7–11 Dec 2026
The University of Sydney
Australia/Sydney timezone
AIP Congress 2026

Classical-quantum gravity as quantum gravity in disguise

Not scheduled
1h
Belinda Hutchinson Building (The University of Sydney )

Belinda Hutchinson Building

The University of Sydney

Abercrombie St & Codrington St NSW 2008
Contributed Oral AIP | General Relativity and Gravitation (ASGRG) Afternoon Tea and Poster Session 1

Description

Whether gravity must be quantized remains one of the biggest open problems in fundamental physics. Classical-quantum hybrid theories have recently attracted attention as a possible framework in which gravity is treated classically yet interacts consistently with quantum matter. Schemes based on completely positive dynamics satisfy most formal consistency requirements and enable a systematic treatment of quantum backreaction, but they also invite the question of whether the hybrid description is fundamental or instead an effective sector of a larger quantum theory. In this talk, I will demonstrate that classical-quantum gravity based on completely positive dynamics admits an embedding into a fully quantum theory on an enlarged Hilbert space. As a complementary illustration, I will consider a qubit interacting with a classical particle and show that the corresponding hybrid system violates angular momentum conservation despite rotational symmetry of the underlying equations of motion. This provides an explicit example of a fully closed, rotationally invariant classical-quantum system with completely positive dynamics that violates a conservation law.

I am the presenting author Yes

Author

Sebastian Murk (Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University)

Co-authors

Prof. Masahiro Hotta (Tohoku University) Prof. Daniel Terno (Macquarie University)

Presentation materials

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