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Imprint of the black hole singularity on thermal two-point functions

Nima Afkhami-Jeddi1, Simon Caron-Huot1, Joydeep Chakravarty1, and Alexander Maloney1,2,3

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Phys. Rev. D 114, 025005 – Published 6 July, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/1j3s-fzjl

Abstract

We consider two-point functions of light fields at finite temperature and large real frequencies in holographic theories. The thermal system is dual to a single-sided anti–de Sitter black hole. We show that the high-frequency expansion obtained from the operator product expansion receives exponentially small nonperturbative corrections, which are controlled by null geodesics bouncing off the black hole singularity in the two-sided eternal black hole geometry. We develop a bulk WKB description of these bouncing geodesics and explain how to calculate reflection coefficients at the singularity.

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Phys. Rev. D 114, 025005– Published 6 July, 2026
  • Received 17 November 2025
  • Accepted 11 June 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

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