A principle of maximum ignorance for semiclassical gravity
Abstract The principle of maximum ignorance posits that the coarse-grained description of a system is maximally agnostic about its underlying microscopic structure. We briefly review this principle for random matrix theory and for the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis. We then apply this principl...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SpringerOpen
2024-02-01
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| Series: | Journal of High Energy Physics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2024)003 |
| _version_ | 1797276142647902208 |
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| author | Jan de Boer Diego Liska Boris Post Martin Sasieta |
| author_facet | Jan de Boer Diego Liska Boris Post Martin Sasieta |
| author_sort | Jan de Boer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The principle of maximum ignorance posits that the coarse-grained description of a system is maximally agnostic about its underlying microscopic structure. We briefly review this principle for random matrix theory and for the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis. We then apply this principle in holography to construct ensembles of random mixed states. This leads to an ensemble of microstates which models our microscopic ignorance, and which on average reproduces the effective semiclassical physics of a given bulk state. We call this ensemble the state-averaging ansatz. The output of our model is a prediction for semiclassical contributions to variances and higher statistical moments over the ensemble of microstates. The statistical moments provide coarse-grained — yet gravitationally non-perturbative — information about the microstructure of the individual states of the ensemble. We show that these contributions exactly match the on-shell action of known wormhole configurations of the gravitational path integral. These results strengthen the view that wormholes simply parametrize the ignorance of the microstructure of a fundamental state, given a fixed semiclassical bulk description. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T15:24:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a66195606b804dbf9d3fadfb19d31703 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1029-8479 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T15:24:05Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of High Energy Physics |
| spelling | doaj.art-a66195606b804dbf9d3fadfb19d317032024-03-05T17:27:32ZengSpringerOpenJournal of High Energy Physics1029-84792024-02-012024217010.1007/JHEP02(2024)003A principle of maximum ignorance for semiclassical gravityJan de Boer0Diego Liska1Boris Post2Martin Sasieta3Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of AmsterdamInstitute for Theoretical Physics, University of AmsterdamInstitute for Theoretical Physics, University of AmsterdamMartin Fisher School of Physics, Brandeis UniversityAbstract The principle of maximum ignorance posits that the coarse-grained description of a system is maximally agnostic about its underlying microscopic structure. We briefly review this principle for random matrix theory and for the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis. We then apply this principle in holography to construct ensembles of random mixed states. This leads to an ensemble of microstates which models our microscopic ignorance, and which on average reproduces the effective semiclassical physics of a given bulk state. We call this ensemble the state-averaging ansatz. The output of our model is a prediction for semiclassical contributions to variances and higher statistical moments over the ensemble of microstates. The statistical moments provide coarse-grained — yet gravitationally non-perturbative — information about the microstructure of the individual states of the ensemble. We show that these contributions exactly match the on-shell action of known wormhole configurations of the gravitational path integral. These results strengthen the view that wormholes simply parametrize the ignorance of the microstructure of a fundamental state, given a fixed semiclassical bulk description.https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2024)003AdS-CFT CorrespondenceRandom SystemsScale and Conformal Symmetries |
| spellingShingle | Jan de Boer Diego Liska Boris Post Martin Sasieta A principle of maximum ignorance for semiclassical gravity Journal of High Energy Physics AdS-CFT Correspondence Random Systems Scale and Conformal Symmetries |
| title | A principle of maximum ignorance for semiclassical gravity |
| title_full | A principle of maximum ignorance for semiclassical gravity |
| title_fullStr | A principle of maximum ignorance for semiclassical gravity |
| title_full_unstemmed | A principle of maximum ignorance for semiclassical gravity |
| title_short | A principle of maximum ignorance for semiclassical gravity |
| title_sort | principle of maximum ignorance for semiclassical gravity |
| topic | AdS-CFT Correspondence Random Systems Scale and Conformal Symmetries |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2024)003 |
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