Physics

Shows that the numerical prefactor 1/4 in the Bekenstein–Hawking entropy can be traced to the covariant phase-space structure of general relativity at a null boundary. Two geometric reductions — the null characteristic constraint and an exterior symplectic quotient — fix the effective symplectic rank density, yielding the prefactor as a geometric property of gravitational phase space rather than a model-dependent microscopic input.

Resolves the 150-year-old Loschmidt paradox by showing that irreversibility emerges from the intersection of quantum mechanics and classical chaos. Chaos exponentially amplifies irreducible ℏ-scale uncertainty until stable manifolds contract below quantum resolution, rendering time-reversed trajectories physically inaccessible despite being mathematically valid.

Explores generic initial conditions for axion-SU(2) inflation without assuming slow-roll dynamics. Finds that some anisotropic parameter space leads to premature inflation termination, but the basin of attraction increases when the axion-SU(2) system acts as a spectator sector.

Derives constraints on the primordial gravitational wave spectrum using the effective number of relativistic species. Shows how CMB observations can constrain inflationary models through their gravitational wave predictions.

Demonstrates that standard analytic approximations for inflationary observables break down for small-field models with running spectral index. Numerical precision is required even for tensor-to-scalar ratios as small as r=0.001.