A Type II Approximation of the Crossed Product

I show that an analog of the crossed product construction that takes type $III_{1}$ algebras to type $II$ algebras exists also in the type $I$ case. This is particularly natural when the local algebra is a non-trivial direct sum of type $I$ factors. Concretely, I rewrite the usual type $I$ trace in a different way and renormalise it. This new renormalised trace stays well-defined even when each factor is taken to be type $III$. I am able to recover both type $II_{\infty}$ as well as type $II_{1}$ algebras by imposing different constraints on the central operator in the code. An example of this structure appears in holographic quantum error-correcting codes; the central operator is then the area operator.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure

On The Entanglement Entropy For Gauge Theories

We propose a definition for the entanglement entropy of a gauge theory on a spatial lattice. Our definition applies to any subset of links in the lattice, and is valid for both Abelian and Non-Abelian gauge theories. For $\mathbb{Z}_N$ and $U(1)$ theories, without matter, our definition agrees with a particular case of the definition given by Casini, Huerta and Rosabal. We also argue that in general, both for Abelian and Non-Abelian theories, our definition agrees with the entanglement entropy calculated using a definition of the replica trick. Our definition, however, does not agree with some standard ways to measure entanglement, like the number of Bell pairs which can be produced by entanglement distillation.Comment: 29 pages, 4 figures; section on Extended Lattice Construction revised and some changes in referencing; some of the discussion of the replica trick changed; section on SU(2) revised for clarit

Scalar Asymptotic Charges and Dual Large Gauge Transformations

In recent years soft factorization theorems in scattering amplitudes have been reinterpreted as conservation laws of asymptotic charges. In gauge, gravity, and higher spin theories the asymptotic charges can be understood as canonical generators of large gauge symmetries. Such a symmetry interpretation has been so far missing for scalar soft theorems. We remedy this situation by treating the massless scalar field in terms of a dual two-form gauge field. We show that the asymptotic charges associated to the scalar soft theorem can be understood as generators of large gauge transformations of the dual two-form field. The dual picture introduces two new puzzles: the charges have very unexpected Poisson brackets with the fields, and the monopole term does not always have a dual gauge transformation interpretation. We find analogs of these two properties in the Kramers-Wannier duality on a finite lattice, indicating that the free scalar theory has new edge modes at infinity that canonically commute with all the bulk degrees of freedom.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figure

Islands with Gravitating Baths: Towards ER = EPR

We study the Page curve and the island rule for black holes evaporating into gravitating baths, with an eye towards establishing a connection with the ER=EPR proposal. We consider several models of two entangled 2d black holes in Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity with negative cosmological constant. The first, "doubled PSSY," model is one in which the black holes have end-of-the-world (ETW) branes with a flavour degree of freedom. We study highly entangled states of this flavour degree of freedom and find an entanglement-induced Hawking-Page-like transition from a geometry with two disconnected black holes to one with a pair of black holes connected by a wormhole, thus realising the ER = EPR proposal. The second model is a dynamical one in which the ETW branes do not have internal degrees of freedom but the JT gravity is coupled to a 2d CFT, and we entangle the black holes by coupling the two CFTs at the $AdS$ boundary and evolving for a long time. We study the entanglement entropy between the two black holes and find that the story is substantially similar to that with a non-gravitating thermal bath. In the third model, we couple the two ends of a two-sided eternal black hole and evolve for a long time. Finally, we discuss the possibility of a Hawking-Page-like transition induced by real-time evolution that realises the ER = EPR proposal in this dynamical setting.Comment: 47+14 pages, 16 figures. Comments welcom

On the Dynamics of Near-Extremal Black Holes

We analyse the dynamics of near-extremal Reissner-Nordstr\"om black holes in asymptotically four-dimensional Anti-de Sitter space (AdS$_4$). We work in the spherically symmetric approximation and study the thermodynamics and the response to a probe scalar field. We find that the behaviour of the system, at low energies and to leading order in our approximations, is well described by the Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) model of gravity. In fact, this behaviour can be understood from symmetry considerations and arises due to the breaking of time reparametrisation invariance. The JT model has been analysed in considerable detail recently and related to the behaviour of the SYK model. Our results indicate that features in these models which arise from symmetry considerations alone are more general and present quite universally in near-extremal black holes.Comment: 44 (=26+18) pages, 1 figure, 6 appendices; v2: references added; v3: minor changes made; v4: additional references added, version accepted in JHE