Related papers: Gravitation, the Quantum, and Bohr's Correspondenc…
In some respects the black hole plays the same role in gravitation that the atom played in the nascent quantum mechanics. This analogy suggests that black hole mass $M$ might have a discrete spectrum. I review the physical arguments for the…
We show that black holes can be quantized in an intuitive and elegant way with results in agreement with conventional knowledge of black holes by using Bohr's idea of quantizing the motion of an electron inside the atom in quantum…
Bekenstein and Mukhanov have put forward the idea that, in a quantum theory of gravity a black hole should have a discrete mass spectrum with a concomitant {\it discrete} line emission. We note that a direct consequence of this intriguing…
The celebrated area-entropy formula for black holes has provided the most important clue in the search for the elusive theory of quantum gravity. We explore the possibility that the (linear) area-entropy relation acquires some smaller…
The unitary crisis for black holes indicates an apparent need to modify local quantum field theory. This paper explores the idea that quantum mechanics and in particular unitarity are fundamental principles, but at the price of familiar…
Atoms and the planets acquire their stability from the quantum mechanical incompatibility of the position and momentum measurements. This incompatibility is expressed by the fundamental commutator [x, p_x]=i hbar, or equivalently, via the…
Nathan Rosen's quantization approach to the gravitational collapse is applied in the simple case of a pressureless "star of dust" by finding the gravitational potential, the Schrodinger equation and the solution for the collapse's energy…
The basic features of a quantum field theory which is Poincar\'e invariant, gauge invariant, finite and unitary to all orders of perturbation theory are reviewed. Quantum gravity is finite and unitary to all orders of perturbation theory.…
The assimilation of a quantum (finite size) particle by a Reissner-Nordstr\"om black hole inevitably involves an increase in the black-hole surface area. It is shown that this increase can be minimized if one considers the capture of the…
Unitarity is a pillar of quantum theory. Nevertheless, it is also a source of several of its conceptual problems. We note that in a world where measurements are relational, as is the case in gravitation, quantum mechanics exhibits a…
The idea that black holes (BHs) result in highly excited states representing both the "hydrogen atom" and the "quasi-thermal emission" in quantum gravity is today an intuitive but general conviction. In this paper it will be shown that such…
The presence of gravity implies corrections to the Einstein-Planck formula $E=h \nu$. This gives hope that the divergent blueshift in frequency, associated to the presence of a black hole horizon, could be smoothed out for the energy. Using…
Black holes monopolize nowadays the center stage of fundamental physics. Yet, they are poorly understood objects. Notwithstanding, from their generic properties, one can infer important clues to what a fundamental theory, a theory that…
The Schr\"odinger equation of the Schwarzschild black hole (BH) shows that a BH is composed of a particle, the "electron", interacting with a central field, the "nucleus". Via de Broglie's hypothesis, one interprets the "electron" in terms…
Starting from the eigenvalue equation for the mass of a black hole derived by M\"akel\"a and Repo, we show that, by reparametrizing the radial coordinate and the wave function, it can be rewritten as the eigenvalue equation of a quantum…
We take the view that the area of a black hole's event horizon is quantized, $A = l_P^2 \, (4 \ln 2) \, N$, and the associated degrees of freedom are finite in number and of fermionic nature. We then investigate general aspects of the…
General relativity successfully describes space-times at scales that we can observe and probe today, but it cannot be complete as a consequence of singularity theorems. For a long time there have been indications that quantum gravity will…
A general formulation of the basic conflict of the information problem is given, encapsulated in a "black hole theorem." This is framed in a more general context than the usual one of quantum field theory on a background, and is based on…
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…
Following Bekenstein's suggestion that the horizon area of a black hole should be quantized, the discrete spectrum of the horizon area has been investigated in various ways. By considering the quasinormal mode of a black hole, we obtain the…