arXiv subjects

Luca Ciambelli

Publications and source records attributed to Luca Ciambelli.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

The Phase Space of Gravity on Null Hypersurfaces

We construct the bulk kinematical Poisson structure of general relativity on a caustic-free null segment, prior to imposing the Raychaudhuri and Damour constraints. We first show that shifts of the Ehresmann connection, also known as Carroll boosts, are pure gauge in gravity. This allows the Ehresmann connection to be fixed as a background structure and leads to the prime phase space of null gravitational data. The resulting phase space comprises of a spin-0 pair that includes the area and its conjugate, a spin-1 pair including the null direction and its conjugate, and the spin-2 sector encoded in the unimodular transverse metric. We then construct the brackets through a three-stage Dirac reduction implementing a normalization, horizontality, and shear constraints. We find that the spin-2 bracket is non-local and involves an antisymmetric Green kernel for a first-order transport operator along the null generators. The self-brackets of the spin-0 and spin-1 momenta involve, respectively, the vertical and horizontal derivatives of the transverse metric contracted with the spin-2 propagator. We finally provide an independent derivation of the brackets from the explicit realization of the Hamiltonian vector fields of the symplectic form. These results provide the classical canonical arena for studying the null constraint algebra, observables, and quantization.

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arXiv2026

Quantization of Gravity on Null Hypersurfaces

The initial value problem for general relativity on spacelike hypersurfaces is famously captured by the ADM formalism. Less well known is the Cauchy problem for general relativity on null hypersurfaces, which goes under the name of the Characteristic Initial Value Problem (CIVP). The CIVP is formulated on a pair of intersecting null hypersurfaces, encoding rich physics in the interplay between their respective initial data, and especially the gluing of these hypersurfaces at their shared codimension-two corner. In this work, we construct an operator-algebraic quantization of the CIVP. To do so, we first quantize each null hypersurface separately, using the corner symmetries as a guiding principle, and then glue them together at the joint initial cut. The resulting algebra admits an inner action of the full corner symmetry (semi)group consisting of superboosts, superrotations, and supertranslations. These are associated, respectively, with the quantization of the area, the H\'aji\v{c}ek one-form, and the expansion along both null directions. Supertranslations do not act as algebra preserving maps, but instead are quantized to quantum channels and included into the algebra via a generalized form of the Stinespring dilation theorem. The inclusion of superboosts and superrotations implements the gravitational constraints arising from Einstein's equations at the level of the quantum algebra. By virtue of the CIVP, in its local caustic-free domain of validity, our construction yields a candidate for the on-shell algebra of a gravitational subregion subtended by a pair of null hypersurfaces.

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arXiv2026

Mapping the Infrared Phase Space of Gravity to Finite Subregions

We construct the phase space for an arbitrary cut of a null hypersurface in Minkowski spacetime and demonstrate that it is symplectomorphic to the infrared phase space of asymptotically flat gravity. Fluctuations of the cut are mapped to the leading soft graviton mode. Furthermore, the supertranslation Goldstone mode is mapped to the product of the size of the cut with its symplectic partner, the null time offset.

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arXiv2025

From Asymptotically Flat Gravity to Finite Causal Diamonds

We demonstrate that the phase space of the soft sector of asymptotically flat gravity in four spacetime dimensions can be identified with that of a spherically symmetric finite casual diamond in Minkowski spacetime. The leading soft graviton mode is geometrically identified with the radial fluctuation of the causal diamond size, while the Goldstone mode involves both the radial fluctuation and its symplectic partner. This allows us to relate the radial fluctuations of the causal diamond with the asymptotic transverse fluctuations parametrized by the soft modes.

