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arXiv:2505.17450 · Journal of High Energy Physics

Decoherence by black holes via holography

Shoichi Kawamoto, Da-Shin Lee, Chen-Pin Yeh

Published Jan 23, 2026• 3 citations
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Abstract

A bstract In this note, we reexamine decoherence effects in quantum field theories with gravity duals. The thought experiment proposed in [1, 2], which reveals novel decoherence patterns associated with black holes, also manifests itself from the perspective of the boundary theory. In particular, we consider a moving mirror coupled to quantum critical theories characterized by a dynamical exponent z that are dual to asymptotically Lifshitz geometries. The interference experiment occurs on the boundary, where a superposition of two spatially separated quantum states of a mirror is maintained for a finite time τ 0 before recombination. We find that the interaction with a quantum field at finite temperature, arising from the presence of a Lifshitz black hole, leads to a constant decoherence rate. In contrast, for the zero-temperature case corresponding to pure Lifshitz spacetime, the decoherence rate vanishes in the large-time limit τ 0 → ∞. Remarkably, in the zero-temperature regime, the decoherence exhibits a power-law decay at large τ 0 as z → ∞, a behavior reminiscent of the decoherence patterns seen in extremal black hole geometries. In addition, we investigate the decoherence of one particle in an EPR pair constructed holographically. Our results indicate that causality plays a crucial role in determining whether the entanglement leads to the suppression of decoherence in the other particle.

