Undecidability in spacetime geometry via the AdS/CFT correspondence

Undecidability, a hallmark of Gödel incompleteness theorems, has recently emerged in quantum many-body physics through the spectral gap problem. We demonstrate how this logical limitation can be holographically transmitted to a class of gravitational theories via the AdS/CFT correspondence. By embedding a translationally invariant spin Hamiltonian with undecidable gap status into a large-N gauge theory, we generate an anti–de Sitter (AdS) dual in which the selection of dominant bulk saddle (Poincaré AdS or AdS soliton) is itself undecidable. Consequently, under standard semiclassical holographic assumptions, even determining which smooth spacetime geometry emerges from quantum gravity can be beyond the limits of computability.

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Publication Details

Journal
Physical review. D/Physical review. D.
Published
2026-01-09
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/zqgf-6qp7
Primary Topic
Black Holes and Theoretical Physics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Undecidability in spacetime geometry via the AdS/CFT correspondence

Francesco Marino, Lawrence M. Krauss, Arshid Shabir, Anonymous et al.
Physical review. D/Physical review. D.
Black Holes and Theoretical Physics
article

Undecidability in spacetime geometry via the AdS/CFT correspondence

Francesco Marino, Lawrence M. Krauss, Arshid Shabir, Anonymous, Mir Faizal
article en

Abstract

Undecidability, a hallmark of Gödel incompleteness theorems, has recently emerged in quantum many-body physics through the spectral gap problem. We demonstrate how this logical limitation can be holographically transmitted to a class of gravitational theories via the AdS/CFT correspondence. By embedding a translationally invariant spin Hamiltonian with undecidable gap status into a large-N gauge theory, we generate an anti–de Sitter (AdS) dual in which the selection of dominant bulk saddle (Poincaré AdS or AdS soliton) is itself undecidable. Consequently, under standard semiclassical holographic assumptions, even determining which smooth spacetime geometry emerges from quantum gravity can be beyond the limits of computability.

Physical review. D/Physical review. D.Vol. 113(2)
University of British Columbia (CA), Durham University (GB), Canadian Quantum Research Center (CA), National Institute of Optics (IT), Asia School of Business (MY), Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Firenze (IT), The Origins Project Foundation (US), University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus (CA), Jamia Millia Islamia (IN), Okanagan University College (CA), Hasselt University (BE)
Openalex Percentile: Top 88%
Black Holes and Theoretical Physics
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Undecidability in spacetime geometry via the AdS/CFT correspondence — Francesco Marino, Lawrence M. Krauss, et al. · Physical review. D/Physical review. D. (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS