Quantum Reference Frames Perspectives on Holographic Codes

by Luca Ciceri (Okinawa Institute for Science and Technology)

Wednesday 12 Nov 2025, 10:00 → 11:00 Europe/Rome

Aula Galileo

Holography, quantum reference frames and quantum error correction are three distinct yet connected research areas in physics. A dictionary between stabiliser quantum codes and ideal quantum reference frames has been recently formalised. In this work we apply it to holographic codes. We challenge their interpretation as discrete toy models of a quantum gravity theory by looking for analogies between the quantum reference frames emerging from the code structure and boundary dressings. This approach is also beneficial to a deeper understanding of boundary quantum reference frames in holography, since this is not well appreciated in the literature. To achieve this, we leverage the quantum LEGO formalism. This allows us to describe the structure of holographic codes by focusing on how individual tensors are contracted together. By providing the interpretation of contraction as a quantum reduction map we connect this formalism to gauge theories, understanding contractions as partial gauge fixings. Using the inverse reduction map we also complete the quantum LEGO formalism by describing how tensors are cut. Thanks to this result, we pave the way for the analysis of how ideal quantum reference frames transform when tensors are glued together. Our preliminary work in this direction shows that it is always possible to find a quantum reference frame for the contracted tensors, provided knowledge of the reference frames before contraction. These results provide a solid base to advance the analysis of quantum reference frames in holographic codes and their comparison with boundary dressings, as well as understanding the relation with their continuum counterparts.