Phenomenology of Holography via Quantum Coherence on Causal Horizons

Abstract

There is much recent development towards interferometric measurements of holographic quantum uncertainties in an emergent background space-time. Despite increasing promise for the target detection regime of Planckian strain power spectral density, the foundational insights of the motivating theories have not been connected to a phenomenological model of observables measured in a realistic experiment. This work proposes a candidate model, based on the central hypothesis that all horizons are universal boundaries of coherent quantum information — where the decoherence of space-time happens for the observer. The prediction is inspired by ’t Hooft’s algebra for black hole information that gives coherent states on horizons, whose spatial correlations were shown by Verlinde and Zurek to also appear on holographic fluctuations of causal boundaries in flat space-time (conformal Killing horizons). Time-domain correlations are projected from Planckian jitters whose coherence scales match causal diamonds, motivated by Banks’ framework for the emergence of space-time and locality. The universality of this coherence on causal horizons compels a multimodal research program probing concordant signatures: An analysis of cosmological data to probe primordial correlations, motivated by Hogan’s interpretation of well-known CMB anomalies as coherent fluctuations on the inflationary horizon, and upcoming 3D interferometers to probe causal diamonds in flat space-time. Candidate interferometer geometries are presented, with a modeled frequency spectrum for each design.