L'existence de la masse négative a un sens parfaitement physique du moment que les conditions d'énergie dominante sont satisfaites par le tenseur énergie-impulsion correspondant. Jusqu'à maintenant, seules des configurations de masses négatives avaient été trouvées. On démontre l'existence de bulles de masse négative stables dans un espace-temps qui s'approche asymptotiquement d'un espace-temps de de Sitter. Les bulles sont des solutions aux équations d'Einstein qui correspondent à une région intérieure qui contient une distribution de masse spécifique séparée par une coquille mince de l'espace-temps à masse négative de Schwarzschild-de Sitter à l'extérieur. Ensuite, on applique les conditions de jonction d'Israel à la frontière de la bulle ce qui impose la conservation d'énergie-impulsion à travers la surface. Les conditions de jonction donnent une équation pour un potentiel pour le rayon de la bulle qui dépend de la distribution de masse à l'intérieur, ou vice versa. Finalement, on trouve un potentiel qui aboutit à une solution stable, statique et non-singulière, ce qui crée une distribution de masse interne qui satisfait les conditions d'énergie dominante partout à l'intérieur. Cependant, la bulle ne satisfait pas ces conditions. De plus, on trouve une solution stable, statique et non-singulière pour une géométrie interne de de Sitter pure. La solution est fondamentalement différente: elle requiert que la densité d'énergie de la bulle change avec le rayon. La condition d'énergie dominante est satisfaite partout. / Negative mass makes perfect physical sense as long as the dominant energy condition is satisfied by the corresponding energy-momentum tensor. Until now, only configurations of negative mass have been found. We demonstrate the existence of stable, negative-mass bubbles in an asymptotic de Sitter space-time. The bubbles are solutions of the Einstein equations which correspond to an interior region of space-time containing a specific distribution of mass separated by a thin wall from the exact, negative mass Schwarzschild-de Sitter space-time in the exterior. Then, we apply the Israel junction conditions at the wall which impose the conservation of energy and momentum across the wall. The junction conditions give rise to an effective potential for the radius of the wall that depends on the interior mass distribution, or vice versa. Finally, we find a potential that gives rise to stable, non-singular, static solutions, which yields an interior mass distribution that everywhere satisfies the dominant energy condition. However, the energy momentum of the wall does not satisfy the dominant energy condition. Moreover, we find a stable, non-singular, static solution for a pure de Sitter geometry inside the bubble. The solution is fundamentally different: the energy density of the bubble is no longer a constant, but now varies with the radius. The dominant energy condition is everywhere satisfied.

<p>This dissertation is concerned with two of the largest questions that we can ask about the nature of physical reality: first, whether physical reality begin to exist and, second, what criteria would physical reality have to fulfill in order to have had a beginning? Philosophers of religion and theologians have previously addressed whether physical reality began to exist in the context of defending the Kal{\'a}m Cosmological Argument (KCA) for theism, that is, (P1) everything that begins to exist has a cause for its beginning to exist, (P2) physical reality began to exist, and, therefore, (C) physical reality has a cause for its beginning to exist. While the KCA has traditionally been used to argue for God's existence, the KCA does not mention God, has been rejected by historically significant Christian theologians such as Thomas Aquinas, and raises perennial philosophical questions -- about the nature and history of physical reality, the nature of time, the nature of causation, and so on -- that should be of interest to all philosophers and, perhaps, all humans. While I am not a religious person, I am interested in the questions raised by the KCA. In this dissertation, I articulate three necessary conditions that physical reality would need to fulfill in order to have had a beginning and argue that, given the current state of philosophical and scientific inquiry, we cannot determine whether physical reality began to exist.</p>

In this work the extension of the criterion for local thermal equilibrium by Buchholz, Ojima and Roos to curved spacetime as introduced by Schlemmer is investigated. Several problems are identified and especially the instability under time evolution which was already observed by Schlemmer is inspected. An alternative approach to local thermal equilibrium in quantum field theories on curved spacetimes is presented and discussed. In the following the dynamic system of the linear field and matter perturbations in the generic model of inflation is studied in the view of ambiguity of quantisation. In the last part the compatibility of the temperature fluctuations of the cosmic microwave background radiation with local thermal equilibrium is investigated.:1. Introduction 5 2. Technical Background 10 2.1. The Free Scalar Field on a Globally Hyperbolic Spacetime . . . . . . 