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arXiv2025

Foundations of Carrollian Geometry

Carrollian physics provides the natural framework for describing null hypersurfaces. This review explores the geometry of Carrollian manifolds -- spaces endowed with a degenerate metric. We begin with an algebraic overview of the Carroll group, its conformal extension, and its relation to the BMS group. Then, in the core of the review, we follow the standard pseudo-Riemannian narrative: metric $\to$ connection $\to$ curvature. We first introduce the modern, general definition of a Carrollian structure, the analogue of the metric on such manifolds, reviewing the historical developments, symmetries, and link with the algebraic groups. The second part concerns connections. We show the breakdown of the Levi-Civita theorem in the Carrollian setting and construct the most general intrinsic Carrollian connection. The standard connection is then identified intrinsically and later shown to coincide with the rigged connection induced by embedding a null hypersurface in an ambient spacetime. The third part develops the associated curvature tensors. We include novel results presented here for the first time. Two advanced topics highlight the broader scope of this framework. The first treats null hypersurfaces via the rigging technique, deriving the induced geometry from the ambient space. This provides a unified language for spacelike, timelike, and null hypersurfaces, and shows that the induced rigged connection exactly reproduces the intrinsic Carrollian one. From this, the Gauss and Codazzi-Mainardi equations follow, and the Einstein equations emerge as conservation laws for the null Brown-York stress tensor. The second topic extends the Carrollian setup to generic, non-null hypersurfaces, enabling a smooth null limit and completing the unified geometric description of hypersurfaces of all causal characters.

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arXiv2025

Radiation in Fluid/Gravity and the Flat Limit

We explore asymptotically locally anti-de Sitter spacetimes exhibiting gravitational radiative behavior, employing null gauges that allow for a well-defined flat limit. The radiative content in the bulk is captured by the boundary Cotton and stress tensor, which we collect into a radiative vector. We reinterpret this vector holographically in terms of fluid variables in the dual boundary theory. For algebraically special solutions, we uncover a close connection between bulk radiation and dissipative corrections in the boundary stress tensor, demonstrating a direct link between radiation and entropy production in the boundary fluid. This reveals a rich interplay between radiative dynamics in the bulk and out-of-equilibrium conformal physics at the boundary. We then investigate the flat limit of this correspondence in the context of flat-space holography. In this setting, we construct a Carrollian analogue of the radiative vector and introduce Celestial observables, such as energy detectors, which emerge naturally from the bulk's radiative structure. Our analysis shows that bulk radiation sources the Carrollian viscous stress tensor and heat current, which encodes the Bondi news in this framework. We illustrate our results with explicit examples, including Robinson-Trautman spacetimes and accelerating black holes.

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arXiv2025

Entanglement Entropy of Quantum Corners

In gravitational theories with boundaries, diffeomorphisms can become physical and acquire a non-vanishing Noether charge. Using the covariant phase space formalism, on shell of the gravitational constraints, the latter localizes on codimension-$2$ surfaces, the corners. The corner proposal asserts that these charges, and their algebras, must be important ingredients of any quantum gravity theory. In this manuscript, we continue the study of quantum corner symmetries and algebras by computing the entanglement entropy and quantum informational properties of quantum states abiding to the quantum representations of corners in the framework of $2$-dimensional gravity. We do so for two classes of states: the vacuum and coherent states, properly defined. We then apply our results to JT gravity, seen as the dimensional reduction of $4$d near extremal black holes. There, we demonstrate that the entanglement entropy of some coherent quantum gravity states -- states admitting a semiclassical description -- scales like the dilaton, reproducing the semiclassical area law behavior and further solidifying the quantum informational nature of entropy of quantum corners. We then study general states and their gluing procedure, finding a formula for the entanglement entropy based entirely on the representation theory of $2$d quantum corners.

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arXiv2025

Quantum Area Fluctuations from Gravitational Phase Space

We study the gravitational phase space associated to a stretched horizon within a finite-sized causal diamond in $(d+2)$-dimensional spacetimes. By imposing the Raychaudhuri equation, we obtain its constrained symplectic form using the covariant phase space formalism and derive the relevant quantum commutators by inverting the symplectic form and quantizing. Finally, we compute the area fluctuations of the causal diamond by taking a Carrollian limit of the stretched horizon in pure Minkowski spacetime, and derive the relationship $\langle (\Delta A)^2 \rangle \geq \frac{2\pi G}{d}\langle A \rangle$, showing that the variance of the area fluctuations is proportional to the area itself.

