Radial canonical AdS_3 gravity and TT̅

We employ an ADM deparametrization strategy to discuss the radial canonical formalism of asymptotically AdS_3 gravity. It leads to the identification of a radial 'time' before quantization, which is the volume time, canonically conjugate to York time. Holographically, this allows to interpret the semi-classical path integral of TT̅ theory as a Schrödinger wavefunctional satisfying a Schrödinger evolution equation in volume time, and the TT̅ operator expectation value in terms of the Hamiltonian that generates volume time translations – both consistent with cut-off holography. We make use of the canonical perspective to construct the rotating BTZ solution from the Hamilton-Jacobi equation, with a finite cut-off energy spectrum that has a known holographic TT̅ interpretation, as well as semi-classical Wheeler-DeWitt states for that solution.