10 2.1.1. Construction of the Scalar Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 2.1.2. Algebra of Wick Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 2.1.3. Local Covariance Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2.2. Local Thermal Equilibirum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 2.2.1. Global Thermodynamic Equilibrium - KMS States . . . . . . 21 2.2.2. Local Thermal Observables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 2.2.3. LTE on Flat Spacetime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 2.2.4. LTE in Cosmological Spacetimes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 2.3. Linear Scalar Cosmological Perturbations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 2.3.1. Robertson-Walker Cosmology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 2.3.2. Mathematical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 2.3.3. Technical Framework and Formulae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 2.3.4. The Boltzmann Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 2.3.5. The Sachs-Wolfe Effect for Adiabatic Perturbations . . . . . . 49 3. Towards a Refinement of the LTE Condition on Curved Spacetimes 54 3.1. Non-Minimal Coupling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 3.1.1. Commutator Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 3.1.2. KMS Two-Point Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 3.1.3. Balanced Derivatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 3.2. Conformally Static Spacetimes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 3.2.1. Conformal KMS States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 3.2.2. Extrinsic LTE in de Sitter Spacetime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 3.3. Massive Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 3.3.1. Properties of the Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 3.3.2. Bogoliubov Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 3.3.3. Thermal Observables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 3.4. Towards an Alternative Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 3.4.1. Problems and Open Questions Concerning LTE . . . . . . . . 92 3.4.2. Dynamic Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 3.4.3. Positivity Inequalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 3.4.4. Macroobservable Interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 3.5. An Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 4. Cosmological Perturbation Theory 105 4.1. Dynamics of Perturbations in Inflation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 4.1.1. CCR Quantisation is Ambiguous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 4.1.2. Canonical Symplectic Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 4.1.3. The Algebraic Point of View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 4.2. LTE States in Cosmology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 4.2.1. The Link to Fluid Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 4.2.2. Incompatibility of LTE with Sachs-Wolfe Effect . . . . . . . . 125 5. Conclusion and Outlook 131 A. Technical proofs 136 A.1. Proof of Lemma 3.2.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 A.2. Proof of Lemma 3.2.6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 A.3. Proof of Lemma 3.4.2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 A.4. Idea of Proof for Conjecture 3.4.3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 B. Introduction to Probability Theory 146 Bibliography 150 Correction of Lemma 3.1.2 155 / In dieser Arbeit wird die von Schlemmer eingeführte Erweiterung des Kriteriums für lokales thermisches Gleichgewicht in Quantenfeldtheorien von Buchholz, Ojima und Roos auf gekrümmte Raumzeiten untersucht. Dabei werden verschiedene Probleme identifiziert und insbesondere die bereits von Schlemmer gezeigte Instabilität unter Zeitentwicklung untersucht. Es wird eine alternative Herangehensweise an lokales thermisches Gleichgewicht in Quantenfeldtheorien auf gekrümmten Raumzeiten vorgestellt und deren Probleme diskutiert. Es wird dann eine Untersuchung des dynamischen Systems der linearen Feld- und Metrikstörungen im üblichen Inflationsmodell mit Blick auf Uneindeutigkeit der Quantisierung durchgeführt. Zuletzt werden die Temperaturfluktuationen der kosmischen Hintergrundstrahlung auf Kompatibilität mit lokalem thermalem Gleichgewicht überprüft.:1. Introduction 5 2. Technical Background 10 2.1. The Free Scalar Field on a Globally Hyperbolic Spacetime . . . . . . 10 2.1.1. Construction of the Scalar Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 2.1.2. Algebra of Wick Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 2.1.3. Local Covariance Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2.2. Local Thermal Equilibirum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 2.2.1. Global Thermodynamic Equilibrium - KMS States . . . . . . 