High Energy Theory Seminar

Causality in quantum field theory is encoded in the averaged null energy condition. I will describe how, in large-N CFTs, this energy condition is replaced by a stronger inequality involving the spectrum of the length operator in the dual AdS. This relates unitarity in the CFT to the bulk causal structure, and gives a simple explanation for constraints on higher-curvature gravity. I will also discuss the information-theoretic interpretation, and implications for subregion duality.