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Quantum groups have been widely explored as a tool to encode possible nontrivial generalisations of reference frame transformations, relevant in quantum gravity. In quantum information, it was found that the reference frames can be associated to quantum particles, leading to quantum reference frames transformations. The connection between these two frameworks is still unexplored, but if clarified it will lead to a more profound understanding of symmetries in quantum mechanics and quantum gravity. Here, we establish a correspondence between quantum reference frame transformations and transformations generated by a quantum deformation of the Galilei group with commutative time, taken at the first order in the quantum deformation parameter. This is found once the quantum group noncommutative transformation parameters are represented on the phase space of a quantum particle, and upon setting the quantum deformation parameter to be proportional to the inverse of the mass of the particle serving as the quantum reference frame. These results allow us to show that quantum reference frame transformations are physically relevant when the state of the quantum reference frame is in a quantum superposition of semiclassical states. We conjecture that the all-order quantum Galilei group describes quantum reference frame transformations between more general quantum states of the quantum reference frame.

We show that a real-number quantum theory, compatible with the independent source assumption, requires the inclusion of a nonlocal map. This means that if the independent source assumption holds, complex-number quantum theory is equivalent to a real-number quantum theory with hidden nonlocal degrees of freedom. This result suggests that complex numbers are indispensable for describing the process involving entanglement between two independent systems. That is, quantum theory fundamentally requires complex numbers; otherwise, one may have to accept a nonlocal real-number quantum theory.

It has been recently realized that the bulk dual of the double-scaled SYK (DSSYK) model has both positive and negative Ricci curvature and is described by a dilaton-gravity theory with a $sin(Phi)$ potential arXiv:2404.03535. We study T$^2$-deformations in the DSSYK model after performing the ensemble averaging to probe regions of positive and approximately constant curvature. The dual finite cutoff interpretation of the deformation allows us to place the DSSYK model in the stretched horizon of the bulk geometry, partially realizing a conjecture of Susskind arXix:2109.14104. We show that the energy spectrum and thermodynamic entropy are well-defined for a contour reaching these regions. Importantly, the system displays a phase transition from a thermodynamically stable to an unstable configuration by varying its microcanonical temperature; unless it is located on any of the stretched horizons, which is always unstable. The thermodynamic properties in this model display an enhanced growth as the system approaches the stretched horizon, and it scrambles information at a (hyper)-fast rate.

We present three different methods of calculating the non-relativistic dynamics of a quantum matter-wave evolving in a superposition of the inertial and accelerated motions. The relative phase between the two, which is classically unobservable as it is a gauge transformation, can be detected in a matter-wave interference experiment. The first method is the most straightforward and it represents the evolution as an exponential of the Hamiltonian. Based on the Heisenberg picture, the second method is insightful because it gives us extra insight into the independence of the wave-packet spreading of the magnitude of acceleration. Also, it demonstrates that the Heisenberg picture is perfectly suited to capturing all aspects of quantum interference. The final method shows the consistency with the full relativistic treatment and we use it to make a point regarding the equivalence principle.

We present a Group Field Theory (GFT) quantization of the Husain-Kuchav{r} (HK) model formulated as a non-interacting GFT. We demonstrate that the path-integral formulation of this HK-GFT provides a completion of a corresponding spinfoam model developed earlier

It is known that an entanglement-based witness of non-classicality can be applied to testing quantum effects in gravity. Specifically, if a system can create entanglement between two quantum probes by local means only, then it must be non-classical. Recently, claims have been made that collapse-based models of classical gravity, i.e. Di’osi-Penrose model, can predict gravitationally induced entanglement between quantum objects, resulting in gravitationally induced entanglement is insufficient to conclude that gravity is fundamentally quantum, contrary to the witness statement. Here we vindicate the witness. We analyze the underlying physics of collapse-based models for gravity and show that these models have nonlocal features, violating the principle of locality.

