Abstract

We consider asymptotically anti-de Sitter spacetimes in three-dimensional topologically massive gravity with a negative cosmological constant, for all values of the mass parameter µ (µ 0). We provide consistent boundary conditions that accommodate the recent solutions considered in the literature, which may have a slower falloff than the one relevant for general relativity. These conditions are such that the asymptotic symmetry is in all cases the conformal group, in the sense that they are invariant under asymptotic conformal transformations and that the corresponding Virasoro generators are finite. It is found that, at the chiral point |µl|=1 (where l is the anti-de Sitter radius), allowing for logarithmic terms (absent for general relativity) in the asymptotic behavior of the metric makes both sets of Virasoro generators nonzero even though one of the central charges vanishes. © 2009 The American Physical Society.