The large D limit of dimensionally continued gravity

Abstract

In a recent paper [1] Emparan, Suzuki, and Tanabe studied general relativity in the limit in which the number of spacetime dimensions D tends to infinity. They showed that, in such limit, the theory simplifies notably. It reduces to a theory whose fundamental objects, black holes and black branes, behave as non-interacting particles. Here, we consider a different way of extending gravity to D dimensions. We present a special limit of dimensionally continued gravity in which black holes retain their gravitational interaction at large D and still have entropy proportional to the mass. The similarities and differences with the limit considered in [1] are discussed.