We construct relational observables in group field theory (GFT) in terms of covariant positive operator-valued measures (POVMs), using techniques developed in the context of quantum reference frames. We focus on matter quantum reference frames; this can be generalized to other types of frames within the same POVM-based framework. The resulting family of relational observables provides a covariant framework to extract localized observables from GFT, which is typically defined in a perspective-neutral way. Then, we compare this formalism with previous proposals for relational observables in GFT. We find that our quantum reference frame-based relational observables overcome the intrinsic limitations of previous proposals while reproducing the same continuum limit results concerning expectation values of the number and volume operators on coherent states. Nonetheless, there can be important differences for more complex operators, as well as for other types of GFT states. Finally, we also use a specific class of POVMs to show how to project states and operators from the more general perspective-neutral GFT Fock space to a perspective-dependent one where a scalar matter field plays the role of a relational clock.

It was recently noted that different internal quantum reference frames (QRFs) partition a system in different ways into subsystems, much like different inertial observers in special relativity decompose spacetime in different ways into space and time. Here we expand on this QRF relativity of subsystems and elucidate that it is the source of all novel QRF dependent effects, just like the relativity of simultaneity is the origin of all characteristic special relativistic phenomena. We show that subsystem relativity, in fact, also arises in special relativity with internal frames and, by implying the relativity of simultaneity, constitutes a generalisation of it. Physical consequences of the QRF relativity of subsystems, which we explore here systematically, and the relativity of simultaneity may thus be seen in similar light. We focus on investigating when and how subsystem correlations and entropies, interactions and types of dynamics (open vs. closed), as well as quantum thermodynamical processes change under QRF transformations. We show that thermal equilibrium is generically QRF relative and find that, remarkably, QRF transformations not only can change a subsystem temperature, but even map positive into negative temperature states. We further examine how non-equilibrium notions of heat and work exchange, as well as entropy production and flow depend on the QRF. Along the way, we develop the first study of how reduced subsystem states transform under QRF changes. Focusing on physical insights, we restrict to ideal QRFs associated with finite abelian groups. Besides being conducive to rigour, the ensuing finite-dimensional setting is where quantum information-theoretic quantities and quantum thermodynamics are best developed. We anticipate, however, that our results extend qualitatively to more general groups and frames, and even to subsystems in gauge theory and gravity. [abridged]

A common way to avoid divergent integrals in homogeneous spatially non-compact gravitational systems is to introduce a fiducial cell by cutting-off the spatial slice at a finite region $V_o$. This is usually considered as an auxiliary regulator to be removed after computations by sending $V_otoinfty$. In this paper, we analyse the dependence of the classical and quantum theory of homogeneous, isotropic and spatially flat cosmology on $V_o$. We show that each fixed $V_o$ regularisation leads to a different canonically independent theory. At the classical level, the dynamics of observables is not affected by the regularisation on-shell. For the quantum theory, however, this leads to a family of regulator dependent quantum representations and the limit $V_otoinfty$ becomes then more subtle. First, we construct a novel isomorphism between different $V_o$-regularisations, which allows us to identify states in the different $V_o$-labelled Hilbert spaces to ensure equivalent dynamics for any value of $V_o$. The $V_otoinfty$ limit would then correspond to choosing a state for which the volume assigned to the fiducial cell becomes infinite as appropriate in the late-time regime. As second main result of our analysis, quantum fluctuations of observables smeared over subregions $Vsubset V_o$, unlike those smeared over the full $V_o$, explicitly depend on the size of the fiducial cell through the ratio $V/V_o$ interpreted as the (inverse) number of subcells $V$ homogeneously patched together into $V_o$. Physically relevant fluctuations for a finite region, as e.g. in the early-time regime, which would be unreasonably suppressed in a na”ive $V_otoinfty$ limit, become appreciable at small volumes. Our results suggest that the fiducial cell is not playing the role of a mere regularisation but is physically relevant at the quantum level and complement previous statements in the literature.

The eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) is foundational to modern discussions of thermalization in closed quantum systems. In this work, we expand on traditional explanations for the prevalence of ETH by emphasizing the role of operator locality. We introduce an operator-specific perturbation problem that can be thought of as a means of understanding the onset or breakdown of ETH for specific classes of operators in a given system. We derive explicit functional forms for the off-diagonal variances of operator matrix elements for typical local operators under various `scrambling ansatzes’, expressed in terms of system parameters and parameters of the corresponding perturbation problem. We provide simple tests and illustrations of these ideas in chaotic spin chain systems.