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arXiv2025

Extended-BMS Anomalies and Flat Space Holography

We geometrically determine the BRST symmetry of a three-dimensional extended BMS field theory defined at the null boundary of asymptotically flat four-dimensional spaces. We then discuss its ghost number zero and one cocycles, independently of the four-dimensional bulk. The former determine a topological Lagrangian localized on the boundary of null infinity, while the latter classify the corresponding anomalies. This classification reproduces the eBMS anomalies known from the bulk, providing a rare non-perturbative test of flat space holography. While supertranslations are anomaly-free, superrotations admit independent central charges. This theory can thus be dual to Einstein gravity only if these central charges are dictated by the bulk.

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arXiv2025

Geometric modular flows in 2d CFT and beyond

We study geometric modular flows in two-dimensional conformal field theories. We explore which states exhibit a geometric modular flow with respect to a causally complete subregion and, conversely, how to construct a state from a given geometric modular flow. Given suitable boundary conditions, we find that generic geometric modular flows in the Rindler wedge are conformally equivalent. Based on this insight, we show how conformal unitaries can be used to explicitly construct a state for each flow. We analyze these states, deriving general formulas for the energy density and entanglement entropy. We also consider geometric flows beyond the Rindler wedge setting, and in higher dimensions.

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arXiv2025

Asymptotic Limit of Null Hypersurfaces

We study null hypersurfaces approaching null infinity in asymptotically flat spacetimes within the Bondi-Sachs gauge. The null Raychaudhuri constraint is shown to asymptote to the Bondi mass-loss formula, interpreted as a stress tensor conservation law. This stress tensor, the null Brown-York tensor, yields a Carrollian stress tensor at null infinity from the bulk. Furthermore, we establish that the canonical phase space on finite-distance null hypersurfaces asymptotes to the Ashtekar-Streubel phase space. This connection between finite-distance null physics and null infinity unveils promising insights.

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arXiv2024

Field-dependent diffeomorphisms and the transformation of surface charges between gauges

When studying gauge theories in the presence of boundaries, local symmetry transformations are typically classified as gauge or physical depending on whether the associated charges vanish or not. Here, we propose that physical charges should further be refined into "dynamical" or "kinematical" depending on whether they are associated with flux-balance laws or not. To support this proposal, we analyze (A)dS$_3$ gravity with boundary Weyl rescalings and compare the solution spaces in Bondi-Sachs and Fefferman-Graham coordinates. Our results show that the Weyl charge vanishes in the Bondi-Sachs gauge but not in the Fefferman-Graham gauge. Conversely, the charges arising from the metric Chern-Simons Lagrangian behave in the opposite way. This indicates that the gauge-dependent Weyl charge differs fundamentally from charges like mass and angular momentum. This interpretation is reinforced by two key observations: the Weyl conformal factor does not satisfy any flux-balance law, and the associated charge arises from a corner term in the symplectic structure. These properties justify assigning the Weyl charge a kinematical status. These results can also be derived using the field-dependent diffeomorphism that maps between the two gauges. Importantly, this diffeomorphism does not act tensorially on the variational bi-complex due to its field dependency, and is able to "toggle" charges on or off. This provides an example of a large diffeomorphism $\textit{between}$ gauges, as opposed to a residual diffeomorphism $\textit{within}$ a gauge.

