A Review of the Holographic Relation between Linearized Gravity and the First Law of Entanglement Entropy

Abstract: This thesis reviews the conjectured holographic relation between entanglement and gravity due to Mark van Raamsdonk and collaborators. It is accounted how the linearized Einstein equations both with and without matter in a d+1-dimensional AdS background can be derived from the first law of entanglement entropy in a d-dimensional CFT. This derivation builds on the Ryu-Takayanagi formula that relates entanglement entropy for CFT subsystems to extremal surfaces in the AdS bulk. The relation between gravity and entanglement is also corroborated by a qualitative investigation of the duality between the thermofield double state and the maximally extended AdS/Schwarzschild black hole using the Bekenstein-Hawking formula. Furthermore, this qualitative argument is generalized to generic CFT states with a classical spacetime dual using the Ryu-Takayanagi. The thesis also reviews the most relevant prerequisites for this holographic relation between gravity and entanglement: Anti-de Sitter spacetime, entanglement and entanglement entropy, gauge/gravity duality, the Ryu-Takayanagi formula, and linearized gravity.