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Chapter 1 Quantum Information in Fundamental Physics Aspects of quantum information in quantum field theory and quantum gravity by Dominik Neuenfeld a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the faculty of graduate and postdoctoral studies (Physics) The University of British Columbia (Vancouver) July 2019 © Dominik Neuenfeld, 2019 The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the thesis entitled: Aspects of quantum information in quantum field theory and quantum gravity submitted by Dominik Neuenfeld in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Physics. Examining Committee: Gordon Semenoff, Physics Co-supervisor Ian Affleck, Physics University Examiner Joel Feldman, Math University Examiner Alison Lister, Physics Supervisory Committee Member Robert Raussendorf, Physics Supervisory Committee Member Additional Supervisory Committee Members: Mark Van Raamsdonk, Physics Co-supervisor ii Abstract In this thesis we discuss applications of quantum information theoretic concepts to quantum gravity and the low-energy regime of quantum field theories. The first part of this thesis is concerned with how quantum information spreads in four-dimensional scattering experiments for theories coupled to quantum electro- dynamics or perturbative quantum gravity. In these cases, every scattering process is accompanied by the emission of an infinite number of soft photons or gravi- tons, which cause infrared divergences in the calculation of scattering probabilities. There are two methods to deal with IR divergences: the inclusive and dressed formalisms. We demonstrate that in the late-time limit, independent of the method, the hard outgoing particles are entangled with soft particles in such a way that the reduced density matrix of the hard particles is essentially completely decohered. Furthermore, we show that the inclusive formalism is ill-suited to describe scatter- ing of wavepackets, requiring the use of the dressed formalism. We construct the Hilbert space for QED in the dressed formalism as a representation of the canonical commutation relations of the photon creation/annihilation algebra, and argue that it splits into superselection sectors which correspond to eigenspaces of the generators of large gauge transformations. In the second part of this thesis, we turn to applications of quantum information theoretic concepts in the AdS/CFT correspondence. In pure AdS, we find an explicit formula for the Ryu-Takayanagi (RT) surface for special subregions in the dual conformal field theory, whose entangling surface lie on a light cone. The explicit form of the RT surface is used to give a holographic proof of Markovicity of the CFT vacuum on a light cone. Relative entropy of a state on such special subregions is dual to a novel measure of energy associated with a timelike vector iii flow between the causal and entanglement wedge. Positivity and monotonicity of relative entropy imply positivity and monotonicity of this energy, which yields a consistency conditions for solutions to quantum gravity. iv Lay Summary Quantum information theory, the theory of how information is processed in quantum systems, plays an important role in deepening our understanding of quantum gravity, a theory which seeks to unify quantum and gravitational physics. In this thesis we apply quantum information theoretic concepts in two contexts. First, we investigate the quantum information carried away by radiation pro- duced after particles interact gravitationally or through the electromagnetic inter- action. In such interactions, an infinite number of very low-energy particles are produced; these particles carry away a large amount of information about the parti- cles undergoing the interaction. We formulate methods of calculation which allow investigation of the information spread due to the production of these low-energy particles. Second, we translate quantum information theoretic inequalities into inequal- ities in quantum gravity. This supplements the equations of gravitational physics with additional constraints that must be obeyed in a consistent theory of quantum gravity. v Preface A large part of the body of this thesis has been published elsewhere and is included verbatim. The ordering of author names is alphabetical. Most of chapter 4 is an adapted version of D. Carney, L. Chaurette, D. Neuenfeld and G. Semenoff, Infrared quantum information, Phys.Rev.Lett. 119 (2017) no.18, 180502 [1]. Like the two following papers, this publication is a result of many discussions and close collaboration between all authors. My main contributions were towards the identification of the currents and the the proof of their relation to the decoherence condition. The manuscript was drafted by D. Carney and edited by all authors. Chapter 4.5 is unpublished, original work. I