Quantum Gravity

We study thermodynamics of spherically-symmetric spacetime with the aim of exploring spacetime entropy as an adiabatic invariant. We first describe the geometry and dynamics in terms of a local frame adapted to spherical foliations and find a geometro-hydrodynamic interpretation: the spacetime can…

Carrying the insights of conditional probability to the quantum realm is notoriously difficult due to the non-commutative nature of quantum observables. Nevertheless, conditional expectations on C* and von Neumann algebras have played a significant role in the development of quantum information…

Spacetime fluctuations can invalidate usual notions of distance, time, and even what it means to perform an experiment. This raises a simple question: when spacetime fluctuates, how do we describe what happens? Few detailed ​answers exist, even in the low-energy effective field theory of quantum…

Whether quantum gravitational effects can be enhanced beyond the Planck scale is an important question for testing quantum gravity. In this talk, I will present how the fluid/gravity correspondence provides insight into the enhancement of quantum gravity fluctuations in a finite causal diamond. I…

When performing the gravitational path integral, multiple saddles can contribute to a given computation. In black hole thermodynamics, one encounters infinitely many critical points of the action, most of which are complex. Surprisingly, the sum over these saddles diverges in spacetime dimensions…

In this talk, I will describe recent developments in our understanding of edge modes associated to subregions in gauge theories, leveraging their realization as reference frames. I will begin with the picture in classical Maxwell theory, where I will introduce the concept of subregional Goldstone…

Defining thermodynamic ensembles for gravitational systems is tied to specifying boundary conditions. In this talk I'll first briefly review how introducing a Dirichlet timelike boundary clarifies thermodynamics of de Sitter space. Then I'll discuss geometries subjected to conformal boundary…

Most physical theories assume that spacetime is four dimensional, a claim strongly supported by high precision accelerator and cosmological measurements. It is also well known that at the Planck scale our quantum theories, and perhaps physics itself, break down. This raises a natural question: what…

In this talk, we analyze detector operators that measure energy to the power ∆-2 at null infinity in Einstein gravity. These operators transform as conformal primaries on the celestial sphere and provide a natural basis for describing energy-flux observables in scattering processes. Using the…

We explicitly construct the density matrix associated to the vacuum state of a large spherically symmetric causal diamond in four-dimensional asymptotically flat gravity. We achieve this using the soft effective action, which characterizes the low-energy gravitational degrees of freedom that arise…

Elementary quantum reference frames (QRFs) such as clocks have recently led to surprising insights into quantum gravity. But far richer structures should emerge once we consider more full-fledged gravitational QRFs, i.e. quantum coordinate systems. A complete theory of such objects remains elusive…

Motivated by recent advances in "non-Lorentzian" physics, I will revisit the light-cone formulation of QFT, which has played a central role in the quantization of gauge theories. Much of its success can be traced to the presence of an underlying non-relativistic (Galilean) structure within the light…