A clock is just a way to tell the time: gravitational algebras in cosmological spacetimes

TL;DR

This paper investigates the algebra of gauge-invariant observables in semiclassical quantum gravity within cosmological spacetimes, revealing the role of physical clocks like inflaton fields and black holes in defining these algebras without external references.

Contribution

It demonstrates the existence of nontrivial Type II gravitational algebras in cosmological backgrounds using physical clocks, extending previous results and exploring their entropy and structure.

Findings

Both inflation and black hole cases yield Type II$_ty$ algebras.

These algebras are not manifestly crossed products.

Out-of-equilibrium dynamics are crucial for defining gauge-invariant observables.

Abstract

We study the algebra of observables in semiclassical quantum gravity for cosmological backgrounds, focusing on two key examples: slow-roll inflation and evaporating Schwarzschild-de Sitter black holes. In both cases, we demonstrate the existence of a nontrivial algebra of diffeomorphism-invariant observables \emph{without} the introduction of an external clock system or the presence of any asymptotic gravitational charges. Instead, the rolling inflaton field and the evaporating black hole act as physical clocks that allow a definition of gauge-invariant observables at $G = 0$. The resulting algebras are both Type II$_\infty$ factors, but neither is manifestly a crossed product algebra. We establish a connection between the Type II entropy of these algebras and generalized entropies for appropriate states. Our work extends previous results on Type II gravitational algebras and highlights the crucial role of out-of-equilibrium dynamics for defining gauge-invariant observables in semiclassical canonically quantised gravity. We also briefly discuss the construction of gauge-invariant algebras for compact wedges bounded by extremal surfaces in generic spacetimes (i.e. in the absence of any Killing symmetry). In contrast to the inflaton and black hole cases, this algebra does end up being a simple crossed product. No clock or asymptotic charges are required because of the absence of any symmetry in the classical background.