Quantum Gravity and Information

This project investigates the quantum nature of spacetime geometry, driving advances in quantum gravity and quantum information science. The cross-fertilization of these two fields is at the roots of a series of foundational results in theoretical physics, including the area law for the vacuum entanglement entropy, the Page curve for the typical entropy of random states in black hole evaporation, and the Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis for the thermalization of subsystems in isolated quantum systems. The disruptive aspect of this project is the extension of these methods to primordial cosmology. The project helps create human resources in the US through the training of a graduate student and a postdoctoral scholar in the area of gravitational physics, with expertise in quantum information science.

The project is articulated into two parts, in which new quantum-information methods tailored to quantum gravitational systems are developed, and these methods, together with standard tools from information theory and condensed-matter physics, are applied to quantum gravitational systems. The two parts focus on: (i) non-perturbative methods in Loop Quantum Gravity, and (ii) perturbative methods at the transition from quantum geometry to quantum fields. The long-term objective is to combine the results of the two lines of work to investigate models of quantum gravity where a semiclassical spacetime with small quantum fluctuations and long-range correlations arises from the non-perturbative theory, and robust predictions for the primordial state of the universe and the late stages of black hole evaporation can be extracted.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

Award Number: 2513194
Principal Investigator: Eugenio Bianchi
Funds Obligated: $240,000
State: PA