Related papers: An introduction to spherically symmetric loop quan…
A `black hole sector' of non-perturbative canonical quantum gravity is introduced. The quantum black hole degrees of freedom are shown to be described by a Chern-Simons field theory on the horizon. It is shown that the entropy of a large…
Over the last three years, a number of fundamental physical issues were addressed in loop quantum gravity. These include: A statistical mechanical derivation of the horizon entropy, encompassing astrophysically interesting black holes as…
Static solutions of large-$N$ quantum dilaton gravity in $1+1$ dimensions are analyzed and found to exhibit some unusual behavior. As expected from previous work, infinite-mass solutions are found describing a black hole in equilibrium with…
Recent results show that important singularities in General Relativity can be naturally described in terms of finite and invariant canonical geometric objects. Consequently, one can write field equations which are equivalent to Einstein's…
I summarize the basic ideas and formalism of loop quantum gravity. I illustrate the results on the discrete aspects of quantum geometry and two applications of these results to black hole physics. In particular, I discuss in detail a…
In recent years, Loop Quantum Gravity has emerged as a solid candidate for a nonperturbative quantum theory of General Relativity. It is a background independent theory based on a description of the gravitational field in terms of…
We study the quantum motion of null shells in the quantum space-time of a black hole in loop quantum gravity. We treat the shells as test fields and use an effective dynamics for the propagation equations. The shells propagate through the…
I reconsider Hawking's analysis of the effects of gravitational collapse on quantum fields, taking into account interactions between the fields. The ultra-high energy vacuum fluctuations, which had been considered to be an awkward…
The present thesis deals with some properties of classical and quantum scalar fields in an inhomogeneous and/or time-dependent background, focusing on models where the latter can be described as a curved space-time with an event horizon.…
There are a number of publications on relativistic objects dealing either with black holes or naked singularities in the center. Here we show that there exist static spherically symmetric solutions of Einstein equations with a strongly…
It is common knowledge that black holes necessarily contain a region where general relativity breaks down, due to the inevitable formation of either a curvature singularity or a Cauchy horizon. In this work we challenge this view by…
These are the lecture notes for an introductory course on black holes and some aspects of their interaction with the classical and quantum world. The focus is on phenomena of "fundamental physics" in the immediate surroundings of the black…
Black holes are probably among the most fascinating objects populating our universe. Their characteristic features found within general relativity, encompassing spacetime singularities, event horizons, and black hole thermodynamics, provide…
The Hawking-Penrose singularity theorem states that a singularity forms inside a black hole in general relativity. To remove this singularity one must resort to a more fundamental theory. Using a corrected dynamical equation arising in loop…
The longstanding issue of general covariance in effective models of quantum gravity is addressed, which arises when canonical quantum gravity leads to a semiclassical model described by an effective Hamiltonian constraint. In the context of…
Quantum black holes have been studied extensively in quantum gravity and string theory, using various semiclassical or background dependent approaches. We explore the possibility of studying black holes in the full non-perturbative quantum…
The merging of quantum information science with the relativity theory presents novel opportunities for understanding the enigmas surrounding the transmission of information in relation to black holes. For this purpose, we study the…
We propose a new parametric framework to describe in generic metric theories of gravity the spacetime of spherically symmetric and slowly rotating black holes. In contrast to similar approaches proposed so far, we do not use a Taylor…
In general relativity, the fields on a black hole horizon are obtained from those in the bulk by pullback and restriction. Similarly, in quantum gravity, the quantized horizon degrees of freedom should result from restricting, or…
This review gives an introduction into problems, concepts and techniques when quantizing matter fields near black holes. The first part focusses on quantum fields in general curved space-times. The second part is devoted to a detailed…