Search

Recent calculations in both flat and de Sitter spacetimes have highlighted a tension between the decoupling of high-energy physics from low-energy degrees of freedom and the expectation that quantum systems decohere due to interactions with unknown environments. In effective field theory (EFT), integrating out heavy fields should lead to Hamiltonian time evolution, which preserves the purity of low-energy states. This is consistent with the fact that we never observe isolated quantum states spontaneously decohering in the vacuum due to unknown high-energy physics. However, when a heavy scalar of mass $M$ is traced out, the resulting purity of a light scalar with mass $m$ typically appears to scale as a power of $1/M$ (when $m\ll M$), an effect that cannot be captured by a local effective Hamiltonian. We resolve this apparent paradox by showing that the purity depends on the resolution scale of the EFT and how the environment is traced out. We provide a practical method for diagnosing the purity of low-energy states consistent with EFT expectations, and briefly discuss some of the implications these observations have for how ultraviolet divergences can appear in decoherence calculations., Comment: 17 pages + appendices, 2 figures

We show how to compute the purity and entanglement entropy for quantum fields in a systematic perturbative expansion. To that end, we generalize the in-in formalism to non-unitary dynamics (i.e. accounting for the presence of an environment) and to the calculation of quantum information measures, which are not observables in the usual sense. This allows us to reduce the problem to one involving standard correlation functions, and to organize their computation in a diagrammatic expansion for which we construct the corresponding Feynman rules. As an illustration, we apply the formalism to a cosmological setting inspired by the effective field theory of inflation. We find that at late times, non-linear loop corrections share the same time behavior as the linear contribution, and only yield a slight redressing of the purity. In particular, when the environment is heavy compared to the Hubble scale, the phenomenon of recoherence previously encountered is robust to the class of non-linear extensions considered. Bridging the gap between perturbative quantum field theory and open quantum systems paves the way to a better understanding of renormalization and resummation in open effective field theories. It also enables a more systematic exploration of quantum information properties in field theoretic settings., Comment: 43 pages without appendices (66 pages in total), 14 figures, matches published version in JCAP

We compute the rate with which unobserved fields decohere other fields to which they couple, both in flat space and in de Sitter space, for spectator scalar fields prepared in their standard adiabatic vacuum. The process is very efficient in de Sitter space once the modes in question pass outside the Hubble scale, displaying the tell-tale phenomenon of secular growth that indicates the breakdown of perturbative methods on a time scale parameterically long compared with the Hubble time. We show how to match the perturbative evolution valid at early times onto a late-time Lindblad evolution whose domain of validity extends to much later times, thereby allowing a reliable resummation of the perturbative result beyond the perturbative regime. Super-Hubble modes turn out to be dominantly decohered by unobserved modes that are themselves also super-Hubble. Although our calculation is done for spectator fields, if applied to curvature perturbations during inflation our observations here could close a potential loophole in recent calculations of the late-time purity of the observable primordial fluctuations., Comment: 37 pages without appendices (59 pages in total), 7 figures; matches published version in JCAP

We investigate quantum decoherence in a class of models which interpolates between expanding (inflation) and contracting (ekpyrosis) scenarios. For the cases which result in a scale-invariant power spectrum, we find that ekpyrotic universes lead to complete decoherence of the curvature perturbation before the bounce. This is in stark contrast to the inflationary case, where recoherence has been previously observed in some situations. Although the purity can be computed for couplings of all sizes, we also study the purity perturbatively and observe that late-time (secular growth) breakdown of perturbation theory often occurs in these cases. Instead, we establish a simple yet powerful late-time purity resummation which captures the exact evolution to a remarkable level, while maintaining analytical control. We conclude that the cosmological background plays a crucial role in the decoupling of the heavy fields during inflation and alternatives., Comment: 27 pages + appendices, 10 figures

