Holographic Wilson loops, Hamilton-Jacobi equation, and regularizations

Abstract

The minimal area for surfaces whose borders are rectangular and circular loops are calculated using the Hamilton-Jacobi (HJ) equation. This amounts to solving the HJ equation for the value of the minimal area, without calculating the shape of the corresponding surface. This is done for bulk geometries that are asymptotically anti-de Sitter (AdS). For the rectangular contour, the HJ equation, which is separable, can be solved exactly. For the circular contour an expansion in powers of the radius is implemented. The HJ approach naturally leads to a regularization which consists in locating the contour away from the border. The results are compared with the ϵ-regularization which leaves the contour at the border and calculates the area of the corresponding minimal surface up to a diameter smaller than the one of the contour at the border. The results for the circular loop do not coincide if the expansion parameter is taken to be the radius of the contour at the border. It is shown that using this expansion parameter the ϵ-regularization leads to incorrect results for certain solvable non-AdS cases. However, if the expansion parameter is taken to be the radius of the minimal surface whose area is computed, then the results coincide with the HJ scheme. This is traced back to the fact that in the HJ case the expansion parameter for the area of a minimal surface is intrinsic to the surface; however, the radius of the contour at the border is related to the way one chooses to regularize in the ϵ-scheme the calculation of this area.