Emergent Spacetime Research Articles

Transforming the space-time of learning through interactive whiteboards: the case of a knowledge creation collaborative task.

The present article aims at qualitatively exploring the emergent space-time configurations of Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) usage within a collaborative media design task at a university of applied sciences. During this course, the students had an opportunity to use the IWB technology to support the collaborative learning process within small groups of 4-5 members. It is argued that research on the space-time transformations enabled by digital technology, carried out by adopting the dialogical concept of chronotope, is useful to improve the understanding of learning in technology rich settings. Participant observation was conducted on two groups of students. Video-audio records of the students' activity and of group interviews were collected and qualitatively analyzed. The findings reveal that the IWB was only partially integrated within the students’ activity. Most of the IWB usage took place during the first phase of the course. The IWB use was characterized by specific space-time configurations that allow to examine how the students attempted to integrate the IWB in their learning space. The students’ reflections during the group interview allow to advance our understanding concerning the emergence of the space-time configurations identified by the researcher, as well as on the students’ perception of the learning environment. It is concluded that the potentiality of IWB and the effectiveness of the emergent space-time configurations is strictly dependent on the nature of the learning task and the pedagogical approach adopted.

The Quantum Coherence Induced by Geometric Curvature of Gauge Field in Non-equilibrium Quantum Dynamics

The study of non-equilibrium quantum dynamics receives attentions recently. However, the nature and effects of nonequilibirumness such as detailed-balance breaking and the relationship to the underlying intrinsic geometry is still unclear. In this study, we uncover that a gauge field will be induced by the nonequilibriumness in the coherence representation and furthermore its internal geometrical curvature is directly related to the degree of detailed balance breaking. The nonequilibriumness of the quantum system induces an intrinsic geometric curvature which can enhance the quantum coherence, leading to the possibility of the space time origin for the non-local quantum correlations or the possibility of curved space time emergence from nonequilibrium quantum dynamics. We also uncovered that the internal curvature of the gauge field provides a bridge to connect the generalized quantum fluctuation dissipation theorem to the fluctuation theorem and time irreversibility of the quantum dynamics. The quantum time irreversibility is due to the path dependent factor along any particular path in an internal curved space, which is analogous to the Wilson lines (or Wilson loops) in Abelian gauge theory. We also found that the steady state quantum coherence disappears when the non-trivial internal curvature vanishes for the quantum system coupled with environments. When the curvature is relatively small indicating weak detailed balance breaking, the coherence increases as curvature increases. The internal curvature can provide a general and direct quantitative measure of the detail-balance breaking for any quantum/classical non-equilibrium systems, even without knowing the underlying steady state distribution or the steady state flux. Using an example of two harmonic oscillators coupled to two environments with different temperatures, we explicitly show the dependence of the internal curvature and quantum coherence.

Spacetime functionalism from a realist perspective

In prior work, we have argued that spacetime functionalism provides tools for clarifying the conceptual difficulties specifically linked to the emergence of spacetime in certain approaches to quantum gravity. We argue in this article that spacetime functionalism in quantum gravity is radically different from other functionalist approaches that have been suggested in quantum mechanics and general relativity: in contrast to these latter cases, it does not compete with purely interpretative alternatives, but is rather intertwined with the physical theorizing itself at the level of quantum gravity. Spacetime functionalism allows one to articulate a coherent realist perspective in the context of quantum gravity, and to relate it to a straightforward realist understanding of general relativity.

Emergent Spacetime and Gravitational Nieh-Yan Anomaly in Chiral p+ip Weyl Superfluids and Superconductors.

Momentum transport is anomalous in chiral p+ip superfluids and superconductors in the presence of textures and superflow. Using the gradient expansion of the semiclassical approximation, we show how gauge and Galilean symmetries induce an emergent curved spacetime with torsion and curvature for the quasirelativistic low-energy Majorana-Weyl quasiparticles. We explicitly show the emergence of the spin connection and curvature, in addition to torsion, using the superfluid hydrodynamics. The background constitutes an emergent quasirelativistic Riemann-Cartan spacetime for the Weyl quasiparticles which satisfy the conservation laws associated with local Lorentz symmetry restricted to the plane of uniaxial anisotropy of the superfluid (or superconductor). Moreover, we show that the anomalous Galilean momentum conservation is a consequence of the gravitational Nieh-Yan (NY) chiral anomaly the Weyl fermions experience on the background geometry. Notably, the NY anomaly coefficient features a nonuniversal ultraviolet cutoff scale Λ, with canonical dimensions of momentum. Comparison of the anomaly equation and the hydrodynamic equations suggests that the value of the cutoff parameter Λ is determined by the normal state Fermi liquid and nonrelativistic uniaxial symmetry of the p-wave superfluid or superconductor.