21 2.2.2. Local Thermal Observables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 2.2.3. LTE on Flat Spacetime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 2.2.4. LTE in Cosmological Spacetimes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 2.3. Linear Scalar Cosmological Perturbations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 2.3.1. Robertson-Walker Cosmology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 2.3.2. Mathematical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 2.3.3. Technical Framework and Formulae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 2.3.4. The Boltzmann Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 2.3.5. The Sachs-Wolfe Effect for Adiabatic Perturbations . . . . . . 49 3. Towards a Refinement of the LTE Condition on Curved Spacetimes 54 3.1. Non-Minimal Coupling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 3.1.1. Commutator Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 3.1.2. KMS Two-Point Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 3.1.3. Balanced Derivatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 3.2. Conformally Static Spacetimes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 3.2.1. Conformal KMS States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 3.2.2. Extrinsic LTE in de Sitter Spacetime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 3.3. Massive Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 3.3.1. Properties of the Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 3.3.2. Bogoliubov Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 3.3.3. Thermal Observables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 3.4. Towards an Alternative Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 3.4.1. Problems and Open Questions Concerning LTE . . . . . . . . 92 3.4.2. Dynamic Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 3.4.3. Positivity Inequalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 3.4.4. Macroobservable Interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 3.5. An Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 4. Cosmological Perturbation Theory 105 4.1. Dynamics of Perturbations in Inflation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 4.1.1. CCR Quantisation is Ambiguous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 4.1.2. Canonical Symplectic Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 4.1.3. The Algebraic Point of View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 4.2. LTE States in Cosmology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 4.2.1. The Link to Fluid Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 4.2.2. Incompatibility of LTE with Sachs-Wolfe Effect . . . . . . . . 125 5. Conclusion and Outlook 131 A. Technical proofs 136 A.1. Proof of Lemma 3.2.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 A.2. Proof of Lemma 3.2.6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 A.3. Proof of Lemma 3.4.2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 A.4. Idea of Proof for Conjecture 3.4.3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 B. Introduction to Probability Theory 146 Bibliography 150 Correction of Lemma 3.1.2 155

The discovery of topological quantum states of matter has required physicists to look beyond Landau’s theory of symmetry-breaking, previously the main paradigm for<br>studying states of matter. This has led also to the development of new topological theories for describing the novel properties. In this dissertation an investigation in this<br>frontier research area is presented, which looks at the interplay between the quantum geometry of these states, defects and disorder. After a brief introduction to the topological quantum states of matter considered herein, some aspects of my work in this area are described. First, the disorder-induced band structure engineering of topological insulator surface states is considered, which is possible due to their resilience from Anderson localization, and believed to be a consequence of their topological origin.<br>Next, the idiosyncratic behavior of these same surface states is considered, as observed in experiments on thin film topological insulators, in response to competition between<br>hybridization effects and an in-plane magnetic field. Then moving in a very different direction, the uncovering of topological ‘gravitational’ response is explained: the<br>topologically-protected charge response of two dimensional gapped electronic topological states to a special kind of 0-dimensional boundary – a disclination – that encodes spatial curvature. Finally, an intriguing relation between the gravitational response of quantum Hall states, and their response to an apparently unrelated perturbation – nonuniform electric fields is reported. <br>

The problem of how quantum mechanics gives rise to classicality has been debated for more than a century. A commonly proposed solution is decoherence, i.e. the gradual decay of superpositions in open quantum systems due to their inevitable interaction with their environment. However, the ability of decoherence to account for all aspects of the classical world is often questioned. A recently proposed model suggests that decoherence can occur even in isolated composite systems subject to gravitational time dilation, something which has sparked a debate. In this thesis we attempt to identify the precise role of decoherence in the quantum-to-classical transition (QTCT) and then use the result to analyze the validity of the newly proposed time dilation-induced decoherence mechanism. We find that the problem of the QTCT