Two arguments for more fundamental building blocks

Alfredo Iorio

doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1275/1/012013

Abstract

We present two lines of reasoning, leading to elementary constituents more fundamental than the ones we know. One such arguments is new, and based on the holographic maximal bound for the number of degrees of freedom of any system. In this case, both matter and space are emergent. The other argument is old, and was given by Richard Feynman as a possible explanation of why analog systems do describe the same physics. The former argument naturally points to a solution of the information paradox. The latter argument elevates analogs from mere curiosities, to reliable tests of fundamental theories. Amusingly, the names given to this fundamental level, both by Feynman and by some of the modern quantum gravity researchers, e.g., Jacob Bekenstein, resemble each others: “X ons” (Feynman) vs “level X” (Bekenstein).

Highlights

We elaborate on the work of [1], where it is proposed that, at our energies, the fields and spacetimes they live in are entangled
The most noticeable result of [1] is that the evaporation of a black hole (BH) can only lead to an information loss, in the sense that, in general, there is a nonzero entanglement entropy associated to the final products of the evaporation
The reasons in favor of the broad knowledge, mentioned by Feynman, all refer to some underlying unity: general principles that always apply; complicated phenomena based on an underlying quantum electrodynamics; and the “[...] most remarkable coincidence: The equations for many different physical situations have exactly the same appearance” says Feynman

Summary

Introduction

We elaborate on the work of [1], where it is proposed that, at our energies, the fields and spacetimes they live in are entangled This entanglement is there because both, matter and space, emerge from the dynamics of the same more fundamental objects, whose existence can be inferred from the celebrated upper bound on the entropy of any system, conjectured by Bekenstein [2, 3]. We recollect that result, next to suggestions on how to realize the model on certain analog systems This gives us the chance to discuss briefly analogs in general, and to offer a reflection on Feynman’s famous (but not well-known...) lecture “Electrostatic Analogs”, that is chapter twelve of the second volume of [4].

The new story

Effects on black hole evaporation

The old story

Feynman’s lecture and lesson on analogs

Conclusions