Wilsonian effective theories exploit hierarchies of scale to simplify the description of low-energy behaviour and play as central a role for gravity as for the rest of physics. They are useful both when hierarchies of scale are explicit in a gravitating system and more generally for understanding precisely what controls the size of quantum corrections in gravitational systems. But effective descriptions are also relevant for open systems (e.g. fluid mechanics as a long-distance description of statistical systems) for which the `integrating out' of unobserved low-energy degrees of freedom complicate a straightforward application of Wilsonian methods. Observations performed only on one side of an apparent horizon provide examples where open system descriptions also arise in gravitational physics. This chapter describes some early adaptations of Open Effective Theories (i.e. techniques for exploiting hierarchies of scale in open systems) in gravitational settings. Besides allowing the description of new types of phenomena (such as decoherence) these techniques also have an additional benefit: they sometimes can be used to resum perturbative expansions at late times and thereby to obtain controlled predictions in a regime where perturbative predictions otherwise generically fail., Comment: 52 pages, 5 Figures; Invited chapter for the Section "Effective Quantum Gravity" edited by C. Burgess and J. Donoghue of the "Handbook of Quantum Gravity" (Eds. C. Bambi, L. Modesto and I.L. Shapiro, Springer Singapore, expected in 2023)

We compute the rate with which super-Hubble cosmological fluctuations are decohered during inflation, by their gravitational interactions with unobserved shorter-wavelength scalar and tensor modes. We do so using Open Effective Field Theory methods, that remain under control at the late times of observational interest, contrary to perturbative calculations. Our result is minimal in the sense that it only incorporates the self-interactions predicted by General Relativity in single-clock models (additional interaction channels should only speed up decoherence). We find that decoherence is both suppressed by the first slow-roll parameter and by the energy density during inflation in Planckian units, but that it is enhanced by the volume comprised within the scale of interest, in Hubble units. This implies that, for the scales probed in the Cosmic Microwave Background, decoherence is effective as soon as inflation proceeds above $\sim 5\times 10^{9}$ GeV. Alternatively, if inflation proceeds at GUT scale decoherence is incomplete only for the scales crossing out the Hubble radius in the last ~ 13 e-folds, of inflation. We also compute how short-wavelength scalar modes decohere primordial tensor perturbations, finding a faster rate unsuppressed by slow-roll parameters. Identifying the parametric dependence of decoherence, and the rate at which it proceeds, helps suggest ways to look for quantum effects., Comment: 31 pages + appendices, 7 figures

We revisit the problem involving two constantly accelerating Unruh-DeWitt detectors using Open Effective Field Theory methods. We study the time evolution of the joint detector state using a Markovian approximation which differs from the standard one taken in the literature. We show that this Markovian limit already implies the complete positivity of the dynamical evolution map without invoking the rotating wave approximation (RWA), in contrast to standard derivations of open system master equations. By calculating explicitly the domain of validity of this Markovian approximation, we argue that the lack of complete positivity in the usual microscopic derivation stems from the (subtle) fact that the Redfield equation is used outside its domain of validity. We give two well-known cases studied in the literature that violate the validity of the Markovian approximation: (i) the ``stacked trajectory'' limit (when detector trajectories are taken to be on top of one another), and (ii) large gap-to-acceleration ratio. Since Markovian dynamics with or without RWA can lead to different qualitative predictions for entanglement dynamics, our work emphasizes the need to properly track the regime of validity of all approximations., Comment: 20 + 3 pages, 3 Figures; RevTeX4-2; v3: edited and fixed typos to match published version

