BSM

Abstract

Higher spin gravity in three dimensions is holographically dual to a two-dimensional CFT with extended conformal symmetry, known as a W-algebra. This raises the possibility of tackling difficult questions in holography or quantum gravity by exploiting the W-algebra to do exact computations at all values of the coupling. I will review the status of various higher spin dualities, and for the case of AdS_3, describe the detailed matching of the spectrum and the CFT interpretation of higher spin black holes.