Yasaman K. Yazdi

Imperial College London | Imperial · Department of Physics

This paper investigates Everpresent $\Lambda$, a stochastic dark energy model motivated by causal set theory and unimodular gravity, and confronts it with two key observational data sets, Supernova Ia (SN Ia) and Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data. A key feature of this model is that $\Lambda$ fluctuates over time and on average the magnitude o...

We provide a comprehensive discussion of the Everpresent $\Lambda$ cosmological model arising from fundamental principles in causal set theory and unimodular gravity. In this framework the value of the cosmological constant ($\Lambda$) fluctuates, in magnitude and in sign, over cosmic history. At each epoch, $\Lambda$ stays statistically close to t...

We review a formulation of the entanglement entropy of a quantum scalar field in terms of its spacetime two-point correlation functions. We discuss applications of this formulation to studying entanglement entropy in various settings in causal set theory. These settings include sprinklings of causal diamonds in various dimensions in flat spacetime,...

The Sorkin-Johnston (SJ) state is a candidate physical vacuum state for a scalar field in a generic curved spacetime. It has the attractive feature that it is covariantly and uniquely defined in any globally hyperbolic spacetime, often reflecting the underlying symmetries if there are any. A potential drawback of the SJ state is that it does not al...

Entanglement entropy in causal sets offers a fundamentally covariant characterisation of quantum field degrees of freedom. A known result in this context is that the degrees of freedom consist of a number of contributions that have continuum-like analogues, in addition to a number of contributions that do not. The latter exhibit features below the...

A more complete understanding of entanglement entropy in a covariant manner could inform the search for quantum gravity. We build on work in this direction by extending previous results to disjoint regions in 1 + 1D. We investigate the entanglement entropy of a scalar field in disjoint intervals within the causal set framework, using the spacetime c...

Entanglement entropy in causal sets offers a fundamentally covariant characterisation of quantum field degrees of freedom. A known result in this context is that the degrees of freedom consist of a number of contributions that have continuum-like analogues, in addition to a number of contributions that do not. The latter exhibit features below the...

A more complete understanding of entanglement entropy in a covariant manner could inform the search for quantum gravity. We build on work in this direction by extending previous results to disjoint regions in $1+1$D. We investigate the entanglement entropy of a scalar field in disjoint intervals within the causal set framework, using the spacetime...

de Sitter (dS) cosmological horizons are known to exhibit thermodynamic properties similar to black hole horizons. In this work we study causal set dS horizons, using Sorkin’s spacetime entanglement entropy (SSEE) formula, for a conformally coupled quantum scalar field. We calculate the causal set SSEE for the Rindler-like wedge of a symmetric slab...

We study discrete Lorentzian spectral geometry by investigating to what extent causal sets can be identified through a set of geometric invariants such as spectra. We build on previous work where it was shown that the spectra of certain operators derived from the causal matrix possess considerable but not complete power to distinguish causal sets....

A bstract Entanglement entropy of quantum fields in gravitational settings is a topic of growing importance. This entropy of entanglement is conventionally computed relative to Cauchy hypersurfaces where it is possible via a partial tracing to associate a reduced density matrix to the spacelike region of interest. In recent years Sorkin has propose...

de Sitter cosmological horizons are known to exhibit thermodynamic properties similar to black hole horizons. In this work we study causal set de Sitter horizons, using Sorkin's spacetime entanglement entropy (SSEE) formula, for a conformally coupled quantum scalar field. We calculate the causal set SSEE for the Rindler-like wedge of a symmetric sl...

We study discrete Lorentzian spectral geometry by investigating to what extent causal sets can be identified through a set of geometric invariants such as spectra. We build on previous work where it was shown that the spectra of certain operators derived from the causal matrix possess considerable but not complete power to distinguish causal sets....

Entanglement entropy of quantum fields in gravitational settings is a topic of growing importance. This entropy of entanglement is conventionally computed relative to Cauchy hypersurfaces where it is possible via a partial tracing to associate a reduced density matrix to the spacelike region of interest. In recent years Sorkin has proposed an alter...

A bstract In this work we study the Sorkin-Johnston (SJ) vacuum in de Sitter spacetime for free scalar field theory. For the massless theory we find that the SJ vacuum can neither be obtained from the O (4) Fock vacuum of Allen and Folacci nor from the non-Fock de Sitter invariant vacuum of Kirsten and Garriga. Using a causal set discretisation of...

To a significant extent, the metrical and topological properties of spacetime can be described purely order-theoretically. The K⁺ relation has proven to be useful for this purpose, and one could wonder whether it could serve as the primary causal order from which everything else would follow. In that direction, we prove, by defining a suitable orde...

In this work we study the Sorkin-Johnston (SJ) vacuum in de Sitter spacetime for free scalar field theory. For the massless theory we find that the SJ vacuum can neither be obtained from the $O(4)$ Fock vacuum of Allen and Folacci nor from the non-Fock de Sitter invariant vacuum of Kirsten and Garriga. Using a causal set discretisation of a slab of...

To a significant extent, the metrical and topological properties of spacetime can be described purely order-theoretically. The $K^+$ relation has proven to be useful for this purpose, and one could wonder whether it could serve as the primary causal order from which everything else would follow. In that direction, we prove, by defining a suitable o...

Entanglement entropy is now widely accepted as having deep connections with quantum gravity. It is therefore desirable to understand it in the context of causal sets, especially since they provide in a natural manner the UV cutoff needed to render entanglement entropy finite. Defining entropy in a causal set is not straightforward because the type...

We show that the Feynman propagator (or the d'Alembertian) of a causal set contains the complete information about the causal set. Intuitively, this is because the Feynman propagator, being a correlator that decays with distance, provides a measure for the invariant distance between pairs of events. Further, we show that even the spectra alone (of...

One of the most fundamental features of a black hole in general relativity is its event horizon: a boundary from which nothing can escape. There has been a recent surge of interest in the nature of these event horizons and their local neighbourhoods. In an attempt to resolve black hole information paradox(es), and more generally, to better understa...

Standard accretion disk theory (Shakura & Sunyaev 1973) predicts that the total pressure in disks at typical (sub-)Eddington accretion rates becomes radiation pressure dominated. However, radiation pressure dominated disks are thermally unstable. Since these disks are observed in approximate steady state over the instability time-scale, our accreti...

Ultraviolet divergences are widely discussed in studies of entanglement entropy. Also present, but much less understood, are infrared divergences due to zero modes in the field theory. In this note, we discuss the importance of carefully handling zero modes in entanglement entropy. We give an explicit example for a chain of harmonic oscillators in...

arXiv:1205.2953 defines an entropy for a gaussian scalar field $\phi$ in an arbitrary region of either a causal set or a continuous spacetime, given only the correlator $\langle\phi(x)\phi(y)\rangle$ within the region. As a first application, we compute numerically the entanglement entropy in two cases where the asymptotic form is known or suspecte...

We apply a recent proposal for a distinguished ground state of a quantum field in a globally hyperbolic spacetime to the free massless scalar field in a causal diamond in two-dimensional Minkowski space. We investigate the two limits in which the Wightman function is evaluated (i) for pairs of points that lie in the centre of the diamond (i.e. far...