Thermal quantum spacetime

Abstract

The intersection of thermodynamics, quantum theory and gravity has revealed many profound insights, all the while posing new puzzles. In this article, we discuss an extension of equilibrium statistical mechanics and thermodynamics potentially compatible with a key feature of general relativity, background independence; and we subsequently use it in a candidate quantum gravity system, thus providing a preliminary formulation of a thermal quantum spacetime. Specifically, we emphasise on an information-theoretic characterisation of generalised Gibbs equilibrium that is shown to be particularly suited to background independent settings, and in which the status of entropy is elevated to being more fundamental than energy. We also shed light on its intimate connections with the thermal time hypothesis. Based on this we outline a framework for statistical mechanics of quantum gravity degrees of freedom of combinatorial and algebraic type, and apply it in several examples. In particular, we provide a quantum statistical basis for the origin of covariant group field theories, shown to arise as effective statistical field theories of the underlying quanta of space in a certain class of generalised Gibbs states.

arXiv commentv2 minor changes, published version; 19 pages, 1 figure; invited contribution to the special issue "Progress in Group Field Theory and Related Quantum Gravity Formalisms", eds. S. Carrozza, S. Gielen and D. Oriti

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Thermal quantum gravity condensates in group field theory cosmology
• Thermal representations in group field theory: squeezed vacua and quantum gravity condensates
• Covariant Momentum Map Thermodynamics for Parametrized Field Theories
• Editorial for the Special Issue "Progress in Group Field Theory and Related Quantum Gravity Formalisms"
• Thermofield Double States in Group Field Theory