Related papers: Black Hole Complementarity vs. Locality
An interesting case of string/black hole transition occurs in two-dimensional non-critical string theory dressed with a compact CFT. In these models the high energy densities of states of perturbative strings and black holes have the same…
To explain black hole thermodynamics in quantum gravity, one must introduce constraints to ensure that a black hole is actually present. I show that for a large class of black holes, such ``horizon constraints'' allow the use of conformal…
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 entropy and information puzzles arising from black holes cannot be resolved if quantum gravity effects remain confined to a microscopic scale. We use concrete computations in nonperturbative string theory to argue for three kinds of…
What is going on (as of August 2008) at the interface between theoretical general relativity, string-inspired models, and observational astrophysics? Quite a lot. In this mini-survey I will make a personal choice and focus on four specific…
In a classical description the spacetime curvature inside a black hole infinitely grows. In the domain where it reaches the Planckian value and exceeds it the Einstein equations should be modified. In the absence of reliable theory of…
This paper argues that the effect of Hawking radiation on an astrophysical black hole situated in a realistic cosmological context is not total evaporation of the black hole; rather there will always be a remnant mass. The key point is that…
Recent work by Danielson, Satishchandran, and Wald (DSW) has shown that black holes -- and, in fact, Killing horizons more generally -- impart a fundamental rate of decoherence on all nearby quantum superpositions. The effect can be…
We analyze a system consisting of an oscillator coupled to a field. With the field traced out as an environment, the oscillator loses coherence on a very short {\it decoherence timescale}; but, on a much longer {\it relaxation timescale},…
When a shell collapses through its horizon, semiclassical physics suggests that information cannot escape from this horizon. One might hope that nonperturbative quantum gravity effects will change this situation and avoid the `information…
The origin of black hole entropy and the black hole information problem provide important clues for trying to piece together a quantum theory of gravity. Thus far, discussions on this topic have mostly assumed that in a consistent theory of…
The information loss paradox is often discussed from the perspective of the observers who stay outside of a black hole. However, the interior spacetime of a black hole can be rather nontrivial. We discuss the open problems regarding the…
We review the arguments that fundamental string states are in one to one correspondence with black hole states. We demonstrate the power of the assumption by showing that it implies that the statistical entropy of a wide class of nonextreme…
We show that four-dimensional black holes become stable below certain mass when the Einstein-Hilbert action is supplemented with higher-curvature terms. We prove this to be the case for an infinite family of ghost-free theories involving…
This paper revisits the conundrum faced when one attempts to understand the dynamics of black hole formation and evaporation without abandoning unitary evolution. Previous efforts to resolve this puzzle assume that information escapes in…
We propose a resolution to the black-hole information-loss paradox: in one formulation of physical theory, information is preserved and macroscopic causality is violated; in another, causality is preserved and pure states evolve to mixed…
In this paper we focus on the gravitational thermodynamics of the far future. Cosmological observations suggest that most matter will be diluted away by the cosmological expansion, with the rest collapsing into supermassive black holes. The…
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 perturbations of string-theoretic black holes are analyzed by generalizing the method of Chandrasekhar. Attention is focussed on the case of the recently considered charged string-theoretic black hole solutions as a representative…
String theory properly describes black-hole evaporation. The quantum string emission by Black Holes is computed. The black-hole temperature is the Hawking temperature in the semiclassical quantum field theory (QFT) regime and becomes the…