PHYSICS PHD DISSERTATION DEFENSE: Edward Mazenc

Ph.D. Candidate:  Edward Mazenc

Research Advisor:  Sean Hartnoll

Date: Friday, June 5th, 2020
Time: 12pm

Zoom Meeting Link: https://stanford.zoom.us/j/98079823215

Zoom Meeting Password: email mariaf67 [at] stanford.edu (mariaf67[at]stanford[dot]edu) for password

Zoom Meeting ID (in case anyone struggles with link): 980 7982 3215 

Title: Looking for Emergent Locality

Abstract:

Entanglement entropy can provide a powerful diagnostic of locality. However, in our most promising theories of quantum gravity, space emerges from some more fundamental "non-geometric" degrees of freedom. Speaking about local partitions in this emergent space poses a challenge. Starting with the example of single-particle quantum mechanics, we define a novel type of spatial entanglement related to partitions of the target space values of fields. We apply this formalism to a simple toy model of string theory in two dimensions, and find it reproduces the entanglement entropy of the tachyon field in an emergent 2d spacetime. We comment on potential broader applications to holography.