Emergence of Spacetime: From Entanglement to Einstein

TL;DR

This paper explores how thermodynamics and entanglement underpin the emergence of spacetime and gravity, deriving Einstein's equations from thermodynamic principles and providing microscopic insights via holography.

Contribution

It establishes a novel connection between thermodynamics, entanglement, and gravity, deriving Einstein's equations from local thermodynamic laws and extending the entanglement equilibrium framework.

Findings

Derives the null energy condition from thermodynamics.

Provides a microscopic explanation of thermodynamic volume in AdS/CFT.

Extends the first law of entanglement to lower-dimensional gravity models.

Abstract

Here I develop the connection between thermodynamics, entanglement, and gravity. I begin by showing that the classical null energy condition (NEC) can arise as a consequence of the second law of thermodynamics applied to local holographic screens. This is accomplished by essentially reversing the steps of Hawking's area theorem, leading to the Ricci convergence condition as an input, from which an application of Einstein's equations yields the NEC -- even in the presence of 1-loop quantum corrections to the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy formula. Then, by attributing thermodynamics to the stretched horizon of future lightcones -- a timelike hypersurface generated by a collection of radially accelerating observers with constant and uniform proper acceleration -- I derive Einstein's equations from the Clausius relation $T\Delta S_{\text{rev}}=Q$, where $\Delta S_{\text{rev}}$ is the reversible entropy change. Based on this derivation I uncover a local first law of gravity, $\Delta E=T\Delta S-W$, connecting gravitational entropy $S$ to matter energy $E$ and work $W$. I then provide an entanglement interpretation of stretched lightcone thermodynamics by extending the entanglement equilibrium proposal. Using the $\text{AdS}_{3}/\text{CFT}_{2}$ correspondence, I then provide a microscopic explanation of the `thermodynamic volume' in extended black hole thermodynamics and reveal the super-entropicity of $\text{AdS}_{3}$ black holes is due to the gravitational entropy overcounting the number of available dual $\text{CFT}_{2}$ states. Finally, I conclude by providing a recent generalization of the extended first law of entanglement, and study its non-trivial 2+1- and 1+1-dimensional limits, including an extended first law for Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity. This thesis is self-contained and pedagogical by including useful background content relevant to emergent gravity.