Asymptotically warped AdS spacetimes in topologically massive gravity with negative cosmological constant are considered in the case of spacelike stretched warping, where black holes have been shown to exist. We provide a set of asymptotic conditions that accommodate solutions in which the local degree of freedom (the “massive graviton”) is switched on. An exact solution with this property is explicitly exhibited and possesses a slower falloff than the warped AdS black hole. The boundary conditions are invariant under the semidirect product of the Virasoro algebra with a $u(1)$ current algebra. We show that the canonical generators are integrable and finite. When the graviton is not excited, our analysis is compared and contrasted with earlier results obtained through the covariant approach to conserved charges. In particular, we find agreement with the conserved charges of the warped AdS black holes as well as with the central charges in the algebra.

• Received 19 August 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.84.124016