We examine the late-time evolution of a qubit (or Unruh-De Witt detector) that hovers very near to the event horizon of a Schwarzschild black hole, while interacting with a free quantum scalar field. The calculation is carried out perturbatively in the dimensionless qubit/field coupling $g$, but rather than computing the qubit excitation rate due to field interactions (as is often done), we instead use Open EFT techniques to compute the late-time evolution to all orders in $g^2 t/r_s$ (while neglecting order $g^4 t/r_s$ effects) where $r_s = 2GM$ is the Schwarzschild radius. We show that for qubits sufficiently close to the horizon the late-time evolution takes a simple universal form that depends only on the near-horizon geometry, assuming only that the quantum field is prepared in a Hadamard-type state (such as the Hartle-Hawking or Unruh vacua). When the redshifted energy difference, $\omega_\infty$, between the two qubit states (as measured by a distant observer looking at the detector) satisfies $\omega_\infty r_s \ll 1$ this universal evolution becomes Markovian and describes an exponential approach to equilibrium with the Hawking radiation, with the off-diagonal and diagonal components of the qubit density matrix relaxing to equilibrium with different characteristic times, both of order $r_s/g^2$., Comment: 24 pages plus appendix, 2 figures v2) now published in JHEP, typos fixed and added subsection on the frame independence of the Markovian limit

Temporal evolution of a comoving qubit coupled to a scalar field in de Sitter space is studied with an emphasis on reliable extraction of late-time behaviour. The phenomenon of critical slowing down is observed if the effective mass is chosen to be sufficiently close to zero, which narrows the window of parameter space in which the Markovian approximation is valid. The dynamics of the system in this case are solved in a more general setting by accounting for non-Markovian effects in the evolution of the qubit state. Self-interactions for the scalar field are also incorporated, and reveal a breakdown of late-time perturbative predictions due to the presence of secular growth., Comment: 26 pages plus appendices, 1 figure; v2) now published in JHEP, typos fixed and references added

We compute how an accelerating qubit coupled to a scalar field - i.e. an Unruh-DeWitt detector - evolves in flat space, with an emphasis on its late-time behaviour. When calculable, the qubit evolves towards a thermal state for a field prepared in the Minkowski vacuum, with the approach to this limit controlled by two different time-scales. For a free field we compute both of these as functions of the difference between qubit energy levels, the dimensionless qubit/field coupling constant, the scalar field mass and the qubit's proper acceleration. Both time-scales differ from the Candelas-Deutsch-Sciama transition rate traditionally computed for Unruh-DeWitt detectors, which we show describes the qubit's early-time evolution away from the vacuum rather than its late-time approach to equilibrium. For small enough couplings and sufficiently late times the evolution is Markovian and described by a Lindblad equation, which we derive in detail from first principles as a special instance of Open EFT methods designed to handle a breakdown of late-time perturbative predictions due to the presence of secular growth. We show how this growth is resummed in this example to give reliable information about late-time evolution including both qubit/field interactions and field self-interactions. By allowing very explicit treatment, the qubit/field system allows a systematic assessment of the approximations needed when exploring late-time evolution, in a way that lends itself to gravitational applications. It also allows a comparison of these approximations with those - e.g. the `rotating-wave' approximation - widely made in the open-system literature (which is aimed more at atomic transitions and lasers)., Comment: 28 pages plus appendices, 1 figure; v2) now published in JHEP, typos fixed and references added

Persistent puzzles to do with information loss for black holes have stimulated critical reassessment of the domain of validity of semiclassical EFT reasoning in curved spacetimes, particularly in the presence of horizons. We argue here that perturbative predictions about evolution for very long times near a horizon are subject to problems of secular growth - i.e. powers of small couplings come systematically together with growing functions of time. Such growth signals a breakdown of naive perturbative calculations of late-time behaviour, regardless of how small ambient curvatures might be. Similar issues of secular growth also arise in cosmology, and we build evidence for the case that such effects should be generic for gravitational fields. In particular, inferences using free fields coupled only to background metrics can be misleading at very late times due to the implicit assumption they make of perturbation theory when neglecting other interactions. Using the Rindler horizon as an example we show how this secular growth parallels similar phenomena for thermal systems, and how it can be resummed to allow late-time inferences to be drawn more robustly. Some comments are made about the appearance of an IR/UV interplay in this calculation, as well as on the possible relevance of our calculations to predictions near black-hole horizons., Comment: LaTeX, 17 pages plus appendix; added references and subsection on back-reaction