A bstract Entanglement entropy, or von Neumann entropy, quantifies the amount of uncertainty of a quantum state. For quantum fields in curved space, entanglement entropy of the quantum field theory degrees of freedom is well-defined for a fixed background geometry. In this paper, we propose a generalization of the quantum field theory entanglement entropy by including dynamical gravity. The generalized quantity named effective entropy, and its Renyi entropy generalizations, are defined by analytic continuation of a replica calculation. The replicated theory is defined as a gravitational path integral with multiple copies of the original boundary conditions, with a co-dimension-2 brane at the boundary of region we are studying. We discuss different approaches to define the region in a gauge invariant way, and show that the effective entropy satisfies the quantum extremal surface formula. When the quantum fields carry a significant amount of entanglement, the quantum extremal surface can have a topology transition, after which an entanglement island region appears. Our result generalizes the Hubeny-Rangamani-Takayanagi formula of holographic entropy (with quantum corrections) to general geometries without asymptotic AdS boundary, and provides a more solid framework for addressing problems such as the Page curve of evaporating black holes in asymptotic flat spacetime.more »
Baby Universes, Holography, and the Swampland
On the basis of a number of Swampland conditions, we argue that the Hilbert space of baby universe states must be one-dimensional in a consistent theory of quantum gravity. This scenario may be interpreted as a type of “Gauss’s law for entropy” in quantum gravity, and provides a clean synthesis of the tension between Euclidean wormholes and a standard interpretation of the holographic dictionary, with no need for an ensemble. Our perspective relies crucially on the recently-proposed potential for quantum-mechanical gauge redundancies between states of the universe with different topologies. We further comment on the possible exceptions in d ≤ 3 for this hypothesis and the role of an ensemble in holographic theories in the context of theories of quantum gravity in d = 2 (such as JT gravity and possible cousins in d = 3), which we argue are incomplete physical theories that should be viewed as branes in a higher dimensional theory of quantum gravity for which an ensemble plays no role.
- Award ID(s):
- 1719924
- Publication Date:
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10181586
- Journal Name:
- ArXivorg
- Page Range or eLocation-ID:
- 1 - 25
- ISSN:
- 2331-8422
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Recently, it has been found that Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity, which is a two-dimensional theory with bulk action − 1 / 2 ∫ d 2 x g ϕ ( R + 2 ) , is dual to a matrix model, that is, a random ensemble of quantum systems rather than a specific quantum mechanical system. In this article, we argue that a deformation of JT gravity with bulk action − 1 / 2 ∫ d 2 x g ( ϕ R + W ( ϕ ) ) is likewise dual to a matrix model. With a specific procedure for defining the path integral of the theory, we determine the density of eigenvalues of the dual matrix model. There is a simple answer if W (0) = 0, and otherwise a rather complicated answer.
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A bstract We discuss the holographic description of Narain U(1) c × U(1) c conformal field theories, and their potential similarity to conventional weakly coupled gravitational theories in the bulk, in the sense that the effective IR bulk description includes “U(1) gravity” amended with additional light degrees of freedom. Starting from this picture, we formulate the hypothesis that in the large central charge limit the density of states of any Narain theory is bounded by below by the density of states of U(1) gravity. This immediately implies that the maximal value of the spectral gap for primary fields is ∆ 1 = c /(2 πe ). To test the self-consistency of this proposal, we study its implications using chiral lattice CFTs and CFTs based on quantum stabilizer codes. First we notice that the conjecture yields a new bound on quantum stabilizer codes, which is compatible with previously known bounds in the literature. We proceed to discuss the variance of the density of states, which for consistency must be vanishingly small in the large- c limit. We consider ensembles of code and chiral theories and show that in both cases the density variance is exponentially small in the central charge.
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Abstract A central problem in any quantum theory of gravity is to explain the emergence of the classical spacetime geometry in some limit of a more fundamental, microscopic description of nature. The gauge/gravity-correspondence provides a framework in which this problem can, in principle, be addressed. This is a holographic correspondence which relates a supergravity theory in five-dimensional Anti-deSitter space to a strongly coupled superconformal gauge theory on its 4-dimensional flat Minkowski boundary. In particular, the classical geometry should therefore emerge from some quantum state of the dual gauge theory. Here we confirm this by showing how the classical metric emerges from a canonical state in the dual gauge theory. In particular, we obtain approximations to the Sasaki-Einstein metric underlying the supergravity geometry, in terms of an explicit integral formula involving the canonical quantum state in question. In the special case of toric quiver gauge theories we show that our results can be computationally simplified through a process of tropicalization.
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