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We show how uncertainty in the causal structure of field theory is essentially inevitable when one includes quantum gravity. This includes the fact that lightcones are ill-defined in such a theory - independent of the UV completion of the theory. We include details of the causality uncertainty which arises in theories of quadratic gravity.
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Causality in quantum field theory is defined by the vanishing of field commutators for space-like separations. However, this does not imply a direction for causal effects. Hidden in our conventions for quantization is a connection to the definition of an arrow of causality, i.e. what is the past and what is the future. If we mix quantization conventions within the same theory, we get a violation of microcausality. In such a theory with mixed conventions the dominant definition of the arrow of causality is determined by the stable states. In some quantum gravity theories, such as quadratic gravity and possibly asymptotic safety, such a mixed causality condition occurs. We discuss some of the implications.
In recent work we showed that, for a class of conformal field theories (CFT) with Gauss-Bonnet gravity dual, the shear viscosity to entropy density ratio, $eta/s$, could violate the conjectured Kovtun-Starinets-Son viscosity bound, $eta/sgeq1/4pi$. In this paper we argue, in the context of the same model, that tuning $eta/s$ below $(16/25)(1/4pi)$ induces microcausality violation in the CFT, rendering the theory inconsistent. This is a concrete example in which inconsistency of a theory and a lower bound on viscosity are correlated, supporting the idea of a possible universal lower bound on $eta/s$ for all consistent theories.
Recently, it has been shown that if we consider the higher derivative correction, the viscosity bound conjectured to be $eta/s=1/4pi$ is violated and so is the causality. In this paper, we consider medium effect and the higher derivative correction simultaneously by adding charge and Gauss-Bonnet terms. We find that the viscosity bound violation is not changed by the charge. However, we find that two effects together create another instability for large momentum regime. We argue the presence of tachyonic modes and show it numerically. The stability of the black brane requires the Gauss-Bonnet coupling constant $lambda$($=2alpha/l^2$) to be smaller than 1/24. We draw a phase diagram relevant to the instability in charge-coupling space.
We derive new positivity bounds for scattering amplitudes in theories with a massless graviton in the spectrum in four spacetime dimensions, of relevance for the weak gravity conjecture and modified gravity theories. The bounds imply that extremal black holes are self-repulsive, $M/|Q|<1$ in suitable units, and that they are unstable to decay to smaller extremal black holes, providing an S-matrix proof of the weak gravity conjecture. We also present other applications of our bounds to the effective field theory of axions, $P(X)$ theories, weakly broken galileons, and curved spacetimes.
The axionic weak gravity conjecture predicts the existence of instantons whose actions are less than their charges in appropriate units. We show that the conjecture is satisfied for the axion-dilaton-gravity system if we assume duality constraints on the higher derivative corrections in addition to positivity bounds which follow from unitarity, analyticity, and locality of UV scattering amplitudes. On the other hand, the conjecture does not follow if we assume the positivity bounds only. This presents an example where derivation of the weak gravity conjecture requires more detailed UV information than the consistency of scattering amplitudes.
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