Related papers: Unitarity and the Hilbert space of quantum gravity
We analyze the algebra of boundary observables in canonically quantised JT gravity with or without matter. In the absence of matter, this algebra is commutative, generated by the ADM Hamiltonian. After coupling to a bulk quantum field…
Black hole thermodynamics suggests that a black hole should have an entropy given by a quarter of the area of its horizon. Earlier calculations in U(1) loop quantum gravity have led to a dominant term proportional to the area, but there was…
In semiclassical gravity, the final state of black-hole evaporation cannot be described by a pure state. Nevertheless, we point out that the system can be described by a generalized pure state, which is not defined on a 3-dimensional…
We briefly review the most relevant aspects of complete integrability for classical systems and identify those aspects which should be present in a definition of quantum integrability. We show that a naive extension of classical concepts to…
Because the gravitational Hamiltonian is a pure boundary term on-shell, asymptotic gravitational fields store information in a manner not possible in local field theories. This fact has consequences for both perturbative and…
Horowitz and Maldacena have suggested that the unitarity of the black hole S-matrix can be reconciled with Hawking's semiclassical arguments if a final-state boundary condition is imposed at the spacelike singularity inside the black hole.…
Following an article by John von Neumann on infinite tensor products, we develop the idea that the usual formalism of quantum mechanics, associated with unitary equivalence of representations, stops working when countable infinities of…
Almheiri et al. have emphasized that otherwise reasonable beliefs about black hole evaporation are incompatible with the monogamy of quantum entanglement, a general property of quantum mechanics. We investigate the final-state projection…
Black holes monopolize nowadays the center stage of fundamental physics. Yet, they are poorly understood objects. Notwithstanding, from their generic properties, one can infer important clues to what a fundamental theory, a theory that…
We discuss the quantization of a spherical dust shell in a rigorous manner. Classically, the shell can collapse to form a black hole with a singularity. In the quantum theory, we construct a well-defined self-adjoint extension for the…
We introduce a class of space-times modeling singular events such as evaporating black holes and topology changes, which we dub as semi-globally hyperbolic space-times. On these space-times we aim to study the existence of reasonable…
Unitarity is a pillar of quantum theory. Nevertheless, it is also a source of several of its conceptual problems. We note that in a world where measurements are relational, as is the case in gravitation, quantum mechanics exhibits a…
Combining gravity with quantum theory is still work in progress. On the one hand, classical gravity, is the geometry of space-time determined by the energy-momentum tensor of matter and the resulting nonlinear equations; on the other hand,…
It is usually stated that the information storing region associated with the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy is enclosed by a sphere of diameter equal twice the Schwarzschild radius. We point out that this cannot apply to a quantum black hole.…
A unified theory of all forces should be nonsingular. In such a unified theory, Einstein's general relativity will be a very low curvature effective theory. At larger curvatures, new terms will become important. The question then arises as…
We search for a universal property of quantum gravity. By "universal", we mean the independence from any existing model of quantum gravity (such as the super string theory, loop quantum gravity, causal dynamical triangulation, and so on).…
It is univocally anticipated that in a theory of quantum gravity, there exist quantum superpositions of semiclassical states of spacetime geometry. Such states could arise for example, from a source mass in a superposition of spatial…
Behind certain marginally trapped surfaces one can construct a geometry containing an extremal surface of equal, but not larger area. This construction underlies the Engelhardt-Wall proposal for explaining Bekenstein-Hawking entropy as a…
To derive black hole thermodynamics in any quantum theory of gravity, one must introduce constraints that ensure that a black hole is actually present. For a large class of black holes, the imposition of such ``horizon constraints'' allows…
Quantum fields do not satisfy the pointwise energy conditions that are assumed in the original singularity theorems of Penrose and Hawking. Accordingly, semiclassical quantum gravity lies outside their scope. Although a number of…