Related papers: Black hole microstates vs. the additivity conjectu…
Some of the extremal black hole solutions in string theory have the same quantum numbers as the Bogomol'nyi saturated elementary string states. We explore the possibility that these black holes can be identified to elementary string…
Information theory is increasingly invoked by physicists concerned with fundamental physics, including black hole physics. But to what extent is the application of information theory in those contexts legitimate? Using the case of black…
To derive black hole thermodynamics in any quantum theory of gravity, one must introduce constraints that ensure that a black hole is actually present. For a large class of black holes, the imposition of such ``horizon constraints'' allows…
The Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of certain black holes can be computed microscopically in string theory by mapping the elusive problem of counting microstates of a strongly gravitating black hole to the tractable problem of counting…
We have learnt that the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of supersymmetric black holes in five-dimensional minimal supergravity can be reproduced from microstate counting via the AdS/CFT and Kerr/CFT correspondence. In this note, we demostrate…
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…
It is commonplace, in the literature, to find that the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy has been endowed with having an explicit statistical interpretation. In the following essay, we discuss why such a viewpoint warrants a certain degree of…
It is explained that, for black holes much heavier than the Planck mass, black hole microstates can be well understood without string theory. It is essential to understand the antipodal identification at the horizon. We show why the…
A new kind of duality has been proposed by Carr related to the quantum description of black holes, the so-called Compton/Schwarzschild duality \cite{Carr:2015nqa}. In this context, a new form for a Generalized Uncertainty Principle has…
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…
A logarithmic but divergent term usually appears in the computation of entanglement entropy circumferencing a black hole, while the leading quantum correction to the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy also takes the logarithmic form. A quench model…
We discuss how under certain conditions the black hole information puzzle and the (related) arguments that firewalls are a typical feature of black holes can break down. We first review the arguments of AMPS favoring firewalls, focusing on…
Entropy plays a crucial role in characterization of information and entanglement, but it is not a scalar quantity and for many systems it is different for different relativistic observers. Loop quantum gravity predicts the…
String theory provides numerous examples of duality between gravitational theories and unitary gauge theories. To resolve the black hole information paradox in this setting, it is necessary to better understand how unitarity is implemented…
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…
We construct an infinite family of microstates for black holes in Minkowski spacetime which have effective semiclassical descriptions in terms of collapsing dust shells in the black hole interior. Quantum mechanical wormholes cause these…
We present a coherent picture of the quantum mechanics of black holes. The picture does not require the introduction of any drastically new physical effect beyond what is already known; it arises mostly from synthesizing and…
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 as well,…
The Bekenstein-Hawking entropy for certain BPS-saturated black holes in string theory has recently been derived by counting internal black hole microstates at weak coupling. We argue that the black hole microstate can be measured by…
We construct and count the microstates of out-of-equilibrium eternal AdS black holes in which a shell carrying an order one fraction of the black hole mass is emitted from the past horizon and re-absorbed at the future horizon. Our…