General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology

Discrepancies between Lorentzian and Euclidean calculations of quantum corrections to de Sitter horizon thermodynamics revealed the existence of ‘edge’ degrees of freedom on the horizon. In this talk, I will review these calculations and present updates on understanding the physics of such edge modes in both gauge theories and (higher-spin) gravity. For Einstein gravity, I will discuss a plausible interpretation involving an embedded spherical brane. Finally, I will comment on how these ideas extend to more general black hole spacetimes.

As the sensitivity of gravitational-wave detector networks increases, high-fidelity signal recovery from the most prominent events becomes possible. The strongest signals present both opportunities and challenges for determining the properties of their sources. Focusing on the problem of inferring the nuclear equation of state from neutron star mergers, I will discuss how systematic errors from waveform modeling have the potential to dominate the inference of matter properties in near-future observations. If properly addressed, loud signals may reveal subdominant effects on the source dynamics, providing novel opportunities to learn about neutron star matter beyond the equation of state. I will outline a data-driven approach to interpreting gravitational-wave observations with phenomenological signal corrections, including some first results from work at CSUF on binary black hole systems. I’ll also discuss methods for connecting unmodeled waveform effects to the energetics of the source system. Finally, I will relate these uncertainty quantification methods to goals for instrumental design, demonstrating how next-generation sensitivities will translate into improved scientific potential.

It has been conjectured that the gravitational interaction may arise as an entropic force rather than as a result of virtual quanta exchange of a fundamental field. In this talk I will present a set of microscopic quantum models which realize this idea in detail. I will describe a simple mechanism by which Newton’s law of gravity arises from the extremization of the free energy of a collection of qubits. I will show both a local and non-local model version of the construction and discuss how to distinguish these entropic models from ordinary perturbative quantum gravity using existing observations and near term experiments. Based on 2502.17575 with Daniel Carney, Thilo Scharnhorst, Roshni Singh and Jacob M. Taylor.