We study a proposed statistical explanation for the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of a black hole in which entropy arises quantum-mechanically as a result of entanglement. Arguments for the identification of black hole entropy with entanglement entropy are reviewed in the framework of quantum field theory, emphasizing the role of renormalization and the need for a physical short-distance cutoff. Our main novel contribution is a calculation of entanglement entropy in loop quantum gravity. The kinematical Hilbert space and spin network states are introduced, and the entanglement entropy of these states is calculated using methods from quantum information theory. The entanglement entropy is compared with the density of states previously computed for isolated horizons in loop quantum gravity, and the two are found to agree up to a topological term. We investigate a conjecture due to Sorkin that the entanglement entropy must be a monotonically increasing function of time under the assumption of causality. For a system described by a finite-dimensional Hilbert space, the conjecture is found to be trivial, and for a system described by an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space a counterexample is provided. For quantum states with Euclidean symmetry, the area scaling of the entanglement entropy is shown to be equivalent to the strong additivity condition on the entropy. The strong additivity condition is naturally interpreted in information-theoretic terms as a continuous analog of the Markov property for a classical random variable. We explicitly construct states of a quantum field theory on the one-dimensional real line in which the area law is exactly satisfied.

This thesis studies matter emergent as topological excitations of quantum geometry in quantum gravity models. In these models, states are framed four-valent spin networks embedded in a topological three manifold, and the local evolution moves are dual Pachner moves. We first formulate our theory of embedded framed four-valent spin networks by proposing a new graphic calculus of these networks. With this graphic calculus, we study the equivalence classes and the evolution of these networks, and find what we call 3-strand braids, as topological excitations of embedded four-valent spin networks. Each 3-strand braid consists of two nodes that share three edges that may or may not be braided and twisted. The twists happen to be in units of 1/3. Under certain stability condition, some 3-strand braids are stable. Stable braids have rich dynamics encoded in our theory by dual Pachner moves. Firstly, all stable braids can propagate as induced by the expansion and contraction of other regions of their host spin network under evolution. Some braids can also propagate actively, in the sense that they can exchange places with substructures adjacent to them in the graph under the local evolution moves. Secondly, two adjacent braids may have a direct interaction: they merge under the evolution moves to form a new braid if one of them falls into a class called actively interacting braids. The reverse of a direct interaction may happen too, through which a braid decays to another braid by emitting an actively interacting braid. Thirdly, two neighboring braids may exchange a virtual actively interacting braid and become two different braids, in what is called an exchange interaction. Braid dynamics implies an analogue between actively interacting braids and bosons. We also invent a novel algebraic formalism for stable braids. With this new tool, we derive conservation laws from interactions of the braid excitations of spin networks. We show that actively interacting braids form a noncommutative algebra under direction interaction. Each actively interacting braid also behaves like a morphism on non-actively interacting braids. These findings reinforce the analogue between actively interacting braids and bosons. Another important discovery is that stable braids admit seven, and only seven, discrete transformations that uniquely correspond to analogues of C, P, T, and their products. Along with this finding, a braid's electric charge appears to be a function of a conserved quantity, effective twist, of the braids, and thus is quantized in units of 1/3. In addition, each $CPT$-multiplet of actively interacting braids has a unique, characteristic non-negative integer. Braid interactions turn out to be invariant under C, P, and T. Finally, we present an effective description, based on Feynman diagrams, of braid dynamics. This language manifests the analogue between actively interacting braids and bosons, as the topological conservation laws permit them to be singly created and destroyed and as exchanges of these excitations give rise to interactions between braids that are charged under the topological conservation rules. Additionally, we find a constraint on probability amplitudes of braid interactions. We discuss some subtleties, open issues, future directions, and work in progress at the end.

Conformal holonomy theory is the holonomy theory of the tractor connection on a conformal manifold. In this thesis, we present the first application of conformal holonomy theory to theoretical physics and determine the conformal holonomy groups/algebras of physically relevant spaces. After recalling some necessary background on conformal structures, tractor bundles and conformal holonomy theory in chapter 1, we begin in chapter 2 by discussing the role of conformal holonomy in the gauge-theoretic MacDowell-Mansouri formulation of general relativity. We show that the gauge algebra of this formulation is uniquely determined by the conformal structure of spacetime itself, in both Lorentzian and Riemannian metric signatures, through the conformal holonomy algebra. We then show that one may construct a MacDowell-Mansouri action functional for scale-invariant gravity, and we discuss a geometric interpretation for the scalar field therein. In chapter 3 we study a class of spacetimes relevant to Maldacena's AdS5=CFT4 correspondence in quantum gravity. It is well known that a Lie group coincidence lies at the heart of this correspondence: the proper isometry group of the bulk precisely matches the conformal group of the boundary. It has previously been proposed that the AdS5=CFT4 correspondence be extended to so-called Poincar e-Einstein spacetimes, which need not be as symmetric as anti-de Sitter space. We show that the conformal holonomy groups of the boundary and bulk furnish such a Lie group coincidence for 5-dimensional Poincar e-Einstein spacetimes in general. We completely characterise this boundary-bulk conformal holonomy matching for the Riemannian theory and present partial results for the Lorentzian theory. In chapter 4 we use the tools developed in the preceding chapters to further the classiification of the conformal holonomy groups of conformally Einstein spaces. Specifically, we determine the conformal holonomy groups of generic neutral signature conformally Einstein 4-manifolds subject to a condition on the conformal holonomy representation. Lastly, in chapter 5, we investigate the conformal holonomy reduction of the Fefferman conformal structures of residual twistor CR manifolds. A sufficient condition for reducible conformal holonomy is that the (Fefferman conformal structure of a) residual twistor CR manifold admit a parallel tractor. We show that this occurs if and only if the residual twistor CR manifold admits a Sasakian structure.