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arXiv2024

Dynamical Edge Modes in Yang-Mills Theory

We study the symplectic structure and dynamics of Yang-Mills theory in the presence of a boundary. We introduce a decomposition of the fields on a Cauchy slice such that the symplectic form splits cleanly into independent bulk and edge parts. However, we find that the dynamics inherently couples these two symplectic sectors, a feature arising from the non-abelian nature of the gauge group. This is shown by extending to Yang-Mills theory the dynamical edge mode boundary condition recently introduced in Maxwell theory. We finish with analyses of the weak-field expansion and the horizon limit, finding in the latter case that the dynamical interplay between bulk and edge degrees of freedom persists.

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arXiv2024

Quantum Null Geometry and Gravity

In this work, we demonstrate that quantizing gravity on a null hypersurface leads to the emergence of a CFT associated with each null ray. This result stems from the ultralocal nature of null physics and is derived through a canonical analysis of the Raychaudhuri equation, interpreted as a constraint generating null time reparametrizations. The CFT exhibits a non-zero central charge, providing a mechanism for the quantum emergence of time in gravitational systems and an associated choice of vacuum state. Our analysis reveals that the central charge quantifies the degrees of freedom along each null ray. Throughout our investigation, the area element of a cut plays a crucial role, necessitating its treatment as a quantum operator due to its dynamic nature in phase space or because of quantum backreaction. Furthermore, we show that the total central charge diverges in a perturbative analysis due to the infinite number of null generators. This divergence is resolved if there is a discrete spectrum for the area form operator. We introduce the concept of `embadons' to denote these localized geometric units of area, the fundamental building blocks of geometry at a mesoscopic quantum gravity scale.

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arXiv2024

Quantum Corner Symmetry: Representations and Gluing

The corner symmetry algebra organises the physical charges induced by gravity on codimension-$2$ corners of a manifold. In this letter, we initiate a study of the quantum properties of this group using as a toy model the corner symmetry group of two-dimensional gravity $\mathrm{SL}\left(2,\mathbb{R}\right)\ltimes \mathbb{R}^2$. We first describe the central extensions and how the quantum corner symmetry group arises and give the Casimirs. We then make use of one particular representation to discuss the gluing of corners, achieved by identifying the maximal commuting sub-algebra. This is a concrete implementation of the gravitational constraints at the quantum level.

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arXiv2024

Radiation in Holography

We show how to encode the radiative degrees of freedom in $4$-dimensional asymptotically AdS spacetimes, using the boundary Cotton and stress tensors. Background radiation leads to a reduction of the asymptotic symmetry group, in contrast to asymptotically flat spacetimes, where a non-vanishing news tensor does not restrict the asymptotic symmetries. Null gauges, such as $Λ$-BMS, provide a framework for AdS spacetimes that include radiation in the flat limit. We use this to check that the flat limit of the radiative data matches the expected definition in intrinsically asymptotically flat spacetimes. We further dimensionally reduce our construction to the celestial sphere, and show how the $2$-dimensional celestial currents can be extracted from the $3$-dimensional boundary data.

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arXiv2024

Chiral shift symmetries as an infinite tower of subleading super-shift symmetries

Chiral shift symmetries of the massless free bosons in two dimensions are global symmetries that are somewhat similar to asymptotic symmetries. They are most transparent in double-null coordinates where they are parametrized by two functions of one variable. In BMS-type coordinates, half of them appear as an infinite tower of sub-leading super-shift symmetries.

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arXiv2024

Fluid-gravity correspondence and causal first-order relativistic viscous hydrodynamics

The fluid-gravity correspondence is a duality between anti-de Sitter Einstein gravity and a relativistic fluid living at the conformal boundary. We show that one can accommodate the causal first-order viscous hydrodynamics recently developed by Bemfica, Disconzi, Noronha, and Kovtun in this framework, by requiring a set of natural conditions for the geometric data at the horizon. The latter hosts an induced Carrollian fluid, whose equations of motion are shown to be tightly tied to the ones describing the fluid at the boundary. Functional expressions for the transport coefficients are found --with those associated to viscosity and heat flux uniquely determined--, satisfying a set of known causality requirements for the underlying equations of motion.

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