Asymptotically anti de Sitter spacetimes in three dimensions

Abstract: We revisit the asymptotically Anti de Sitter spacetimes in three dimensions. Using the conformal-completion technique, we formulate the boundary conditions in a covariant fashion and construct the global charges associated with the asymptotic symmetries. The charges so constructed are conserved for the asymptotic Killing vectors fields but are not conserved for the asymptotic conformal Killing vector fields. The quantity integrated to obtain the global charge is interpreted as the Brown-York boundary stress-energy tensor and it is found not to be traceless. The trace is interpreted as the trace anomaly and it turns out to be the same as the Brown-Henneaux central charge.