Precursors, black holes, and a locality bound

TL;DR

This paper reexamines the nature of precursors in AdS/CFT, challenging previous ideas and linking the concept to a locality bound and the spacetime uncertainty principle to better understand holography and black hole information.

Contribution

It proposes a new perspective on precursors, connecting their role to a saturation of a locality bound and deriving the spacetime uncertainty principle from this relationship.

Findings

Previous Wilson loop models for precursors are flawed.

Precursors become evident when saturating a locality bound.

The spacetime uncertainty principle follows from this bound.

Abstract

We revisit the problem of precursors in the AdS/CFT correspondence. Identification of the precursors is expected to improve our understanding of the tension between holography and bulk locality and of the resolution of the black hole information paradox. Previous arguments that the precursors are large, undecorated Wilson loops are found to be flawed. We argue that the role of precursors should become evident when one saturates a certain locality bound. The spacetime uncertainty principle is a direct consequence of this bound.