Similarity structure and diachronic emergence

I provide a formally precise account of diachronic emergence of properties as described within scientific theories, extending a recent account of synchronic emergence using similarity structure on the theories’ models. This similarity structure approach to emergent properties unifies the synchronic and diachronic types by revealing that they only differ in how they delineate the domains of application of theories. This allows it to apply also to cases where the synchronic/diachronic distinction is unclear, such as spacetime emergence from theories of quantum gravity. In addition, I discuss two further case studies—finite periodicity in van der Pol oscillators and two-dimensional quasiparticles in the fractional quantum Hall effect—to facilitate comparison of this approach to others in the literature on concepts of emergence applicable to the sciences. My discussion of the fractional quantum Hall effect in particular may be of independent interest to philosophers of physics concerned with its interpretation.

Breaking down calcium timing in heterogenous cells populations

Calcium controls a large number of cellular processes at different scales. Decades of studies have pointed out the importance of calcium signaling in regulating differentiation, apoptosis, mitosis and functions such as secretion, muscle contraction and memory. The space-time structure of calcium signaling is central to this complex regulation. In particular, cells within organisms behave as clocks beating their own biological time, although in several cases they can synchronize across long distances leading to an emergent space-time dynamics which is central for single cell and organ functioning. We use a mathematical model built on published experimental data of hepatic non-excitable cells, analyzing emerging calcium dynamics of cells clusters composed both of normally functioning cells and pathological aggregates. Calcium oscillations are investigated by varying the severity of dysfunction and size of pathological aggregate. We show how strong and localized heterogeneity in cellular properties can profoundly alter organized calcium dynamics leading to sub-populations of cells which create their own coordinated dynamical organization. Our simulations of Ca2+ signals reveal how cell behaviors differ and are related to intrinsic time signals. Such different cells clusters dynamically influence each other so that non-physiological although organized calcium patterns are generated. This new reorganization of calcium activity may possibly be a precursor of cancer initiation.

As below, so before: ‘synchronic’ and ‘diachronic’ conceptions of spacetime emergence

Typically, a less fundamental theory, or structure, emerging from a more fundamental one is an example of synchronic emergence. A model (and the physical state it describes) emerging from a prior model (state) upon which it nevertheless depends is an example of diachronic emergence. The case of spacetime emergent from quantum gravity and quantum cosmology challenges these two conceptions of emergence. Here, I propose two more-general conceptions of emergence, analogous to the synchronic and diachronic ones, but which are potentially applicable to the case of emergent spacetime: an inter-level, hierarchical conception, and an intra-level, ‘flat’ conception. I then explore whether, and how, these ideas may be applicable in the case of several putative examples of relativistic spacetime emergent from the non-spatiotemporal structures described by different approaches to quantum gravity, and of spacetime emergent from a non-spatiotemporal ‘big bang’ state according to different examples of quantum cosmology.

Emergence of Spacetime from Structural Interpretations

In recent discussions as to emergence of spacetime, spacetime is said to be not fundamental in quantum regions, which we must apply quantum gravity’s theory to and to be derived from fundamental entities. This is a very strange picture not only from philosophically but also commonsensically. As to classical regions, there have been already many discussions from structural realists about spacetime in General Relativity regarding how “curved spacetime” exists and where it does. But most papers on emergence of spacetime in quantum gravity’s theory are independent from details of these structural interpretations, namely traditional discussions about ontology of spacetime. This paper tries to connect classical structural spacetime and quantum spacetime’s atoms called “spinnetwork” in loop quantum gravity as one of the examples of fundamental entities through the quantization of gravitational fields. And I check from ontological viewpoints whether there are some structural discontinuities between classical and quantum regions based on “isomorphism”, comparing the quantization of electromagnetic fields.

On Spontaneous Quantum-Events and the Emergence of Space-Time

We show that the real existence of quantum-events, resulting from spontaneously broken unitary-evolution by quantum-transactions, can explain the dynamic metric of space-time, governed by Einstein’s equation, if light-clocks are being used to measure the rhythm of events. In the derivation of Einstein’s equation there naturally arises a term for a cosmological constant Λ.