can be divided into two parts and that decoherence solves the first of these whereas the second is unsolvable without fundamental modifications to quantum theory. Moreover, we argue that the effect is fundamentally frame-dependent and we find a general formula for the rate of decoherence of macroscopic superpositions in the case where both the system and observer use Rindler coordinates. The result suggests that the frame-dependence may be utilized to increase the strength of the effect in experimental settings. Finally, the possibilities of experimental verification are discussed and we argue that recent advances in quantum measurement techniques in gravitational-wave observatories may enable tests of gravitational decoherence in the near future, finally providing an empirical glimpse into the resolution of one of the most critical debates in all of physics. / Huruvida kvantfysiken kan ge uppkomst till den klassiska fysiken på stora skalor är ett problem som diskuterats under mer än ett århundrade. En föreslagen lösning är dekoherens, alltså det gradvisa sönderfallet av superpositioner i öppna kvantsystem på grund av den oundvikliga interaktionen med deras omgivning. Dekoherensens förmåga att förklara alla delar av den klassiska världen ifrågasätts emellertid fortfarande. De senaste åren har en ny effekt uppmärksammats som tyder på att dekoherens även kan uppstå i isolerade kompositsystem under påverkan av gravitationell tidsdilatation, något som orsakat en debatt i litteraturen. I detta arbete försöker vi identifiera dekoherensens roll i övergången från det kvantmekaniska till det klassiska, och vi använder sedan resultatet för att analysera den ovannämnda gravitationella dekoherensmekanismen. Det allmänna problemet med övergången från kvantfysik till klassisk fysik delas upp i två delar, och vi visar att dekoherens löser den första delen; den andra delen visar sig vara olösbar utan fundamentala förändringar av kvantfysikens ramverk. Vidare visas den gravitationella dekoherenseffekten vara observatörsberoende och vi härleder en allmän formel för takten med vilken makroskopiska superpositioner sönderfaller i de fall då både systemet och observatören använder Rindlerkoordinater. Resultaten tyder på att observatörsberoendet eventuellt kan utnyttjas för att öka effektens styrka i experimentalla sammanhang. Slutligen diskuteras möjligheter att experimentellt verifiera effekten; vi argumenterar för att nya genombrott inom kvantmätteknik i gravitationsvågsobservatorium kan möjliggöra tester av gravitationell dekoherens inom en snar framtid, vilket skulle ge oss en första empirisk inblick i lösningen till en av fysikens mest kritiska debatter.

<p>Entanglement entropy (EE) is a quantum information theoretic measure that quantifies the correlations between a region and its surroundings. We study this quantity in the following two setups : </p> <ul> <li>We look at the dynamics of a free minimally coupled, massless scalar field in a deSitter expansion, where the expansion stops after some time (i.e. we quench the expansion) and transitions to flat spacetime. We study the evolution of entanglement entropy (EE) and the Rényi entropy of a spatial region during the expansion and, more interestingly, after the expansion stops, calculating its time evolution numerically. The EE increases during the expansion but the growth is much more rapid after the expansion ends, finally saturating at late times, with saturation values obeying a volume law. The final state of the subregion is a partially thermalized state, reminiscent of a Gibbs ensemble. We comment on application of our results to the question of when and how cosmological perturbations decohere.</li> <li>We study the EE in a theory that is holographically dual to a BTZ black hole geometry in the presence of a scalar field, using the Ryu-Takayangi (RT) formula. Gaberdiel and Gopakumar had conjectured that the theory of N free fermions in 1+1 dimensions, for large N, is dual to a higher spin gravity theory with two scalar fields in 2+1 dimensions. So, we choose our boundary theory to be the theory of N free Dirac fermions with a uniformly winding mass, m e^iqx, in two spacetime dimensions (which describes for instance a superconducting current in an N-channel wire). However, to O(m²), thermodynamic quantities can be computed using Einstein gravity. We aim to check if the same holds true for entanglement entropy (EE). Doing calculations on both sides of the duality, we find that general relativity does indeed correctly account for EE of single intervals to O(m²).</li> </ul>