thank L. Chaurette for discussions at an early stage. A version of chapter 5 has appeared as D. Carney, L. Chaurette, D. Neuenfeld and G. Semenoff, Dressed infrared quantum information, Phys.Rev. D97 (2018) no.2, 025007 [2]. The calculation which lead to equation (5.9) was carried out by D. Carney and L. Chaurette. The generalization to multi-particle states and the proof of the finiteness of the reduced density matrix was joint work between all authors. Furthermore I contributed to chapters 5.4 and 5.5 which discuss the physical interpretation of dressed states and the relation to black hole information. A first draft of the manuscript was prepared by D. Carney and L. Chaurette and edited by all authors. Chapter 6 contains a version of D. Carney, L. Chaurette, D. Neuenfeld and G. Semenoff, On the need for soft dressing, J. High Energ. Phys. (2018) 2018:121 [3]. Most of the preliminary calculations were work shared between L. Chaurette and myself. I contributed the findings on the inconsistency of scattering of normal- ized wave packets in the inclusive formalism, chapter 6.4, and a first draft of the vi manuscript, which was edited by all authors. Versions of chapters 4 - 6 have also appeared in [4]. A version of chapter 7 was uploaded to the Arxiv as Infrared-safe scattering without photon vacuum transitions and time-dependent decoherence [5]. I am the sole author of this work, which has greatly benefited from discussions with D. Carney, L. Chaurette and G. Semenoff. Chapter 9 has been published as D. Neuenfeld, K. Saraswat and M. Van Raams- donk, Positive gravitational subsystem energies from CFT cone relative entropies, J. High Energ. Phys. (2018) 2018:50, [6]. The paper is a result of close collab- oration between the authors. Calcuations were shared work between K. Saraswat and myself, while drafting the manuscript was shared work between all authors. Related material also appeared in [7]. vii Table of Contents Abstract . iii Lay Summary . v Preface . vi Table of Contents . viii List of Figures . xiii Acknowledgments . xiv 1 Quantum information in fundamental physics . 1 1.1 Black hole entropy and the quest for quantum gravity . 1 1.2 Quantum information theory in fundamental physics . 2 1.3 The roadmap . 3 2 A very short introduction to quantum information . 5 2.1 Quantum mechanics . 5 2.2 Entanglement entropy . 7 2.3 Relative entropy . 7 2.4 Markovicity of quantum states . 8 2.5 Quantum information in quantum field theories . 9 viii I Quantum information in the infrared . 11 3 Infrared divergences in quantum field theory . 12 3.1 Scattering and the asymptotic Hilbert space . 14 3.2 Infrared divergences in S-matrix scattering . 16 3.3 A semiclassical analysis . 21 3.4 Dealing with infrared divergences . 24 3.4.1 The inclusive formalism . 25 3.4.2 Dressed formalisms . 29 3.5 An infinity of conserved charges . 33 3.5.1 Anti-podal matching and conserved charges . 33 3.5.2 Hard and soft charges . 35 3.5.3 Weinberg’s soft theorems . 36 4 Infrared quantum information . 37 4.1 Introduction . 37 4.2 Decoherence of the hard particles . 38 4.3 Examples . 42 4.4 Entropy of the soft bosons . 43 4.5 Relation to large gauge symmetries . 43 4.6 Discussion . 46 5 Dressed infrared quantum information . 48 5.1 Introduction . 48 5.2 IR-safe S-matrix formalism . 49 5.3 Soft radiation and decoherence . 50 5.4 Physical interpretation . 54 5.5 Black hole information . 55 5.6 Conclusions . 56 6 On the need for soft dressing . 57 6.1 Introduction . 57 6.2 Scattering of discrete superpositions . 59 6.2.1 Inclusive formalism . 60 ix 6.2.2 Dressed formalism . 62 6.3 Wavepackets . 64 6.3.1 Inclusive formalism . 64 6.3.2 Dressed wavepackets . 65 6.4 Implications . 66 6.4.1 Physical interpretation . 66 6.4.2 Allowed dressings . 67 6.4.3 Selection sectors . 71 6.5 Conclusions . 71 7 An infrared-safe Hilbert space for QED . 73 7.1 Introduction . 73 7.1.1 Summary of results . 75 7.2 Representations of the canonical commutation relations . 78 7.2.1 Inequivalent CCR representations . 78 7.2.2 Von Neumann space . 79 7.2.3 Unitarily inequivalent representations on IDPS . 80 7.3 Asymptotic time-evolution and definition of the S-matrix . 83 7.3.1 The naive S-matrix . 83 7.3.2 The asymptotic Hamiltonian . 84 7.3.3 The dressed S-matrix . 86 7.4 Construction of the asymptotic Hilbert space . 88 7.4.1 The asymptotic Hilbert space . 88 7.4.2 Multiple particles and classical radiation backgrounds . 92 7.4.3 Comments on the Hilbert space . 93 7.5 Unitarity of the S-matrix . 94 7.6 Example: Classical current . 96 7.6.1 Calculation of the dressed S-matrix . 96 7.6.2 Tracing out long-wavelength modes . 98 7.7 Conclusions . 102 x II Quantum information in quantum gravity . 104 8 The AdS/CFT correspondence . 105 8.1 Holography in string theory . 105 8.1.1 AdS/CFT . 105 8.1.2 The dictionary .
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