English

Quantum Mechanics of a Spherically Symmetric Causal Diamond in Minkowski Spacetime

High Energy Physics - Theory 2025-03-26 v2 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Abstract

We construct the phase space of a spherically symmetric causal diamond in (d+2)(d+2)-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. Utilizing the covariant phase space formalism, we identify the relevant degrees of freedom that localize to the dd-dimensional bifurcate horizon and, upon canonical quantization, determine their commutators. On this phase space, we find two Iyer-Wald charges. The first of these charges, proportional to the area of the causal diamond, is responsible for shifting the null time along the horizon and has been well-documented in the literature. The second charge is much less understood, being integrable for d2d \geq 2 only if we allow for field-dependent diffeomorphisms and is responsible for changing the size of the causal diamond.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2408.11094,
  title  = {Quantum Mechanics of a Spherically Symmetric Causal Diamond in Minkowski Spacetime},
  author = {Mathew W. Bub and Temple He and Prahar Mitra and Yiwen Zhang and Kathryn M. Zurek},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2408.11094},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

9 pages, 2 figures; v2: Added minor clarifications throughout, version to appear in PRL