{"title":"The enigmatic gravitational partition function","authors":"Batoul Banihashemi, Ted Jacobson","doi":"10.1007/s10714-024-03347-0","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The saddle point approximation to formal quantum gravitational partition functions has yielded plausible computations of horizon entropy in various settings, but it stands on shaky ground. In this paper we visit some of that shaky ground, address some foundational questions, and describe efforts toward a more solid footing. We focus on the case of de Sitter horizon entropy which, it has been argued, corresponds to the dimension of the Hilbert space of a ball of space surrounded by the cosmological horizon.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":578,"journal":{"name":"General Relativity and Gravitation","volume":"57 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"General Relativity and Gravitation","FirstCategoryId":"101","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10714-024-03347-0","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The saddle point approximation to formal quantum gravitational partition functions has yielded plausible computations of horizon entropy in various settings, but it stands on shaky ground. In this paper we visit some of that shaky ground, address some foundational questions, and describe efforts toward a more solid footing. We focus on the case of de Sitter horizon entropy which, it has been argued, corresponds to the dimension of the Hilbert space of a ball of space surrounded by the cosmological horizon.
期刊介绍:
General Relativity and Gravitation is a journal devoted to all aspects of modern gravitational science, and published under the auspices of the International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation.
It welcomes in particular original articles on the following topics of current research:
Analytical general relativity, including its interface with geometrical analysis
Numerical relativity
Theoretical and observational cosmology
Relativistic astrophysics
Gravitational waves: data analysis, astrophysical sources and detector science
Extensions of general relativity
Supergravity
Gravitational aspects of string theory and its extensions
Quantum gravity: canonical approaches, in particular loop quantum gravity, and path integral approaches, in particular spin foams, Regge calculus and dynamical triangulations
Quantum field theory in curved spacetime
Non-commutative geometry and gravitation
Experimental gravity, in particular tests of general relativity
The journal publishes articles on all theoretical and experimental aspects of modern general relativity and gravitation, as well as book reviews and historical articles of special interest.