There are many examples where geometry and gravity are concepts that emerge from a theory of quantum mechanics without gravity. This suggests thinking of gravity as an exotic phase of matter. Quantifying this phase in the Landau paradigm requires some sort of symmetry principle or order parameter that captures its appearance. In this essay, we propose higher-form symmetries as a symmetry principle underlying emergent spacetime. We explore higher-form symmetries in gauge–gravity duality and explain how their breaking describes features of gravitational theory. Such symmetries imply the existence of nonlocal objects in the gravitational theory — in gauge–gravity duality these are the strings and branes of the bulk theory — giving an alternative way to understand the nonlocality necessary in any ultraviolet completion of gravity.

中文翻译：

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涌现时空的对称原理

有很多例子，几何和引力是从没有引力的量子力学理论中出现的概念。这表明将引力视为物质的奇异相。在朗道范式中量化这一阶段需要某种对称原则或有序参数来捕捉其外观。在本文中，我们提出更高形式的对称性作为新兴时空的对称原则。我们探索规范-引力对偶中的更高形式的对称性，并解释它们的断裂如何描述引力理论的特征。这种对称性意味着在引力理论中存在非定域性物体——在规范-引力对偶中，这些是体积理论的弦和膜——为理解任何紫外完成引力所必需的非定域性提供了另一种方法。