  We present certain universal bounds on the capacity of quantum information
storage and on the time scale of its retrieval for a generic quantum field
theoretic system. The capacity, quantified by the microstate entropy, is
bounded from above by the surface area of the object measured in units of a
Goldstone decay constant. The Goldstone bosons are universally present due to
the spontaneous breaking of Poincare and internal symmetries by the
information-storing object. Applied to a black hole, the bound reproduces the
Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. However, the relation goes beyond gravity. The
minimal time-scale required for retrieving the quantum information from a
system is equal to its volume measured in units of the same Goldstone scale.
For a black hole this reproduces the Page time as well as the quantum
break-time. The same expression for the information retrieval time is shared by
non-gravitational saturated states in gauge theories, including QCD. The
saturated objects exhibit some universal signatures such as the emission of
ultra-soft radiation. Similar bounds apply to non-relativistic many-body
systems.
