General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology

What does it mean to specify a subregion in a diffeomorphism invariant fashion? This subtle question lies at the heart of many deep problems in quantum gravity. In this talk, we will explore a program of research aimed at answering this question. The two principal characters of the presentation are the extended phase space and the crossed product algebra. The former furnishes a symplectic structure which properly accounts for all of the degrees of freedom necessary to invariantly specify a subregion in gauge theory and gravity, while the latter serves as a quantization of this space into an operator algebra which formalizes the observables of the associated quantum theory. The extended phase space and the crossed product were originally motivated by the problems of the non-invariance/non-integrability of symmetry actions in naive subregion phase spaces, and the non-factorizability/divergence of entanglement entropy in naive subregion operator algebras. The introduction of these structures resolves these issues, while the correspondence between them unifies these resolutions. To illustrate the power of our framework, we demonstrate how the modular crossed product of semiclassical quantum gravity can be reproduced via this approach. We then provide some remarks on how this construction may be augmented in the non-perturbative regime, leading to the notion of a `fuzzy subregion'. We conclude with remarks on currently ongoing and future work, which includes applications to asymptotic and corner symmetries, quantum reference frames, generalized entropy, and the definition of quantum diamonds.

Black hole X-ray binaries and Active Galactic Nuclei transition through a series of accretion states in a well-defined order. During a state transition, the accretion flow changes from a hot geometrically thick accretion flow, emitting a power-law–like hard spectrum to a geometrically thin, cool accretion flow, producing black-body–like soft spectrum. The hard intermediate accretion state present in the midst of a state transition is thought to be associated with the presence of both a hot geometrically thick component, termed the corona, and a cool, geometrically thin component of the accretion flow. The details concerning the geometry of the disk in the hard intermediate state are not agreed upon and numerous models have been proposed: In the “truncated disk” model, the accretion flow is geometrically thick and hot close to the black hole, while the outer regions of the flow are geometrically thin and cool. There are many open questions concerning the nature of truncated accretion disks: Which mechanisms generate the truncated disk structure? What sets the radius at which the disk truncates? How is the corona formed and what is its geometry? In this talk I present the first high-resolution 3D General Relativistic Magneto-Hydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulation and radiative GRMHD simulation modelling the self-consistent formation of a truncated accretion disk around a black hole.