Thermodynamics for the k-essence emergent Reissner–Nordstrom–de Sitter spacetime

The {\bf k-}essence emergent Reissner-Nordstrom-de Sitter spacetime has exactly mapped on to the Robinson-Trautman (RT) type spacetime with cosmological constant $\L$ for certain configuration of {\bf k-}essence scalar field. Theoretically, we evaluated that the thermodynamical quantities for the RT type emergent black hole is different from the usual one in the presence of kinetic energy of the {\bf k-}essence scalar field i.e., the dark energy density. We restrict ourselves into the fact that the dark energy density (K) is to be unity, then the effective temperature and pressure both are negative for the RT type emergent black hole which implies that the system is thermodynamically unstable when the charge $Q\neq 0$ and the emergent spacetime is only dark energy dominated and it does not radiate when $Q=0$. The thermodynamically unstable situation is physically plausible only when we consider spin degrees of freedom of a system. We have made this analysis in the context of dark energy in an emergent gravity scenario having {\bf k-}essence scalar fields $\phi$ with a Dirac-Born-Infeld type lagrangian. The scalar field also satisfies the emergent equation of motion at $r\rightarrow\infty$.

Sandsbots: Robots That Sync and Swarm

This article presents a multi-robot system that forms emergent space-time patterns. Inspired by the theory of swarmalators, in which synchronization and swarming of agents are mutually coupled, we propose a robot-suitable model for coordination in time and space. The approach is evaluated by simulations and demonstrated as proof of concept using small robots and drones. The novel building blocks comprise a time-discrete swarm aggregation model—which works robustly with low update rates in systems with communication delays—and specific functions that couple this spatial model to a discrete temporal coordination model, resulting in an overall discrete spatio-temporal coordination model.

Spacetime emergence in quantum gravity: functionalism and the hard problem

Spacetime functionalism is the view that spacetime is a functional structure implemented by a more fundamental ontology. Lam and Wuthrich have recently argued that spacetime functionalism helps to solve the epistemological problem of empirical coherence in quantum gravity and suggested that it also (dis)solves the hard problem of spacetime, namely the problem of offering a picture consistent with the emergence of spacetime from a non-spatio-temporal structure. First, I will deny that spacetime functionalism solves the hard problem by showing that it comes in various species, each entailing a different attitude towards, or answer to, the hard problem. Second, I will argue that the existence of an explanatory gap, which grounds the hard problem, has not been correctly taken into account in the literature.

The Information Loss Problem: An Analogue Gravity Perspective

Analogue gravity can be used to reproduce the phenomenology of quantum field theory in curved spacetime and in particular phenomena such as cosmological particle creation and Hawking radiation. In black hole physics, taking into account the backreaction of such effects on the metric requires an extension to semiclassical gravity and leads to an apparent inconsistency in the theory: the black hole evaporation induces a breakdown of the unitary quantum evolution leading to the so-called information loss problem. Here, we show that analogue gravity can provide an interesting perspective on the resolution of this problem, albeit the backreaction in analogue systems is not described by semiclassical Einstein equations. In particular, by looking at the simpler problem of cosmological particle creation, we show, in the context of Bose–Einstein condensates analogue gravity, that the emerging analogue geometry and quasi-particles have correlations due to the quantum nature of the atomic degrees of freedom underlying the emergent spacetime. The quantum evolution is, of course, always unitary, but on the whole Hilbert space, which cannot be exactly factorized a posteriori in geometry and quasi-particle components. In analogy, in a black hole evaporation one should expect a continuous process creating correlations between the Hawking quanta and the microscopic quantum degrees of freedom of spacetime, implying that only a full quantum gravity treatment would be able to resolve the information loss problem by proving the unitary evolution on the full Hilbert space.

The metaphysics of emergent spacetime theories

AbstractThe debate concerning the ontological status of spacetime is standardly construed as a dilemma between substantivalism and relationalism. I argue that a trilemma is more appropriate, emergent spacetime theories being the third category. Traditional philosophical arguments do not distinguish between emergent spacetime and substantivalism. It is arguments from physics that suggest giving up substantivalism in favour of emergent spacetime theories. The remaining new dilemma is between emergent spacetime and relationalism. I provide a list of questions, which one should consider when discussing emergent spacetime theories, and apply them to a quantum superfluid toy model of emergent spacetime.

