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The Holographic Bootstrap

Project description

Extending holography to realistic universes

Understanding quantum gravity – the theory that unites quantum mechanics and gravity – remains one of science’s greatest challenges. The holographic principle offers a promising clue, suggesting that physical information may be encoded on lower-dimensional surfaces, much like a 3D image stored on a 2D hologram. However, this idea has so far been explored mainly in idealised settings such as anti-de Sitter space. The ERC-funded HoloBoot project will extend holography to more realistic scenarios, including flat and inflationary universes, which are relevant for describing our universe at different scales. It will develop new theoretical tools to test fundamental consistency requirements such as unitarity and causality, identify universal principles governing quantum gravity and explore potential signatures of new particles produced in the early universe.

Objective

The holographic principle is believed to embody key fundamental features of any quantum gravity theory. It can be seen as a profound consequence of the intrinsic tension between the definition of quantum observables and the fact that in a theory of gravity it is impossible to define such observables in any finite volume due to the existence of Black Holes. The aim of this project is to push the boundaries of the holographic principle beyond AdS space, formulating a set of self-consistency requirements in dS, flat and inflationary backgrounds directly at the level of the sought-after holographic observables. If successful, this will allow us to understand the basic model independent principles at the basis of a quantum gravity theory and to check if a result of a calculation is consistent with unitarity and causality providing a paradigm shift in the search for consistent quantum gravity theories. The bottom-up perspective developed by HoloBoot will also be centred on phenomenological applications, ranging from classifying model-independent properties of consistent gravitational EFTs to understanding signatures of new particles during Inflation.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

Keywords

Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Funding Scheme

HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

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Call for proposal

(opens in new window) ERC-2023-COG

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Host institution

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI FEDERICO II
Net EU contribution
€ 1 996 250,00
Address
CORSO UMBERTO I, 40
80138 Napoli
Italy
Region
Sud Campania Napoli
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
€ 1 996 250,00

Beneficiaries (1)