On the architecture of spacetime geometry

We propose entanglement entropy as a probe of the architecture of spacetime in quantum gravity. We argue that the leading contribution to this entropy satisfies an area law for any sufficiently large region in a smooth spacetime, which, in fact, is given by the Bekenstein–Hawking formula. This conjecture is supported by various lines of evidence from perturbative quantum gravity, simplified models of induced gravity, the AdS/CFT correspondence and loop quantum gravity, as well as Jacobson's 'thermodynamic' perspective of gravity.