April 2025

Locality is a central notion in modern physics, but different disciplines understand it in different ways. Quantum field theory focusses on relativistic locality, enforced by microcausality, while quantum information theory focuses on subsystem locality, which regulates how information and causal influences propagate in a system, with no direct reference to spacetime notions. Here we investigate how microcausality and subsystem locality are related. The question is relevant for understanding whether it is possible to formulate quantum field theory in quantum information language, and has bearing on the recent discussions on low-energy tests of quantum gravity. We present a first result in this direction: in the quantum dynamics of a massive scalar quantum field coupled to two localised systems, microcausality implies subsystem locality in a physically relevant approximation.

The quest for complete observables in general relativity has been a longstanding open problem. We employ methods from descriptive set theory to show that no complete observable is Borel definable. In fact, we show that it is consistent with the Zermelo-Fraenkel and Dependent Choice axioms that no complete observable exists whatsoever. In a nutshell, this implies that the Problem of Observables is to`analysis’ what the Delian Problem was to `straightedge and compass’. Our results remain true even after restricting the space of solutions to vacuum solutions. In other words, the issue can be traced to the presence of local degrees of freedom in general relativity.

Lawrence et al. have presented an argument purporting to show that “relative facts do not exist” and, consequently, “Relational Quantum Mechanics is incompatible with quantum mechanics”. The argument is based on a GHZ-like contradiction between constraints satisfied by measurement outcomes in an extended Wigner’s friend scenario. Here we present a strengthened version of the argument, and show why, contrary to the claim by Lawrence et al., these arguments do not contradict the consistency of a theory of relative facts. Rather, considering this argument helps clarify how one should not think about a theory of relative facts, like RQM.

The efficient probing of spectral features of quantum many-body systems is important for characterising and understanding the structure and dynamics of quantum materials. In this work, we establish a framework for probing the excitation spectrum of quantum many-body systems with quantum simulators. Our approach effectively realises a spectral detector by processing the dynamics of observables with time intervals drawn from a defined probability distribution, which only requires native time evolution governed by the Hamiltonian without any ancilla. The critical element of our method is the engineered emergence of frequency resonance such that the excitation spectrum can be probed. We show that the time complexity for transition energy estimation has a logarithmic dependence on simulation accuracy, and discuss the noise e robustness of our spectroscopic method. We present simulation results for the spectral features of typical quantum systems, including quantum spins, fermions and bosons. We experimentally demonstrate how spectroscopic features of spin lattice models can be probed with IBM quantum devices.

We consider some of the epistemic benefits of exploring “theory space” in the context of modifications of general relativity with intended applications in cosmology. We show how studying modifications of general relativity can help in assessing the robustness of empirical inferences, particularly in inaccessible regimes. We also discuss challenges to sharply distinguishing apparently distinct directions in theory space.

The possibility to describe the laws of the Universe in a computational way seems to be correlated to a principle that the density of information is bounded. This principle, that is dual to that of a finite velocity of information, has already been investigated in Physics, and is correlated to the old idea that there is no way to know a magnitude with an infinite precision. It takes different forms in classical Physics and in quantum Physics.

Active states, from which work can be extracted by time-dependent perturbations, are an important resource for quantum thermodynamics in the absence of heat baths. Here we characterize this resource, establishing a resource theory that captures the operational scenario where an experimenter manipulates a quantum system by means of energy-preserving operations and resets to non-active states. Our resource theory comes with simple conditions for state convertibility and an experimentally accessible resource quantifier that determines the maximum advantage of active states in the task of producing approximations of the maximally coherent state by means of energy-preserving quantum operations.

Counting the solutions to Boolean formulae defines the problem #SAT, which is complete for the complexity class #P. We use the ZH-calculus, a universal and complete graphical language for linear maps which naturally encodes counting problems in terms of diagrams, to give graphical reductions from #SAT to several related counting problems. Some of these graphical reductions, like to #2SAT, are substantially simpler than known reductions via the matrix permanent. Additionally, our approach allows us to consider the case of counting solutions modulo an integer on equal footing. Finally, since the ZH-calculus was originally introduced to reason about quantum computing, we show that the problem of evaluating ZH-diagrams in the fragment corresponding to the Clifford+T gateset, is in $FP^{#P}$. Our results show that graphical calculi represent an intuitive and useful framework for reasoning about counting problems.

I discuss some general information-theoretic properties of quantum mechanical probes in semiclassical gravity: their purview, i.e. what they can see and act on (in terms of a generalised entanglement wedge), their spontaneous evaporation into a cloud of highly entropic particles when one tries to make them see too much (perhaps a parable on the dangers of straining one’s eyes), and the subsequent resolution of an apparent information paradox.

A promising route to testing quantum gravity in the laboratory is to look for gravitationally-induced entanglement (GIE) between two or more quantum matter systems. Principally, proposals for such tests have used microsolid systems, with highly non-classical states, such as N00N states or highly-squeezed states. Here, we consider, for the first time, GIE between two cold atomic gasses as a test of quantum gravity. We propose placing two atom interferometers next to each other in parallel and looking for correlations in the number of atoms at the output ports as evidence of GIE and quantum gravity. There are no challenging macroscopic superposition states, such as N00N or Schr”odinger cat states, instead classical-like `coherent’ states of atoms. This requires the total mass of the atom interferometers to be on the Planck mass scale, and long integration times. With current state-of-the-art quantum squeezing in cold atoms, however, we argue that the mass scale can be reduced to approachable levels and outline how such a mass scale can be achieved in the near future.