English

Black hole wavefunctions and microcanonical states

High Energy Physics - Theory 2025-04-30 v1

Abstract

We consider the problem of defining a microcanonical thermofield double state at fixed energy and angular momentum from the gravitational path integral. A semiclassical approximation to this state is obtained by imposing a mixed boundary condition on an initial time surface. We analyze the corresponding boundary value problem and gravitational action. The overlap of this state with the canonical thermofield double state, which is interpreted as the Hartle-Hawking wavefunction of an eternal black hole in a mini-superspace approximation, is calculated semiclassically. The relevant saddlepoint is a higher-dimensional, rotating generalization of the wedge geometry that has been studied in two-dimensional gravity.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2309.05041,
  title  = {Black hole wavefunctions and microcanonical states},
  author = {Wan Zhen Chua and Thomas Hartman},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2309.05041},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

20 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-28T12:17:23.057Z