Asymptotically anti-de Sitter spacetimes: conserved quantities

Asymptotically anti-de Sitter spacetimes are considered in a general dimens ion d greater than or equal to 4. As one might expect, the boundary conditi ons at infinity ensure that the asymptotic symmetry group is the anti-de Si tter group (although there is an interesting subtlety if d = 4). Asymptotic held equations imply that, associated with each generator xi of this group , there is a quantity Q(xi) which satisfies the expected 'balance equation' if there is a Aux of physical matter fields across the boundary I at infin ity and is absolutely conserved in the absence of this flux. Irrespective o f the dimension d, all of these quantities vanish if the spacetime under co nsiderations is (globally) anti-de Sitter. Furthermore, this result is requ ired by a general covariance argument. However, it contradicts some of the recent findings based on the conjectured ADS/CFT duality. This and other fe atures of our analysis suggest that, if a consistent dictionary between gra vity and conformal held theories does exist in fully non-perturbative regim es, it would have to be more subtle than the one used currently.