Matthew Headrick (Brandeis University), Mysterious properties of holographic entanglement

Tuesday 31 Mar 2026, 11:15 → 12:15 Europe/Stockholm

Albano 3: 6228 - Mega (22 seats) (Albano Building 3)

Abstract: The Ryu-Takayanagi holographic entanglement entropy formula is a cornerstone of our modern understanding of holography and quantum gravity. It predicts that static holographic states have many peculiar properties, expressed as inequalities obeyed by entanglement entropies. These inequalities remain deeply mysterious, both on conceptual and technical levels. Can we decode what they’re telling us about the entanglement structure of semiclassical states in quantum gravity? For that, we need to know if the inequalities are obeyed in time-dependent states, in other words by the covariant Hubeny-Rangamani-Takayanagi formula. This is itself a fascinating problem in general relativity. We will review the state of the art on these questions, including the attempts to resolve them and the evidence that has been gathered so far.