Gravitational splitting at first order: Quantum information localization in gravity
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79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Engineering topics
Donnelly, William
Publications and source records attributed to Donnelly, William.
How is quantum information localized in gravity?
A notion of localization of information within quantum subsystems plays a key role in describing the physics of quantum systems, and in particular is a prerequisite for discussing important concepts such as entanglement and information transfer. While subsystems can be readily defined for finite quantum systems and in local quantum field theory, a corresponding definition for gravitational systems is significantly complicated by the apparent nonlocality arising due to gauge invariance, enforced by the constraints. A related question is whether "soft hair" encodes otherwise localized information, and the question of such localization also remains an important puzzle for proposals that gravity emerges from another structure such as a boundary field theory as in AdS/CFT. This paper describes different approaches to defining local subsystem structure, and shows that at least classically, perturbative gravity has localized subsystems based on a split structure, generalizing the split property of quantum field theory. This, and related arguments for QED, give simple explanations that in these theories there is localized information that is independent of fields outside a region, in particular so that there is no role for "soft hair" in encoding such information. Additional subtleties appear in quantum gravity. Finally, we argue that localized information exists in perturbative quantum gravity in the presence of global symmetries, but that nonperturbative dynamics is likely tied to a modification of such structure.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Entanglement branes in a two-dimensional string theory
What is the meaning of entanglement in a theory of extended objects such as strings? To address this question we consider the spatial entanglement between two intervals in the Gross-Taylor model, the string theory dual to two-dimensional Yang-Mills theory at large N. The string diagrams that contribute to the entanglement entropy describe open strings with endpoints anchored to the entangling surface, as first argued by Susskind. We develop a canonical theory of these open strings, and describe how closed strings are divided into open strings at the level of the Hilbert space. Here, we derive the modular Hamiltonian for the Hartle-Hawking state and show that the corresponding reduced density matrix describes a thermal ensemble of open strings ending on an object at the entangling surface that we call an entanglement brane, or E-brane.
1/N Expansion↗
Observables, gravitational dressing, and obstructions to locality and subsystems
Quantum field theory - our fundamental framework for describing all non-gravitational physics - conflicts with general relativity: the latter precludes the standard definition of the former's essential principle of locality, in terms of commuting local observables. We explore this conflict more carefully, by investigating implications of gauge (diffeomorphism) invariance for observables in gravity. We prove a dressing theorem, showing that any operator with nonzero Poincare charges, and in particular any compactly-supported operator, in flat-spacetime quantum field theory must be gravitationally dressed once coupled to gravity, i.e. it must depend on the metric at arbitrarily long distances, and we put lower bounds on this nonlocal dependence. This departure from standard locality occurs in the most severe way possible: in perturbation theory about flat spacetime, at leading order in Newton's constant. The physical observables in a gravitational theory therefore do not organize themselves into local commuting subalgebras: the principle of locality must apparently be reformulated or abandoned, and in fact we lack a clear definition of the coarser and more basic notion of a quantum subsystem of the Universe. We discuss relational approaches to locality based on diffeomorphism-invariant nonlocal operators, and reinforce arguments that any such locality is state-dependent and approximate. Furthermore, we find limitations to the utility of bilocal diffeomorphism-invariant operators that are considered in cosmological contexts. An appendix provides a concise review of the canonical covariant formalism for gravity, instrumental in the discussion of Poincare charges and their associated long-range fields.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Local subsystems in gauge theory and gravity
We consider the problem of defining localized subsystems in gauge theory and gravity. Such systems are associated to spacelike hypersurfaces with boundaries and provide the natural setting for studying entanglement entropy of regions of space. We present a general formalism to associate a gauge-invariant classical phase space to a spatial slice with boundary by introducing new degrees of freedom on the boundary. In Yang-Mills theory the new degrees of freedom are a choice of gauge on the boundary, transformations of which are generated by the normal component of the nonabelian electric field. In general relativity the new degrees of freedom are the location of a codimension-2 surface and a choice of conformal normal frame. These degrees of freedom transform under a group of surface symmetries , consisting of diffeomorphisms of the codimension-2 boundary, and position-dependent linear deformations of its normal plane. We find the observables which generate these symmetries, consisting of the conformal normal metric and curvature of the normal connection. We discuss the implications for the problem of defining entanglement entropy in quantum gravity. Finally, our work suggests that the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy may arise from the different ways of gluing together two partial Cauchy surfaces at a cross-section of the horizon.
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
Diffeomorphism-invariant observables and their nonlocal algebra
Gauge-invariant observables for quantum gravity are described, with explicit constructions given primarily to leading order in Newton’s constant, analogous to and extending constructions first given by Dirac in quantum electrodynamics. These can be thought of as operators that create a particle, together with its inseparable gravitational field, and reduce to usual field operators of quantum field theory in the weak-gravity limit; they include both Wilson-line operators and those creating a Coulombic field configuration. We also describe operators creating the field of a particle in motion; as in the electromagnetic case, these are expected to help address infrared problems. An important characteristic of the quantum theory of gravity is the algebra of its observables. Finally, we show that the commutators of the simple observables of this paper are nonlocal, with nonlocality becoming significant in strong field regions, as predicted previously on general grounds.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