Contributor info: Prof. Chethan Krishnan

Himanshu Chaudhary, Chethan Krishnan

SciPost Phys. 9, 036 (2020) · published 11 September 2020 | Toggle abstract · pdf

A classical solution where the (scalar) field value moves by an ${\cal O}(1)$ range in Planck units is believed to signal the breakdown of Effective Field Theory (EFT). One heuristic argument for this is that such a field will have enough energy to be inside its own Schwarzschild radius, and will result in collapse. In this paper, we consider an inverse problem: what kind of field ranges arise during the gravitational collapse of a classical field? Despite the fact that collapse has been studied for almost a hundred years, most of the discussion is phrased in terms of fluid stress tensors, and not fields. An exception is the scalar collapse made famous by Choptuik. We re-consider Choptuik-like systems, but with the emphasis now on the evolution of the scalar. We give strong evidence that generic spherically symmetric collapse of a massless scalar field leads to super-Planckian field movement. But we also note that in every such supercritical collapse scenario, the large field range is hidden behind an apparent horizon. We also discuss how the familiar perfect fluid models for collapse like Oppenheimer-Snyder and Vaidya should be viewed in light of our results.

Chethan Krishnan

SciPost Phys. 7, 057 (2019) · published 29 October 2019 | Toggle abstract · pdf

In AdS/CFT, the non-uniqueness of the reconstructed bulk from boundary subregions has motivated the notion of code subspaces. We present some closely related structures that arise in flat space. A useful organizing idea is that of an $asymptotic$ causal diamond (ACD): a causal diamond attached to the conformal boundary of Minkowski space. The space of ACDs is defined by pairs of points, one each on the future and past null boundaries, ${\cal I}^{\pm}$. We observe that for flat space with an IR cut-off, this space (a) encodes a preferred class of boundary subregions, (b) is a plausible way to capture holographic data for local bulk reconstruction, (c) has a natural interpretation as the kinematic space for holography, (d) leads to a holographic entanglement entropy in flat space that matches previous definitions and satisfies strong sub-additivity, and, (e) has a bulk union/intersection structure isomorphic to the one that motivated the introduction of quantum error correction in AdS/CFT. By sliding the cut-off, we also note one substantive way in which flat space holography differs from that in AdS. Even though our discussion is centered around flat space (and AdS), we note that there are notions of ACDs in other spacetimes as well. They could provide a covariant way to abstractly characterize tensor sub-factors of Hilbert spaces of holographic theories.