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Black holes are more than just odd-looking curiosities in gravity theory. They uniquely intertwine the basic principles of General Relativity with those of Quantum Theory. Just by demanding that they nevertheless obey acceptable laws of…
Almost all of the entropy in the universe is in the form of Bekenstein--Hawking (BH) entropy of super-massive black holes. This entropy, if it satisfies Boltzmann's equation $S=\log{\cal N}$, hence represents almost all the accessible phase…
A key test of any quantum theory of gravity is its ability to reproduce the known thermodynamic properties of black holes. A statistical mechanical description of the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy once seemed remote, but today we suffer an…
A genuine notion of black holes can only be obtained in the fundamental framework of quantum gravity resolving the curvature singularities and giving an account of the statistical mechanical, microscopic degrees of freedom able to explain…
Non-rotating black holes in three and four dimensions are shown to possess a canonical entropy obeying the Bekenstein-Hawking area law together with a leading correction (for large horizon areas) given by the logarithm of the area with a…
Using a unified approach we study the entropy of extremal black holes through the entropy of an electrically charged thin shell. We encounter three cases in which a shell can be taken to its own gravitational or horizon radius and become an…
It is usually stated that the information storing region associated with the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy is enclosed by a sphere of diameter equal twice the Schwarzschild radius. We point out that this cannot apply to a quantum black hole.…
We argue that the entropy of a black hole is due to the entanglement of matter fields and gravitons across the horizon. While the entanglement entropy of the vacuum is divergent because of UV correlations, we show that low-energy…
We give a progress report of our research on spacetime fluctuations induced by quantum fields in an evaporating black hole and a black hole in quasi-equilibrium with its Hawking radiation. We note the main issues involved in these two…
Astrophysical black holes are embedded in surrounding dark and baryonic matter that can measurably perturb the spacetime. We construct a self-consistent spacetime describing a slowly rotating black hole embedded in an external matter…
A relativistic framework for the description of bound states consisting of a large number of quantum constituents is presented, and applied to black-hole interiors. At the parton level, the constituent distribution, number and energy…
The Bekenstein-Hawking entropy is a cornerstone of horizon thermodynamics but quantum effects correct it, while inequivalent entropies arise also in non-extensive thermodynamics. Reviewing our previous work, we advocate for a new entropy…
Hawking showed that a black hole formed by collapse will emit radiation and eventually disappear. We address the challenge to define an objective notion of physical entropy which increases throughout this process in a way consistent with…
A brief overview of the discovery that macroscopic black holes are thermodynamical systems is presented. They satisfy the laws of thermodynamics and are associated with a temperature and an entropy equal to one quarter of their horizon area…
We reformulate the quantum black hole portrait in the language of modern condensed matter physics. We show that black holes can be understood as a graviton Bose-Einstein condensate at the critical point of a quantum phase transition,…
Suggested correspondence between a black hole and a highly excited elementary string is explored. Black hole entropy is calculated by computing the density of states for an open excited string. We identify the square root of oscillator…
The concept of black hole entropy is one of the most important enigmas of theoretical physics. It relates thermodynamics to gravity and allows substantial hints toward a quantum theory of gravitation. Although Bekenstein conjecture…
To ask a question about a black hole in quantum gravity, one must restrict initial or boundary data to ensure that a black hole is actually present. For two-dimensional dilaton gravity, and probably a much wider class of theories, I show…
Understanding the end state of black hole evaporation, the microscopic origin of black hole entropy, the information loss paradox, and the nature of the singularity arising in gravitational collapse - these are outstanding challenges for…
Beginning with Bekenstein, many authors have considered a uniformly spaced discrete quantum spectrum for black hole horizon area. It is also believed that the huge degeneracy of these area levels corresponds to the notion of black hole…