The Holographic Nature of Null Infinity
Alok Laddha, Siddharth G. Prabhu, Suvrat Raju, Pushkal Shrivastava
SciPost Phys. 10, 041 (2021) · published 18 February 2021
- doi: 10.21468/SciPostPhys.10.2.041
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Abstract
We argue that, in a theory of quantum gravity in a four dimensional asymptotically flat spacetime, all information about massless excitations can be obtained from an infinitesimal neighbourhood of the past boundary of future null infinity and does not require observations over all of future null infinity. Moreover, all information about the state that can be obtained through observations near a cut of future null infinity can also be obtained from observations near any earlier cut although the converse is not true. We provide independent arguments for these two assertions. Similar statements hold for past null infinity. These statements have immediate implications for the information paradox since they suggest that the fine-grained von Neumann entropy of the state defined on a segment $(-\infty,u)$ of future null infinity is independent of u. This is very different from the oft-discussed Page curve that this entropy is sometimes expected to obey. We contrast our results with recent discussions of the Page curve in the context of black hole evaporation, and also discuss the relation of our results to other proposals for holography in flat space.
Cited by 68
Authors / Affiliations: mappings to Contributors and Organizations
See all Organizations.- 1 Alok Laddha,
- 2 Siddharth Prabhu,
- 2 Suvrat Raju,
- 2 Pushkal Shrivastava
- 1 சென்னை கணிதவியல் கழகம் / Chennai Mathematical Institute [CMI]
- 2 टाटा मूलभूत अनुसंधान संस्थान / Tata Institute of Fundamental Research [TIFR]
- Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology (through Organization: विज्ञान एवं प्रौद्योगिकी विभाग / Department of Science and Technology [DST])