arXiv subjects

Ronak M Soni

Publications and source records attributed to Ronak M Soni.

18 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Emergent Area Operators in the Boundary

In some cases in two and three bulk dimensions without bulk local degrees of freedom, I look for area operators in a fixed boundary theory. In each case, I define an exact quantum error-correcting code (QECC) and show that it admits a central decomposition. However, the area operator that arises from this central decomposition vanishes. A non-zero area operator, however, emerges after coarse-graining. The expectation value of this operator approximates the actual entanglement entropy for a class of states that do not form a linear subspace. These non-linear constraints can be interpreted as semiclassicality conditions. The coarse-grained area operator is ambiguous, and this ambiguity can be matched with that in defining fixed-area states.

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arXiv2026

A Holographic Map from AdS$_3$ to CFT$_2$

We propose a holographic map from the semiclassical Hilbert space of pure general relativity in $\text{AdS}_{3}$ to that of $\text{CFT}_{2}$. We define the bulk Hilbert space by semiclassically quantising the phase space in the basis of a fixed-area network on a Cauchy slice $Σ$. A fixed-area network is a maximal non-intersecting set of geodesics on $Σ$ whose lengths and angular momenta have been fixed. Our holographic map differentiates between `external' geodesics that are homotopic to a connected component of $\partial Σ$, and `internal' geodesics which are not. The lengths and angular momenta of external geodesics become conformal weights of primaries in the Hilbert space of the CFT living on the corresponding component of $\partial Σ$. The fixed-area network determines the wave function, which is given by a network of OPE coefficients of primaries whose weights are determined by the corresponding lengths. For sufficiently semiclassical states, there is an agreement between bulk and boundary inner products. We apply this proposal to various physics questions. The boundary dual of a bulk gauge turns out to be an emergent basis for sufficiently semiclassical states. We also define boundary operators that measure the lengths of geodesics behind the horizon, again in semiclassical states. Finally, we apply our map to closed universes and find a failure of semiclassicality in simple cases, which can be partially alleviated by the addition of a massive probe.

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arXiv2025

Extremality as a Consistency Condition on Subregion Duality

In JT gravity coupled to a CFT, I argue without using the path integral that the entanglement wedge of a boundary region is bounded by a quantum extremal surface (QES). For any candidate not bounded by a QES, a unitary in the complement can make reconstruction within the candidate inconsistent with boundary causality. The case without islands is a direct consequence of subregion duality, and the case with islands can also be dealt with with a stronger assumption.

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arXiv2025

Minimal Areas from Entangled Matrices

We define a relational notion of a subsystem in theories of matrix quantum mechanics and show how the corresponding entanglement entropy can be given as a minimisation, exhibiting many similarities to the Ryu-Takayanagi formula. Our construction brings together the physics of entanglement edge modes, noncommutative geometry and quantum internal reference frames, to define a subsystem whose reduced state is (approximately) an incoherent sum of density matrices, corresponding to distinct spatial subregions. We show that in states where geometry emerges from semiclassical matrices, this sum is dominated by the subregion with minimal boundary area. As in the Ryu-Takayanagi formula, it is the computation of the entanglement that determines the subregion. We find that coarse-graining is essential in our microscopic derivation, in order to control the proliferation of highly curved and disconnected non-geometric subregions in the sum.

