arXiv subjects

Rafael Carrasco

Publications and source records attributed to Rafael Carrasco.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Lorentzian threads and nonlocal computation in holography

Recent advances in holography and quantum gravity have shown that CFTs with classical gravity duals can implement nonlocal quantum computation protocols that appear local from the bulk perspective. We examine the extent to which current prescriptions for holographic complexity support this claim, focusing on the Complexity=Volume (CV) proposal. The reformulation of CV in terms of Lorentzian threads suggests that bulk computations are performed with local gates. However, we find that the original formalism is insufficient when it comes to analyzing the complexity of subsystems and their inequalities. Specifically, standard Lorentzian threads cannot account for the negativity of `mutual complexity' and its higher-partite generalizations. To address this deficiency, we modify the Lorentzian threads program by introducing multiple flavors of threads. Our analysis reveals that an optimal solution for this new program implies the existence of additional types of gates that enable nonlocal computations in the dual CFT. We give a tentative interpretation of the multiflavor program in terms of Lorentzian `hyperthreads,' in analogy with the Riemannian case.

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arXiv2025

The landscape of complexity measures in 2D gravity

We investigate the broad landscape of holographic complexity measures for theories dual to two-dimensional (2D) dilaton gravity. Previous studies have largely focused on the complexity=volume and complexity=action proposals for holographic complexity. Here we systematically construct and analyze a wide class of generalized complexity functionals, focusing on codimension-one bulk observables. Two complementary approaches are presented: one inspired by dimensional reduction of codimension-one observables from higher-dimensional gravity, and another that adopts a purely 2D perspective. We verify the resulting observables exhibit hallmark features of complexity, such as linear growth at late times and the switchback effect. We further offer heuristic interpretations of the role of multiple extremal surfaces when they appear. Finally, we comment on the bulk-to-boundary dictionary via the covariant Peierls bracket in 2D gravity. Our work lays the groundwork for a richer understanding of quantum complexity in low-dimensional holographic dualities.

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arXiv2024

New families of scale separated vacua

Massive type IIA flux compactifications of the form AdS$_4 \times X_6$, where $X_6$ admits a Calabi-Yau metric and O6-planes wrapping three-cycles, display families of vacua with parametric scale separation between the compactification scale and the AdS$_4$ radius, generated by an overall rescaling of internal four-form fluxes. For toroidal orbifolds one can perform two T-dualities and map this background to an orientifold of massless type IIA compactified on an SU(3)-structure manifold with fluxes. Via a 4d EFT analysis, we generalise this last construction and embed it into new branches of supersymmetric and non-supersymmetric vacua with similar features. We apply our results to propose new infinite families of vacua based on elliptic fibrations with metric fluxes. Parametric scale separation is achieved by an asymmetric flux rescaling which, however, in general is not a simple symmetry of the 4d equations of motion. At this level of approximation the vacua are stable but, unlike in the Calabi-Yau case, they display a non-universal mass spectrum of light fields.

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arXiv2023

Lorentzian threads and generalized complexities

Recently, an infinite class of holographic generalized complexities was proposed. These gravitational observables display the behavior required to be duals of complexity, in particular, linear growth at late times and switchback effect. In this work, we aim to understand generalized complexities in the framework of Lorentzian threads. We reformulate the problem in terms of thread distributions and measures and present a program to calculate the infinite family of codimension-one observables. We also outline a path to understand, using threads, the more subtle case of codimension-zero observables.

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arXiv2023

Gravitation from optimized computation: Einstein and beyond

A new principle in quantum gravity, dubbed spacetime complexity, states that gravitational physics emerges from spacetime seeking to optimize the computational cost of its quantum dynamics. Thus far, this principle has been realized at the linearized level, in holographic theories with Einstein gravity duals, assuming the so-called 'Complexity-Volume' (CV) proposal. We expand on this proof in two significant directions. First, we derive higher-derivative gravitational equations by including appropriate corrections to the CV dictionary. Second, we show semi-classical equations arise by considering the leading bulk quantum corrections to CV. Our proof is valid for two-dimensional dilaton gravities, where the problem of semi-classical backreaction can be solved exactly. However, we argue the principle should hold more generally, leading us to a concrete proposal for bulk complexity of perturbative excited states in arbitrary dimensions. Our results demonstrate the robustness of spacetime complexity as a guiding principle to understand gravity in terms of quantum computation.

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