IAS Quantum Aspects of Black Holes Group Meeting

Abstract: In 2017, a proposal was made for defining RT surfaces in asymptotically flat spacetimes, with the goal of computing the entanglement entropy in a putative dual theory.

To avoid confusion with the usual RT prescription, the resulting surfaces are called swing surfaces.

We take advantage of the flat limit of AdS/CFT to argue that swing surfaces do not in fact compute entanglement entropy; however, they do compute an information-theoretic observable in the AdS/CFT uplift, closely tied to “spacelike modular flows” appearing in the study of inner horizon thermodynamics.

This talk is based on upcoming work with Sabrina Pasterski and Rob Myers.