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arXiv2024

A New Covariant Entropy Bound from Cauchy Slice Holography

We begin an investigation of a new holographic covariant entropy bound (HCEB) in gravity. This bound arises from Cauchy slice holography, a recently proposed duality between the bulk gravity theory and a `boundary' theory that lives on Cauchy slices. The HCEB is the logarithm of the maximum number of states of this theory that can pass through a given cut $σ$ of a Cauchy slice $Σ$ ($σ$ is thus a codimension-2 surface in the bulk). We show that the bound depends only on the codimension-2 data on $σ$, and is thus independent of the choice of slice $Σ$. For classical states, the HCEB upper bounds the entanglement between two subregions of the boundary of $Σ$. We calculate the bound explicitly in pure three-dimensional GR with negative cosmological constant, where the Cauchy slice theory is the $T \overline{T}$-deformation of the dual CFT. We find that the imaginary energy eigenstates in the spectrum of the deformed theory play a crucial role for obtaining a valid bound in Lorentzian signature. Our bound agrees with the area of a surface at certain marginal and extremal surfaces, but differs elsewhere. In particular, it exceeds the area by an arbitrarily large amount for (anti)trapped surfaces, such as those that lie inside a black hole. Finally, we discuss how these results can be used to write down tensor networks corresponding to arbitrary Cauchy slices.

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arXiv2024

A Type $I$ Approximation of the Crossed Product

I show that an analog of the crossed product construction that takes type $III_{1}$ algebras to type $II$ algebras exists also in the type $I$ case. This is particularly natural when the local algebra is a non-trivial direct sum of type $I$ factors. Concretely, I rewrite the usual type $I$ trace in a different way and renormalise it. This new renormalised trace stays well-defined even when each factor is taken to be type $III$. I am able to recover both type $II_{\infty}$ as well as type $II_{1}$ algebras by imposing different constraints on the central operator in the code. An example of this structure appears in holographic quantum error-correcting codes; the central operator is then the area operator.

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arXiv2024

Boundary Description of Microstates of the Two-Dimensional Black Hole

We identify the microstates of the non supersymmetric, asymptotically flat 2d black hole in the dual c=1 matrix quantum mechanics (MQM). We calculate the partition function of the theory using Hamiltonian methods and reproduce one of two conflicting results found by Kazakov and Tseytlin. We find the entropy by counting states and the energy by solving the Schrodinger equation. The dominant contribution to the partition function in the double scaling limit is a novel bound state that can be considered an explicit dual of the black hole microstates. This bound state is long lived and evaporates slowly, exactly like a black hole in asymptotically flat space.

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arXiv2023

On the Spread of Entanglement at Finite Cutoff

We study how entanglement spreads in the boundary duals of finite-cutoff three-dimensional theories with positive, negative and zero cosmological constant, the $T \bar{T} + Λ_{2}$ two-dimensional theories. We first study the Hawking-Page transition in all three cases, and find that there is a transition in all three scenarios at the temperature where the lengths of the two cycles of the torus are the same. We then study the entanglement entropy in the thermofield double states above the Hawking-Page transition, of regions symmetrically placed on the two boundaries. We consider the case where the region is one interval on each side, and the case where it is two intervals on each side. We give an entanglement tsunami interpretation of the time-evolution of the entanglement entropies.

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arXiv2022

de Sitter Microstates from $T\bar T+Λ_2$ and the Hawking-Page Transition

We obtain microstates accounting for the Gibbons-Hawking entropy in $dS_3$, along with a subleading logarithmic correction, from the solvable $T\bar T+Λ_2$ deformation of a seed CFT with sparse light spectrum. The microstates arise as the dressed CFT states near dimension $Δ=c/6$, associated with the Hawking-Page transition; they dominate the real spectrum of the deformed theory. We exhibit an analogue of the Hawking-Page transition in de Sitter. Appropriate generalizations of the $T\bar T+Λ_2$ deformation are required to treat model-dependent local bulk physics (subleading at large central charge) and higher dimensions. These results add considerably to the already strong motivation for the continued pursuit of such generalizations along with a more complete characterization of $T\bar T$ type theories, building from existing results in these directions.

