Quantum coherent dynamics of quasiclassical spacetimes

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Wang, Sijia, Sajeendran, Achintya, Yeom, Dong-han, Mann, Robert B., Foo, Joshua
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Wang, Sijia
Sajeendran, Achintya
Yeom, Dong-han
Mann, Robert B.
Foo, Joshua
author_facet Wang, Sijia
Sajeendran, Achintya
Yeom, Dong-han
Mann, Robert B.
Foo, Joshua
contents In a wide range of quantum gravity theories, quasiclassical geometries, which are solutions to the Einstein field equations approximately, are described by "coherent states." Here we propose a Hamiltonian formalism for gravitational dynamics with respect to this coherent state basis, which generates time evolution of the spacetime with respect to a clock at infinity. Since the coherent states are not orthogonal, an initial quasiclassical geometry is dynamically driven into a superposition of different amplitudes. Our framework provides a dynamical mechanism for tunneling between geometries that is ubiquitous in a number of approaches to quantum gravity, from loop quantum gravity to the Euclidean path integral. We apply our framework to the problem of black hole evaporation, providing a hint at how unitarity may be preserved with the inclusion of quantum corrections to the semiclassical evolution of the black hole.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_20759
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Quantum coherent dynamics of quasiclassical spacetimes
Wang, Sijia
Sajeendran, Achintya
Yeom, Dong-han
Mann, Robert B.
Foo, Joshua
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Theory
Quantum Physics
In a wide range of quantum gravity theories, quasiclassical geometries, which are solutions to the Einstein field equations approximately, are described by "coherent states." Here we propose a Hamiltonian formalism for gravitational dynamics with respect to this coherent state basis, which generates time evolution of the spacetime with respect to a clock at infinity. Since the coherent states are not orthogonal, an initial quasiclassical geometry is dynamically driven into a superposition of different amplitudes. Our framework provides a dynamical mechanism for tunneling between geometries that is ubiquitous in a number of approaches to quantum gravity, from loop quantum gravity to the Euclidean path integral. We apply our framework to the problem of black hole evaporation, providing a hint at how unitarity may be preserved with the inclusion of quantum corrections to the semiclassical evolution of the black hole.
title Quantum coherent dynamics of quasiclassical spacetimes
topic General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Theory
Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.20759