Quantum causal influence

We introduce a framework to study the emergence of time and causal structure in quantum many-body systems. In doing so, we consider quantum states which encode spacetime dynamics, and develop information theoretic tools to extract the causal relationships between putative spacetime subsystems. Our analysis reveals a quantum generalization of the thermodynamic arrow of time and begins to explore the roles of entanglement, scrambling and quantum error correction in the emergence of spacetime. For instance, exotic causal relationships can arise due to dynamically induced quantum error correction in spacetime: there can exist a spatial region in the past which does not causally influence any small spatial regions in the future, but yet it causally influences the union of several small spatial regions in the future. We provide examples of quantum causal influence in Hamiltonian evolution, quantum error correction codes, quantum teleportation, holographic tensor networks, the final state projection model of black holes, and many other systems. We find that the quantum causal influence provides a unifying perspective on spacetime correlations in these seemingly distinct settings. In addition, we prove a variety of general structural results and discuss the relation of quantum causal influence to spacetime quantum entropies.

The curious case of spacetime emergence

Work in quantum gravity suggests that spacetime is not fundamental. Rather, spacetime emerges from an underlying, non-spatiotemporal reality. After clarifying the type of emergence at issue, I argue that standard conceptions of emergence available in metaphysics won’t work for the emergence of spacetime. I go on to consider spacetime functionalism as a way to make sense of spacetime emergence. I argue that a functionalist approach to spacetime modelled on mental state functionalism is not a viable alternative to the standard conception of emergence in metaphysics. I go on to consider an alternative: ‘partial’ functionalism, whereby certain aspects of spacetime are functionalised, rather than spacetime as a whole.

AdS/CFTcorrespondence as a deep Boltzmann machine

We provide a deep Boltzmann machine (DBM) for the AdS/CFT correspondence. Under the philosophy that the bulk spacetime is a neural network, we give a dictionary between those, and obtain a restricted DBM as a discretized bulk scalar field theory in curved geometries. The probability distribution as training data is the generating functional of the boundary quantum field theory, and it trains neural network weights which are the metric of the bulk geometry. The deepest layer implements black hole horizons, and an employed regularization for the weights is an Einstein action. A large $N_c$ limit in holography reduces the DBM to a folded feed-forward architecture. We also neurally implement holographic renormalization into an autoencoder. The DBM for the AdS/CFT may serve as a platform for studying mechanisms of spacetime emergence in holography.

Emergence of spacetime from the algebra of total modular Hamiltonians

We study the action of the CFT total modular Hamiltonian on the CFT representation of bulk fields with spin. In the vacuum of the CFT the total modular Hamiltonian acts as a bulk Lie derivative, reducing on the RT surface to a boost perpendicular to the RT surface. This enables us to reconstruct bulk fields with spin from the CFT. On fields with gauge redundancies the total modular Hamiltonian acts as a bulk Lie derivative together with a compensating bulk gauge (or diffeomorphism) transformation to restore the original gauge. We consider the Lie algebra generated by the total modular Hamiltonians of all spherical CFT subregions and define weakly-maximal Lie subalgebras as proper subalgebras containing a maximal set of total modular Hamiltonians. In a CFT state with a bulk dual, we show that the bulk spacetime parametrizes the space of these weakly-maximal Lie subalgebras. Each such weakly-maximal Lie subalgebra induces Lorentz transformations at a particular point in the bulk manifold. The bulk metric dual to a pure CFT state is invariant at each point under this transformation. This condition fixes the metric up to a conformal factor that can be computed from knowledge of the equation parametrizing extremal surfaces. This gives a holographic notion of the invariance of a pure CFT state under CFT modular flow.

Comments on black hole interiors and modular inclusions

We show how the traversable wormhole induced by a double-trace deformation of the thermofield double state can be understood as a modular inclusion of the algebras of exterior operators. The effect of this deformation is the creation of a new region of spacetime deep in the bulk, corresponding to a non-trivial center between the left and right algebras. This set-up provides a precise framework for investigating how black hole interiors are encoded in the CFT. In particular, we use modular theory to demonstrate that state dependence is an inevitable feature of any attempt to represent operators behind the horizon. Building on this geometrical structure, we propose that modular inclusions may provide a more precise means of investigating the nascent relationship between entanglement and geometry in the context of the emergent spacetime paradigm.

On the Reality of Quantum Collapse and the Emergence of Space-Time.

We present a model, in which quantum-collapse is supposed to be real as a result of breaking unitary symmetry, and in which we can define a notion of “becoming”. We show how empirical space-time can emerge in this model, if duration is measured by light-clocks. The model opens a possible bridge between Quantum Physics and Relativity Theory and offers a new perspective on some long-standing open questions, both within and between the two theories.