Open quantum systems provide a framework in which models for gravitationally induced decoherence can be formulated. In this talk a microscopic quantum mechanical model for gravitationally induced decoherence introduced by Blencowe and Xu is investigated in the context of neutrino oscillations. The focus lies on the
comparison with existing phenomenological models and the physical...
Entangled states in quantum field theory are not the exception but rather the norm. Even seemingly simple states such as the vacuum in Minkowski or Sitter spacetime are rich in the entanglement they contain. In this presentation, I will discuss recently developed techniques aimed at uncovering and characterizing the distribution of entanglement in field theory. These tools include the...
When describing a physical system, it is very common to do so with respect to a reference frame - a ruler used to determine the position of a particle, for example, or a clock, which tracks the time that elapses while it is moving. Usually, reference frames are treated as purely classical objects with well-defined properties. But what happens if we take into account the quantum properties of...
We derive a “classical-quantum” approximation scheme for a broad class of bipartite quantum systems from fully quantum dynamics. In this approximation, one subsystem evolves via classical equations of motion with quantum corrections, and the other subsystem evolves quantum mechanically with equations of motion informed by the evolving classical degrees of freedom. Using perturbation theory, we...
Abstract: Quantum gravitational theories generically suffer from issues such as the problems of normalizability, time and classical limit. Despite decades of technically sophisticated efforts, based on the orthodox quantum formulation, there remains a lack of consensus on these issues. In this talk, I will develop the viewpoint that these issues are not technical but conceptual, rooted in...