Wir studieren die perturbative Quantisierung von Eichtheorien und Gravitation. Unsere Untersuchungen beginnen mit der Geometrie von Raumzeiten und Teilchenfeldern. Danach diskutieren wir die verschiedenen Lagrangedichten in der Kopplung der (effektiven) Quanten-Allgemeinen-Relativitätstheorie zum Standardmodell. Desweiteren studieren wir den zugehörigen BRST-Doppelkomplex von Diffeomorphismen und Eichtransformationen. Danach wenden wir Connes--Kreimer-Renormierungstheorie auf die perturbative Feynmangraph-Entwicklung an: In dieser Formulierung werden Subdivergenzen mittels des Koprodukts einer Hopfalgebra strukturiert und die Renormierungsoperation mittels einer algebraischen Birkhoff-Zerlegung beschrieben. Dafür verallgemeinern und verbessern wir bekannte Koprodukt-Identitäten und ein Theorem von van Suijlekom (2007), das (verallgemeinerte) Eichsymmetrien mit Hopfidealen verbindet. Insbesondere lässt sich unsere Verallgemeinerung auf Gravitation anwenden, wie von Kreimer (2008) vorgeschlagen. Darüberhinaus sind unsere Resultate anwendbar auf Theorien mit mehreren Vertexresuiden, Kopplungskonstanten und ebensolchen mit einer transversalen Struktur. Zusätzlich zeigen wir Kriterien für die Kompatibilität dieser Hopfideale mit Feynmanregeln und dem gewählten Renormierungsschema. Als nächsten Schritt berechnen wir die entsprechenden Gravitations-Materie Feynmanregeln für alle Vertexvalenzen und mit einem allgemeinen Eichparameter. Danach listen wir alle Propagator- und dreivalenten Vertex-Feynmanregeln auf und berechnen die entsprechenden Kürzungsidentitäten. Abschließend stellen wir geplante Folgeprojekte vor: Diese schließen eine Verallgemeinerung von Wigners Klassifikation von Elementarteilchen für linearisierte Gravitation ein, ebenso wie die Darstellung von Kürzungsidentitäten mittels Feynmangraph-Kohomologie und eine Untersuchung der Äquivalenz verschiedener Definitionen des Gravitonfeldes. Insbesondere argumentieren wir, dass das richtige Setup um perturbative BRST-Kohomologie zu studieren eine differentialgraduierte Hopfalgebra ist. / We study the perturbative quantization of gauge theories and gravity. Our investigations start with the geometry of spacetimes and particle fields. Then we discuss the various Lagrange densities of (effective) Quantum General Relativity coupled to the Standard Model. In addition, we study the corresponding BRST double complex of diffeomorphisms and gauge transformations. Next we apply Connes--Kreimer renormalization theory to the perturbative Feynman graph expansion: In this framework subdivergences are organized via the coproduct of a Hopf algebra and the renormalization operation is described as an algebraic Birkhoff decomposition. To this end, we generalize and improve known coproduct identities and a theorem of van Suijlekom (2007) that relates (generalized) gauge symmetries to Hopf ideals. In particular, our generalization applies to gravity, as was suggested by Kreimer (2008). In addition, our results are applicable to theories with multiple vertex residues, coupling constants and such with a transversal structure. Additionally, we also provide criteria for the compatibility of these Hopf ideals with Feynman rules and the chosen renormalization scheme. We proceed by calculating the corresponding gravity-matter Feynman rules for any valence and with a general gauge parameter. Then we display all propagator and three-valent vertex Feynman rules and calculate the respective cancellation identities. Finally, we propose planned follow-up projects: This includes a generalization of Wigner's classification of elementary particles to linearized gravity, the representation of cancellation identities via Feynman graph cohomology and an investigation on the equivalence of different definitions for the graviton field. In particular, we argue that the appropriate setup to study perturbative BRST cohomology is a differential-graded Hopf algebra.

This thesis presents work around 3 themes: dark energy, gravitational waves and Bayesian inference. Both dark energy and gravitational wave physics are not yet well constrained. They present interesting challenges for Bayesian inference, which attempts to quantify our knowledge of the universe given our astrophysical data. A dark energy equation of state reconstruction analysis finds that the data favours the vacuum dark energy equation of state $w {=} -1$ model. Deviations from vacuum dark energy are shown to favour the super-negative ‘phantom’ dark energy regime of $w {< } -1$, but at low statistical significance. The constraining power of various datasets is quantified, finding that data constraints peak around redshift $z = 0.2$ due to baryonic acoustic oscillation and supernovae data constraints, whilst cosmic microwave background radiation and Lyman-$\alpha$ forest constraints are less significant. Specific models with a conformal time symmetry in the Friedmann equation and with an additional dark energy component are tested and shown to be competitive to the vacuum dark energy model by Bayesian model selection analysis: that they are not ruled out is believed to be largely due to poor data quality for deciding between existing models. Recent detections of gravitational waves by the LIGO collaboration enable the first gravitational wave tests of general relativity. An existing test in the literature is used and sped up significantly by a novel method developed in this thesis. The test computes posterior odds ratios, and the new method is shown to compute these accurately and efficiently. Compared to computing evidences, the method presented provides an approximate 100 times reduction in the number of likelihood calculations required to compute evidences at a given accuracy. Further testing may identify a significant advance in Bayesian model selection using nested sampling, as the method is completely general and straightforward to implement. We note that efficiency gains are not guaranteed and may be problem specific: further research is needed.