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arXiv2021

Islands with Gravitating Baths: Towards ER = EPR

We study the Page curve and the island rule for black holes evaporating into gravitating baths, with an eye towards establishing a connection with the ER=EPR proposal. We consider several models of two entangled 2d black holes in Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity with negative cosmological constant. The first, "doubled PSSY," model is one in which the black holes have end-of-the-world (ETW) branes with a flavour degree of freedom. We study highly entangled states of this flavour degree of freedom and find an entanglement-induced Hawking-Page-like transition from a geometry with two disconnected black holes to one with a pair of black holes connected by a wormhole, thus realising the ER = EPR proposal. The second model is a dynamical one in which the ETW branes do not have internal degrees of freedom but the JT gravity is coupled to a 2d CFT, and we entangle the black holes by coupling the two CFTs at the $AdS$ boundary and evolving for a long time. We study the entanglement entropy between the two black holes and find that the story is substantially similar to that with a non-gravitating thermal bath. In the third model, we couple the two ends of a two-sided eternal black hole and evolve for a long time. Finally, we discuss the possibility of a Hawking-Page-like transition induced by real-time evolution that realises the ER = EPR proposal in this dynamical setting.

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arXiv2021

Seeing the Entanglement Wedge

We study the problem of revealing the entanglement wedge using simple operations. We ask what operation a semiclassical observer can do to bring the entanglement wedge into causal contact with the boundary, via backreaction. In a generic perturbative class of states, we propose a unitary operation in the causal wedge whose backreaction brings all of the previously causally inaccessible `peninsula' into causal contact with the boundary. This class of cases includes entanglement wedges associated to boundary sub-regions that are unions of disjoint spherical caps, and the protocol works to first order in the size of the peninsula. The unitary is closely related to the so-called Connes Cocycle flow, which is a unitary that is both well-defined in QFT and localised to a sub-region. Our construction requires a generalization of the work by Ceyhan & Faulkner to regions which are unions of disconnected spherical caps. We discuss this generalization in the Appendix. We argue that this cocycle should be thought of as naturally generalizing the non-local coupling introduced in the work of Gao, Jafferis & Wall.

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arXiv2019

A $T \bar{T}$ Deformation for Curved Spacetimes from 3d Gravity

We propose a generalisation of the $T \bar{T}$ deformation to curved spaces by defining, and solving, a suitable flow equation for the partition function. We provide evidence it is well-defined at the quantum level. This proposal identifies, for any CFT, the $T \bar{T}$ deformed partition function and a certain wavefunction of 3d quantum gravity. This connection, true for any $c$, is not a holographic duality --- the 3d theory is a "fake bulk." We however emphasise that this reduces to the known holographic connection in the classical limit. Concretely, this means the deformed partition function solves exactly not just one global equation, defining the $T \bar{T}$ flow, but in fact a local Wheeler-de Witt equation, relating the $T \bar{T}$ operator to the trace of the stress tensor. This also immediately suggests a version of the $T \bar{T}$ deformation with locally varying deformation parameter. We flesh out the connection to 3d gravity, showing that the partition function of the deformed theory is precisely a 3d gravity path integral. In particular, in the classical limit, this path integral reproduces the holographic picture of Dirichlet boundary conditions at a finite radius and mixed boundary conditions at the asymptotic boundary. Further, we reproduce known results in the flat space limit, as well as the large $c$ $S^2$ partition function, and conjecture an answer for the finite $c$ $S^2$ partition function.

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arXiv2019

Entanglement Entropy, Relative Entropy and Duality

A definition for the entanglement entropy in both Abelian and non-Abelian gauge theories has been given in the literature, based on an extended Hilbert space construction. The result can be expressed as a sum of two terms, a classical term and a quantum term. It has been argued that only the quantum term is extractable through the processes of quantum distillation and dilution. Here we consider gauge theories in the continuum limit and argue that quite generically, the classical piece is dominated by modes with very high momentum, of order the cut-off, in the direction normal to the entangling surface. As a result, we find that the classical term does not contribute to the relative entropy or the mutual information, in the continuum limit, for states which only carry a finite amount of energy above the ground state. We extend these considerations for $p$-form theories, and also discuss some aspects pertaining to electric-magnetic duality.

