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arXiv:2502.17575hep-th

On the quantum mechanics of entropic forces

Daniel Carney, Manthos Karydas, Thilo Scharnhorst, Roshni Singh, Jacob M. Taylor

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Abstract

It was conjectured thirty years ago that gravity could arise from the entropic re-arrangement of information. In this paper, we offer a set of microscopic quantum models which realize this idea in detail. In particular, we suggest a simple mechanism by which Newton's law of gravity arises from extremization of the free energy of a collection of qubits or oscillators, rather than from the exchange of virtual quanta of a fundamental field. We give both a local and non-local version of the construction, and show how to distinguish a range of these entropic models from ordinary perturbative quantum gravity using existing observations and near-term experiments.

arXiv comments
13 + 9 pages, 6 figures
Journal reference
Phys. Rev. X 15, 031038, 2025
DOI
doi:10.1103/y7sy-3by1
Subjects
hep-thHigh Energy Physics, Theory gr-qcGeneral Relativity and Quantum Cosmology quant-phQuantum Physics

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Linked by 1 identifiable commenter in 1 comment across 1 thread, from Jun 2025 to Jun 2025. Found in 1 HN submission from Jan 2026 to Jan 2026. Open submission discussions.

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    • The local theory part of the Carney et al paper (preprint <https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.17575>) is interesting in that it isn't obviously related to string theory / holographic entropic gravity. Instead masses induce a spin polarization near them which is a lower entropy state.…

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