De Sitter microstates from T T ¯ $$ \overline{T} $$ + Λ2 and the Hawking-Page transition

We obtain microstates accounting for the Gibbons-Hawking entropy in dS3, along with a subleading logarithmic correction, from the solvable T $$ \overline{T} $$ + Λ2 deformation of a seed CFT with sparse light spectrum. The microstates arise as the dressed CFT states near dimension ∆ = c/6, associated with the Hawking-Page transition; they dominate the real spectrum of the deformed theory. We exhibit an analogue of the Hawking-Page transition in de Sitter. Appropriate generalizations of the T $$ \overline{T} $$ + Λ2 deformation are required to treat model-dependent local bulk physics (subleading at large central charge) and higher dimensions. These results add considerably to the already strong motivation for the continued pursuit of such generalizations along with a more complete characterization of T $$ \overline{T} $$ type theories, building from existing results in these directions.