Disentanglement as a strong cosmic censor

Abstract

If entanglement builds spacetime, then conversely, disentanglement ought to destroy spacetime. From the quantum null energy condition and quantum focusing conjecture, we obtain disentanglement criteria which necessitate infinite energies and strong spacetime singularities. We apply our results to the strong cosmic censorship proposal, where singularities at the Cauchy horizons in black holes are desirable. Using our disentanglement criteria and without resorting to any detailed calculations, we provide an exceedingly general and physically transparent discussion of strong cosmic censorship in semiclassical black holes. We argue that strong cosmic censorship is enforced in asymptotically flat and de Sitter black holes by disentanglement and describe how similar disentanglement might be avoided in some anti-de Sitter cases.

Honorable Mention in Gravity Research Foundation 2024 Essay Competition, details added as footnotes and appendix, v2 is published version plus appendix, 28 pages, 5 figures