Bare Quantum Null Energy Condition

Abstract

The quantum null energy condition (QNEC) is a conjectured relation between a null version of quantum field theory energy and derivatives of quantum field theory von Neumann entropy. In some cases, divergences cancel between these two terms and the QNEC is intrinsically finite. We study the more general case here where they do not and argue that a QNEC can still hold for bare (unrenormalized) quantities. While the original QNEC applied only to locally stationary null congruences in backgrounds that solve semiclassical theories of quantum gravity, at least in the formal perturbation theory at a small Planck length, the quantum focusing conjecture can be viewed as the special case of our bare QNEC for which the metric is on shell.

5 pages, no figure; v2: minor corrections; v3: modifications to address referee comments; v4: title and abstract changed

References in corpus (5)

• Robinson-Trautman spacetimes in higher dimensions
• Deformation of Codimension-2 Surface and Horizon Thermodynamics
• The Quantum Null Energy Condition in Curved Space
• Violating the Quantum Focusing Conjecture and Quantum Covariant Entropy Bound in $d\ge 5$ dimensions
• The Quantum Focusing Conjecture Has Not Been Violated

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Energy is Entanglement
• Quantum Null Energy Condition and its (non)saturation in 2d CFTs
• Local quantum energy conditions in non-Lorentz-invariant quantum field theories
• Bulk Matter and the Boundary Quantum Null Energy Condition
• Holography of negative energy states
• Local Geometric Bounds on Generalized Entropy Evolution along Null Horizons
• Time-independence of gravitational Rényi entropies and unitarity in quantum gravity