Quantum gravity is one of the interesting fields in contemporary physics which is still in progress. The purpose of quantum gravity is to present a quantum description for spacetime at 10 33cm or find the `quanta' of gravitational interaction.. At present, the most viable theory to describe gravitational interaction is general relativity which is a classical theory. Semi-classical quantum gravity or quantum field theory in curved spacetime is an approximation to a full quantum theory of gravity. This approximation considers gravity as a classical field and matter fields are quantized. One interesting phenomena in semi-classical quantum gravity is Hawking radiation. Hawking radiation was derived by Stephen Hawking as a thermal emission of particles from the black hole horizon. In this thesis we obtain the spectrum of Hawking radiation using a new method. Vacuum is defined as the possible lowest energy state which is filled with pairs of virtual particle-antiparticle. Vacuum polarization is a consequence of pair creation in the presence of an external field such as an electromagnetic or gravitational field. Vacuum polarization in the vicinity of a black hole horizon can be interpreted as the cause of the emission from black holes known as Hawking radiation. In this thesis we try to obtain the Hawking spectrum using this approach. We re-examine vacuum polarization of a scalar field in a quasi-local volume that includes the horizon. We study the interaction of a scalar field with the background gravitational field of the black hole in the desired quasi-local region. The quasi-local volume is a hollow cylinder enclosed by two membranes, one inside the horizon and one outside the horizon. The net rate of particle emission can be obtained as the difference of the vacuum polarization from the outer boundary and inner boundary of the cylinder. Thus we found a new method to derive Hawking emission which is unitary and well defined in quantum field theory. / ix, 109 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tufts University, 2004. / Adviser: Larry H. Ford. Submitted to the Dept. of Physics. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 117-120). Access restricted to members of the Tufts University community. Also available via the World Wide Web;

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Syracuse University, 2008. / "Publication number: AAT 3323082."

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 163-174). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

The project concerns the study of the interplay among quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics and thermodynamics, in isolated quantum systems. The goal of this research is to improve our understanding of the concept of thermal equilibrium in quantum systems. First, I investigated the role played by observables and measurements in the emergence of thermal behaviour. This led to a new notion of thermal equilibrium which is specific for a given observable, rather than for the whole state of the system. The equilibrium picture that emerges is a generalization of statistical mechanics in which we are not interested in the state of the system but only in the outcome of the measurement process. I investigated how this picture relates to one of the most promising approaches for the emergence of thermal behaviour in quantum systems: the Eigenstate Thermalization Hypothesis. Then, I applied the results to study the equilibrium properties of peculiar quantum systems, which are known to escape thermalization: the many-body localised systems. Despite the localization phenomenon, which prevents thermalization of subsystems, I was able to show that we can still use the predictions of statistical mechanics to describe the equilibrium of some observables. Moreover, the intuition developed in the process led me to propose an experimentally accessible way to unravel the interacting nature of many-body localised systems. Then, I exploited the "Concentration of Measure" and the related "Typicality Arguments" to study the macroscopic properties of the basis states in a tentative theory of quantum gravity: Loop Quantum Gravity. These techniques were previously used to explain why the thermal behaviour in quantum systems is such an ubiquitous phenomenon at the macroscopic scale. I focused on the local properties, their thermodynamic behaviour and interplay with the semiclassical limit. The ultimate goal of this line of research is to give a quantum description of a black hole which is consistent with the expected semiclassical behaviour. This was motivated by the necessity to understand, from a quantum gravity perspective, how and why an horizon exhibits thermal properties.

This thesis explores metric properties of Liouville quantum gravity (LQG), a random geometry with conformal symmetries introduced in the context of string theory by Polyakov in the 80’s. Formally, it corresponds to the Riemannian metric tensor “e^{γh}(dx² + dy²)” where h is a planar Gaussian free field and γ is a parameter in (0, 2). Since h is a random Schwartz distribution with negative regularity, the exponential e^{γh} only makes sense formally and the associated volume form and distance functions are not well-defined. The mathematical language to define the volume form was introduced by Kahane, also in the 80’s. In this thesis, we explore a renormalization approach to make sense of the distance function and we study its basic properties.

A number of philosophical questions, all connected to modern research in quantum gravity, are discussed in this dissertation. The goal of research in quantum gravity is to find a quantum theory for gravitation; the other fundamental forces are already understood in terms of quantum physics. Quantum gravity is studied within a number of different research programmes. The most popular are string theory and loop quantum gravity; besides these a number of other approaches are pursued. Due to the lack of empirical support, it is relevant to assess the scientific status of this research. This is done from four different points of view, namely the ones held by: logical positivists, Popper, Kuhn and Lakatos. It is then argued that research in quantum gravity may be considered scientific, conditional on scientists being open with the tentative and speculative nature of their pursuits. Given the lack of empirical progress, in all approaches to quantum gravity, a pluralistic strategy is advised. In string theory there are different theoretical formulations, or dualities, which are physically equivalent. This is relevant for the problem of underdetermination of theories by data, and the debate on scientific realism. Different views on the dualities are possible. It is argued that a more empiricist view on the semantics of theories, than what has been popular lately, ought to be adopted. This is of importance for our understanding of what the theories tell us about space and time. In physics and philosophy, the idea that there are worlds or universes other than our own, has appeared in different contexts. It is discussed how we should understand these different suggestions; how they are similar and how they are different. A discussion on, how and when theoretical multiverse scenarios can be empirically testable, is also given. The reliability of thought experiments in physics in general and in quantum gravity in particular is evaluated. Thought experiments can be important for heuristic purposes, but in the case of quantum gravity, conclusions based on thoght experiments are not very reliable.