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Related papers: The Quantum Null Energy Condition in Curved Space

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Energy conditions are attempts to summarise the properties of realistic descriptions of matter via constraints on the energy-momentum tensor. This is, for example, useful when one wants to understand the types of spacetime geometry that can…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2024-11-19 Hidde Stoffels

We derive new families of quantum null energy inequalities (QNEIs), i.e. bounds on integrated null energy, in quantum field theories in two and higher dimensions. These are universal, state-independent lower bounds on semi-local integrals…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2026-04-17 Jackson R. Fliss , Andrew Rolph

We consider the Quantum Null Energy Condition (QNEC) for holographic conformal field theories in two spacetime dimensions (CFT$_2$). We show that QNEC saturates for all states dual to vacuum solutions of AdS$_3$ Einstein gravity, including…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2019-04-04 Christian Ecker , Daniel Grumiller , Wilke van der Schee , Shahin Sheikh-Jabbari , Philipp Stanzer

We give a simplified proof of the quantum null energy condition (QNEC). Our proof is based on an explicit formula for the shape derivative of the relative entropy, with respect to an entangling cut. It allows bypassing the analytic…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2025-10-06 Stefan Hollands , Roberto Longo

We consider averaged null energy conditions (ANEC) for strongly coupled quantum field theories in even (two and four) dimensional curved spacetimes by applying the no-bulk-shortcut principle in the context of the AdS/CFT duality. In the…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2020-12-02 Norihiro Iizuka , Akihiro Ishibashi , Kengo Maeda

The quantum null energy condition (QNEC) is a lower bound on the energy-momentum tensor in terms of the variation of the entanglement entropy of a sub-region along a null direction. To gain insights into quantum thermodynamics of many-body…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2022-05-11 Tanay Kibe , Ayan Mukhopadhyay , Pratik Roy

Quantum null energy condition (QNEC) is usually stated as a bound on the expectation value of null components of the stress energy tensor at a point in terms of second null shape variations of the entanglement entropy at the same point. It…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2023-10-17 Pratik Roy

Quantum fields can notoriously violate the null energy condition (NEC). In a cosmological context, NEC violation can lead to, e.g., dark energy at late times with an equation-of-state parameter smaller than $-1$ and nonsingular bounces at…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2025-07-01 Elly Moghtaderi , Brayden R. Hull , Jerome Quintin , Ghazal Geshnizjani

A null line is a complete achronal null geodesic. It is proven that for any quantum fields minimally coupled to semiclassical Einstein gravity, the averaged null energy condition (ANEC) on null lines is a consequence of the generalized…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2010-04-06 Aron C. Wall

We investigate whether the null energy, averaged over some region of spacetime, is bounded below in QFT. First, we use light-sheet quantization to prove a version of the "Smeared Null Energy Condition" (SNEC) proposed in [1], applicable for…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2021-08-16 Jackson R. Fliss , Ben Freivogel

By rearranging its terms, the Quantum Focusing Conjecture (QFC) can be viewed as a quantum energy condition, and we can consider various limits. A recent restricted version is a limiting form where the quantum focusing vanishes $\Theta…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2023-10-24 Ido Ben-Dayan

The expected stress-energy tensor <T_{ab}> of quantum fields generically violates the local positive energy conditions of general relativity. However, <T_{ab}> may satisfy some nonlocal conditions such as the averaged null energy condition…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2008-11-26 Eanna Flanagan , Robert Wald

The averaged null energy conditions (ANEC) states that, along a complete null curve, the negative energy fluctuations of a quantum field must be balanced by positive energy fluctuations. We use the AdS/CFT correspondence to prove the ANEC…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2015-02-24 William R. Kelly , Aron C. Wall

We evaluate the Average Null Energy Condition (ANEC) on momentum eigenstates generated by the stress tensor in perturbative $\lambda \, \phi^4$ and general spacetime dimension. We first compute the norm of the stress-tensor state at second…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2023-02-08 Teresa Bautista , Lorenzo Casarin

The violation of the null energy condition (NEC) is essential for constructing nonsingular cosmological scenarios, such as Genesis cosmology, which avoids the initial singularity by initiating cosmic evolution from an asymptotically…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2026-03-19 Dong-Hui Yu , Mian Zhu , Yong Cai

For the quantised, massless, minimally coupled real scalar field in four-dimensional Minkowski space, we show (by an explicit construction) that weighted averages of the null-contracted stress-energy tensor along null geodesics are…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2009-11-07 C. J. Fewster , T. A. Roman

We use the quantum null energy condition in strongly coupled two-dimensional field theories (QNEC2) as diagnostic tool to study a variety of phase structures, including crossover, second and first order phase transitions. We find a…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2021-04-07 C. Ecker , D. Grumiller , H. Soltanpanahi , P. Stanzer

Connections are uncovered between the averaged weak (AWEC) and averaged null (ANEC) energy conditions, and quantum inequality restrictions on negative energy for free massless scalar fields. In a two-dimensional compactified Minkowski…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2010-11-01 L. H. Ford , Thomas A. Roman

We study the consequences of Entanglement Wedge Nesting for CFTs with holographic duals. The CFT is formulated on an arbitrary curved background, and we include the effects of curvature-squared couplings in the bulk. In this setup we find…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2020-01-29 Chris Akers , Venkatesa Chandrasekaran , Stefan Leichenauer , Adam Levine , Arvin Shahbazi Moghaddam

The R\'enyi quantum null energy condition conjectures that the second null shape variation of the sandwiched R\'enyi divergence (SRD) of an excited state relative to the vacuum is non-negative in local Poincar\'e-invariant quantum field…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2026-05-18 Tanay Kibe , Pratik Roy