DOI
10.1007/jhep01(2026)154

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A bstract In this note, we reexamine decoherence effects in quantum field theories with gravity duals. The thought experiment proposed in [1, 2], which reveals novel decoherence patterns associated with black holes, also manifests itself from the perspective of the boundary theory. In particular, we consider a moving mirror coupled to quantum critical theories characterized by a dynamical exponent z that are dual to asymptotically Lifshitz geometries. The interference experiment occurs on the boundary, where a superposition of two spatially separated quantum states of a mirror is maintained for a finite time τ 0 before recombination. We find that the interaction with a quantum field at finite temperature, arising from the presence of a Lifshitz black hole, leads to a constant decoherence rate. In contrast, for the zero-temperature case corresponding to pure Lifshitz spacetime, the decoherence rate vanishes in the large-time limit τ 0 → ∞. Remarkably, in the zero-temperature regime, the decoherence exhibits a power-law decay at large τ 0 as z → ∞, a behavior reminiscent of the decoherence patterns seen in extremal black hole geometries. In addition, we investigate the decoherence of one particle in an EPR pair constructed holographically. Our results indicate that causality plays a crucial role in determining whether the entanglement leads to the suppression of decoherence in the other particle.
We study the decoherence induced by near-extremal charged black holes on quantum systems in their exterior. Specifically, we analyze a thought experiment recently discussed in the literature, where the quantum system is a charged particle prepared in a spatial superposition. Near-extremal black holes are known to exhibit large quantum metric fluctuations of the near-horizon geometry at low temperatures. We show that, at late times, if the black hole is sufficiently close to extremality, these quantum gravity effects make the decoherence rate vanish. This phenomenon is due to a spin-induced energy gap in the quantum black hole spectrum. For energies above the gap, the decoherence rate becomes nonzero, but is still suppressed relative to semiclassical expectations, so these quantum gravity effects always enhance the coherence of the superposition.
Recent work by Danielson, Satishchandran, and Wald (DSW) has shown that black holes—and, in fact, Killing horizons more generally—impart a fundamental rate of decoherence on all nearby quantum superpositions. The effect can be understood from measurement and causality: An observer (Bob) in the black hole should be able to disturb outside quantum superpositions by measuring their superposed gravitational fields, but since his actions cannot (by causality) have this effect, the superpositions must automatically disturb themselves. DSW calculated the rate of decoherence up to an unknown numerical factor for distant observers in Schwarzschild spacetime, Rindler observers in flat spacetime, and static observers in de Sitter spacetime. Working in electromagnetic and Klein-Gordon analogs, we flesh out and generalize their calculation to derive a general formula for the precise decoherence rate for Killing observers near bifurcate Killing horizons. We evaluate the rate in closed form for an observer at an arbitrary location on the symmetry axis of a Kerr black hole. This fixes the numerical factor in the distant-observer Schwarzschild result, while allowing new exploration of near-horizon and/or near-extremal behavior. In the electromagnetic case we find that the decoherence vanishes entirely in the extremal limit, due to the “black hole Meissner effect” screening the Coulomb field from entering the black hole. This supports the causality picture: Since Bob is unable to measure the field of the outside superposition, no decoherence is necessary—and indeed none occurs. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
The dynamics of a particle influenced by strongly coupled quantum critical theories is studied by the holographic approach. Based upon the bottom-up approach a real-time prescription for the AdS/CFT correspondence in the context of nonequilibrium physics is developed in accordance with the field theoretic requirements, by which the associated holographic influence functional is obtained. We then study the decoherence dynamics of a particle induced by the quantum critical theories with a dynamical exponent zzz. We find that as zzz increases, the decoherence effect becomes less significant. Similar behavior is found as we heat up the environment. However, in this case the decoherence effect is enhanced not only by its strong coupling constant but also from the finite temperature effect. Finally a comparison is made with the result of a particle influenced by the free field.
Abstract The evolution of the Von Neumann entanglement entropy of a n-dimensional mirror influenced by the strongly coupled d-dimensional quantum critical fields with a dynamic exponent z is studied by the holographic approach. The dual description is a n+1-dimensional probe brane moving in the d+1-dimensional asymptotic Lifshitz geometry ended at r = r b, which plays a role as the UV energy cutoff. Using the holographic influence functional method, we find that in the linear response region, by introducing a harmonic trap for the mirror, which serves as a IR energy cutoff, the Von Neumann entropy at late times will saturate by a power-law in time for generic values of z and n. The saturated value and the relaxation rate depend on the parameter α ≡ 1+(n+2)/z, which is restricted to 1 < α < 3 but α = 2. We find that the saturated values of the entropy are qualitatively different for the theories with 1 < α < 2 and 2 < α < 3. Additionally, the power law relaxation follows the rate ∝ t −2α−1. This probe brane approach provides an alternative way to study the time evolution of the entanglement entropy in the linear response region that shows the similar power-law relaxation behavior as in the studies of entanglement entropies based on Ryu-Takayanagi conjecture. We also compare our results with quantum Brownian motion in a bath of relativistic free fields.
Recently, it has been shown that a quantum system held in spatial superposition and then eventually recombined does experience decoherence from black hole horizons, at a level increasing linearly with the time the superposition has been kept open. In this, the effects of the horizon have been derived using a classical spacetime picture for the latter. In the present paper we point out that quantum aspects of the geometry itself of the quantum black hole could significantly affect the results. In a specific effective implementation of the quantum geometry in terms of a minimal length and ensuing minimal area, it appears in particular that, for selected values of the quantum of area proposed on various grounds in the literature, the decoherence induced by the horizon turns out to be limited to negligibly small values.
We investigate the application of our recent holographic entanglement negativity conjecture for higher dimensional conformal field theories to specific examples which serve as crucial consistency checks. In this context we compute the holographic entanglement negativity for bipartite pure and finite temperature mixed state configurations in d-dimensional conformal field theories dual to bulk pure AdSd+1AdS_{d+1}AdSd+1​ geometry and AdSd+1AdS_{d+1}AdSd+1​ -Schwarzschild black holes respectively. It is observed that the holographic entanglement negativity characterizes the distillable entanglement for the finite temperature mixed states through the elimination of the thermal contributions. Significantly our examples correctly reproduce universal features of the entanglement negativity for corresponding two dimensional conformal field theories, in higher dimensions.