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arXiv:2203.09797

ER=EPR, Entanglement Topology and Tensor Networks

Louis Hirsch Kauffman

Published Mar 18, 2022• 1 citation
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Abstract

This paper discusses ER = EPR, the hypothesis of Susskind and Maldacena that entangled black holes are connected by an Einstein-Rosen bridge, and that more generally, quantum entanglement is accompanied by topological connectivity. Given a background space and a quantum tensor network, we describe how to construct a new topological space, that welds the network and the background space together. This construction embodies the principle that quantum entanglement and topological connectivity are intimately related.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2203.09797

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This paper discusses ER = EPR, the hypothesis of Susskind and Maldacena that entangled black holes are connected by an Einstein-Rosen bridge, and that more generally, quantum entanglement is accompanied by topological connectivity. Given a background space and a quantum tensor network, we describe how to construct a new topological space, that welds the network and the background space together. This construction embodies the principle that quantum entanglement and topological connectivity are intimately related.
Kauffman and Lomonaco (New J Phys 4:73.1–73.18, 2002. arXiv:quant-ph/0401090 , New J Phys 6:134.1–134.40, 2004) explored the idea of understanding quantum entanglement (the non-local correlation of certain properties of particles) topologically by viewing unitary entangling operators as braiding operators. In Alagic et al. (Yang–Baxter operators need quantum entanglement to distinguish knots, 2015. arXiv:1507.05979v1 ), it is shown that entanglement is a necessary condition for forming non-trivial invariants of knots from braid closures via solutions to the Yang–Baxter equation. We show that the arguments used by Alagic et al. (2015) generalize to essentially the same results for quantum invariant state summation models of knots. In one case (the unoriented swap case) we give an example of a Yang–Baxter operator, and associated quantum invariant, that can detect the Hopf link. Again this is analogous to the results of Alagic et al. (2015). We also give a class of R matrices that are entangling and are weak invariants of classical knots and links yet strong invariants of virtual knots and links. We also give an example of an SU(2) representation of the three-strand braid group that models the Jones polynomial for closures of three-strand braids. This invariant is a quantum model for the Jones polynomial restricted to three-strand braids, and it does not involve quantum entanglement. These relationships between topological braiding and quantum entanglement can be used as a framework for future work in understanding the properties of entangling gates in topological quantum computing. The paper ends with a discussion of the Aravind hypothesis about the direct relationship of knots and quantum entanglement and the ER=EPRER = EPRER=EPR E R = E P R hypothesis about the relationship of quantum entanglement with the connectivity of space. We describe how, given a background space and a quantum tensor network, to construct a new topological space that welds the network and the background space together. This construction embodies the principle that quantum entanglement and topological connectivity are intimately related.
The phenomenon of quantum entanglement, famously described by Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen (EPR) as "spooky action at a distance," remains a fundamental mystery of quantum mechanics. In this monograph, we resolve the EPR paradox using Topological Quantum Chromodynamics (Topological QCD). We mathematically prove the ER=EPR conjecture without string theory, demonstrating that entangled particles are physically connected by microscopic Einstein-Rosen bridges formed within the Gravitational Spin Polarization Tensor Πab\Pi_{ab}Πab​. Bell's inequalities are geometrically violated not due to superluminal signaling, but because the topological distance between entangled particles through the spin network is strictly zero. The modified Lichnerowicz identity provides the geometric stability for these macroscopic quantum connections.
Maldacena and Susskind have proposed a correspondence between wormholes and entanglement, dubbed ER=EPR. We study this in the context of three-dimensional topological quantum field theory (TQFT), where we show that the formation of a wormhole is the same process as creating a particle–antiparticle pair. A key feature of the ER=EPR proposal is that certain apparently entangled degrees of freedom turn out to be the same. We name this phenomenon ‘fake entanglement’, and show how it arises in our TQFT model.
Maldacena and Susskind have proposed a correspondence between wormholes and entanglement, dubbed ER=EPR. We study this in the context of three-dimensional topological quantum field theory (TQFT), where we show that the formation of a wormhole is the same process as creating a particle–antiparticle pair. A key feature of the ER=EPR proposal is that certain apparently entangled degrees of freedom turn out to be the same. We name this phenomenon ‘fake entanglement’, and show how it arises in our TQFT model.
If spacetime is built out of quantum bits, does the shape of space depend on how the bits are entangled? The ER=EPR\mathrm{ER}=\mathrm{EPR}ER=EPR conjecture relates the entanglement entropy of a collection of black holes to the cross sectional area of Einstein-Rosen (ER) bridges (or wormholes) connecting them. We show that the geometrical entropy of classical ER bridges satisfies the subadditivity, triangle, strong subadditivity, and Cadney-Linden-Winter inequalities. These are nontrivial properties of entanglement entropy, so this is evidence for ER=EPR\mathrm{ER}=\mathrm{EPR}ER=EPR. We further show that the entanglement entropy associated with classical ER bridges has nonpositive tripartite information. This is not a property of entanglement entropy, in general. For example, the entangled four qubit pure state ∣GHZ4⟩=(∣0000⟩+∣1111⟩)/2|GH{Z}_{4}⟩=(|0000⟩+|1111⟩)/\sqrt{2}∣GHZ4​⟩=(∣0000⟩+∣1111⟩)/2​ has positive tripartite information, so this state cannot be described by a classical ER bridge. Large black holes with massive amounts of entanglement between them can fail to have a classical ER bridge if they are built out of ∣GHZ4⟩|GH{Z}_{4}⟩∣GHZ4​⟩ states. States with nonpositive tripartite information are called monogamous. We conclude that classical ER bridges require monogamous EPR correlations.