterization of braid-invariant states on the parafermion algebra, including finding a distinction that depends on whether the order of the parafermion algebra is square free. We characterize the extremal nature of product states (an inverse de Finetti theorem).

Quantum gravity in the region very near the horizon of an extreme Kerr black hole (whose angular momentum and mass are related by J=GM^2) is considered. It is shown that consistent boundary conditions exist, for which the asymptotic symmetry generators form one copy of the Virasoro algebra with central charge c_L=12J / \hbar. This implies that the near-horizon quantum states can be identified with those of (a chiral half of) a two-dimensional conformal field theory (CFT). Moreover, in the extreme limit, the Frolov-Thorne vacuum state reduces to a thermal density matrix with dimensionless temperature T_L=1/2\pi and conjugate energy given by the zero mode generator, L_0, of the Virasoro algebra. Assuming unitarity, the Cardy formula then gives a microscopic entropy S_{micro}=2\pi J / \hbar for the CFT, which reproduces the macroscopic Bekenstein-Hawking entropy S_{macro}=Area / 4\hbar G. The results apply to any consistent unitary quantum theory of gravity with a Kerr solution. We accordingly conjecture that extreme Kerr black holes are holographically dual to a chiral two-dimensional conformal field theory with central charge c_L=12J / \hbar, and in particular that the near-extreme black hole GRS 1915+105 is approximately dual to a CFT with c_L \sim 2 \times 10^{79}.