Information, Geometry, and Physics Seminar

The proper time experienced by a classical probe particle has entered into the study of black hole infall, the boundary encoding of bulk observers in AdS/CFT, and interferometry. In principle, quantum effects can correct classical proper time even for free propagation, which naively renders the geodesic treatment inapplicable. We propose a prescription for extracting proper time from QFT correlators. The quantum corrections arising in this proposal inherit certain properties of geodesics, but violate others. We also discuss a candidate CFT dual to this proposal in AdS. Talk is based on work in progress.