Subsystems (in)dependence in GIE proposals

Quantum Physics arXiv:2512.17024 (quant-ph) [Submitted on 18 Dec 2025] Title:Subsystems (in)dependence in GIE proposals Authors:Nicolas Boulle, Guilherme Franzmann View a PDF of the paper titled Subsystems (in)dependence in GIE proposals, by Nicolas Boulle and Guilherme Franzmann View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:Recent proposals suggest that detecting entanglement between two spatially superposed masses would establish the quantum nature of gravity. However, these gravitationally induced entanglement (GIE) experiments rely on assumptions about subsystem independence. We sharpen the theoretical underpinnings of such proposals by examining them through the lens of algebraic quantum field theory (AQFT), distinguishing distinct operational and algebraic notions of independence. We argue that state and measurement independence of subsystems, essential to the experimental logic, is nontrivial in the presence of gauge constraints and gravitational dressing. Using gravitationally dressed fields, we recall that commutation relations between spacelike separated observables are nontrivial, undermining strict Hilbert space factorization. We further explore the implications for entanglement witnesses, investigating the Tsirelson bound when subsystem algebras fail to commute, and showing that the Tsirelson bound persists for a suitably symmetrized CHSH observable even though the operational status of such "joint" observables becomes delicate when commensurability fails. Our analysis highlights how even within linearized covariant quantum gravity, violations of microcausality may affect both the interpretation, modelling, and design of proposed laboratory tests of quantum gravity, despite remaining negligible for current experimental regimes. Although we consider GIE-style protocols as a concrete case study, the subsystem-independence issues we highlight are generic to low-energy (perturbative) quantum gravity. Finally, we derive estimates for dressing-induced microcausality violations, which suggest a complementary avenue to current proposals: in principle, bounding dressing-induced microcausality violations themselves as a probe of the quantum nature of gravity. Comments: Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph); High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th); Mathematical Physics (math-ph); History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph) Cite as: arXiv:2512.17024 [quant-ph] (or arXiv:2512.17024v1 [quant-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2512.17024 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration) Submission history From: Guilherme Franzmann [view email] [v1] Thu, 18 Dec 2025 19:39:19 UTC (59 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Subsystems (in)dependence in GIE proposals, by Nicolas Boulle and Guilherme FranzmannView PDFHTML (experimental)TeX Source view license Current browse context: quant-ph new | recent | 2025-12 Change to browse by: hep-th math math-ph math.MP physics physics.hist-ph References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADSGoogle Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) Links to Code Toggle Papers with Code (What is Papers with Code?) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate (What is Replicate?) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces (What is Spaces?) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI (What is TXYZ.AI?) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs. Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)