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arXiv2019

Scalar Asymptotic Charges and Dual Large Gauge Transformations

In recent years soft factorization theorems in scattering amplitudes have been reinterpreted as conservation laws of asymptotic charges. In gauge, gravity, and higher spin theories the asymptotic charges can be understood as canonical generators of large gauge symmetries. Such a symmetry interpretation has been so far missing for scalar soft theorems. We remedy this situation by treating the massless scalar field in terms of a dual two-form gauge field. We show that the asymptotic charges associated to the scalar soft theorem can be understood as generators of large gauge transformations of the dual two-form field. The dual picture introduces two new puzzles: the charges have very unexpected Poisson brackets with the fields, and the monopole term does not always have a dual gauge transformation interpretation. We find analogs of these two properties in the Kramers-Wannier duality on a finite lattice, indicating that the free scalar theory has new edge modes at infinity that canonically commute with all the bulk degrees of freedom.

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arXiv2018

On the Dynamics of Near-Extremal Black Holes

We analyse the dynamics of near-extremal Reissner-Nordström black holes in asymptotically four-dimensional Anti-de Sitter space (AdS$_4$). We work in the spherically symmetric approximation and study the thermodynamics and the response to a probe scalar field. We find that the behaviour of the system, at low energies and to leading order in our approximations, is well described by the Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) model of gravity. In fact, this behaviour can be understood from symmetry considerations and arises due to the breaking of time reparametrisation invariance. The JT model has been analysed in considerable detail recently and related to the behaviour of the SYK model. Our results indicate that features in these models which arise from symmetry considerations alone are more general and present quite universally in near-extremal black holes.

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arXiv2017

A Note on S-Matrix Bootstrap for Amplitudes with Linear Spectrum

We work out constraints imposed by channel duality and analyticity on tree-level amplitudes of four identical real scalars, with the assumptions of a linear spectrum of exchanged particles and Regge asymptotic behaviour. We reduce the requirement of channel duality to a countably infinite set of equations in the general case. We show that channel duality uniquely fixes the soft Regge behaviour of the amplitudes to that found in String theory, $(-s)^{2t}$. Specialising to the case of tachyonic external particles, we use channel duality to show that the amplitude can be any one in an infinite-dimensional parameter space, and present evidence that unitarity doesn't significantly reduce the dimension of the space of amplitudes.

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arXiv2016

Entanglement Entropy in (3+1)-d Free $U(1)$ Gauge Theory

We consider the entanglement entropy for a free $U(1)$ theory in $3 + 1$ dimensions in the extended Hilbert space definition. By taking the continuum limit carefully we obtain a replica trick path integral which calculates this entanglement entropy. The path integral is gauge invariant, with a gauge fixing delta function accompanied by a Faddeev-Popov determinant. For a spherical region it follows that the result for the logarithmic term in the entanglement, which is universal, is given by the $a$ anomaly coefficient. We also consider the extractable part of the entanglement, which corresponds to the number of Bell pairs which can be obtained from entanglement distillation or dilution. For a spherical region we show that the coefficient of the logarithmic term for the extractable part is different from the extended Hilbert space result. We argue that the two results will differ in general, and this difference is accounted for by a massless scalar living on the boundary of the region of interest.

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arXiv2015

Aspects of Entanglement Entropy for Gauge Theories

A definition for the entanglement entropy in a gauge theory was given recently in arXiv:1501.02593. Working on a spatial lattice, it involves embedding the physical state in an extended Hilbert space obtained by taking the tensor product of the Hilbert space of states on each link of the lattice. This extended Hilbert space admits a tensor product decomposition by definition and allows a density matrix and entanglement entropy for the set of links of interest to be defined. Here, we continue the study of this extended Hilbert space definition with particular emphasis on the case of Non-Abelian gauge theories. We extend the electric centre definition of Casini, Huerta and Rosabal to the Non-Abelian case and find that it differs in an important term. We also find that the entanglement entropy does not agree with the maximum number of Bell pairs that can be extracted by the processes of entanglement distillation or dilution, and give protocols which achieve the maximum bound. Finally, we compute the topological entanglement entropy which follows from the extended Hilbert space definition and show that it correctly reproduces the total quantum dimension in a class of Toric code models based on Non-Abelian discrete groups.

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