Related papers: Is the Universe Really So Simple?
I give a critical review of the holographic hypothesis, which posits that a universe with gravity can be described by a quantum field theory in fewer dimensions. I first recall how the idea originated from considerations on black hole…
In approaches to quantum gravity, where smooth spacetime is an emergent approximation of a discrete Planckian fundamental structure, any standard effective field theoretical description will miss part of the degrees of freedom and thus…
The Black Hole enigma has produced many paradoxes. A consensus regarding the resolution of some conundrums such as the Naked Singularity Paradox and the Black Hole Lost Information Paradox (LIP) has still not been achieved. Black hole…
We propose the idea that our Universe is a realization among different possible branches, which can be observationally tested through the modified dispersion relation of the gravitational waves. We achieve this through a framework of…
In both classical and quantum world, information cannot appear or disappear. This fundamental principle, however, is questioned for a black hole, by the acclaimed "information loss paradox". Based on the conservation laws of energy, charge,…
Black hole evaporation is investigated in a (1+1)-dimensional model of quantum gravity. Quantum corrections to the black hole entropy are computed, and the fine-grained entropy of the Hawking radiation is studied. A generalized second law…
We observe the past and present of the universe, but can we predict the far future? Observations suggest that in thousands of billions of years from now most matter and radiation will be absorbed by the cosmological horizon. As it absorbs…
A different reason for the apparent weakness of the gravitational interaction is advanced, and its consequences for Hawking evaporation of a Schwarzschild black hole are investigated. Proceeding from some fundamental thermodynamic…
The approach of 't Hooft to the puzzles of black hole evaporation can be applied to a simpler system with analogous features. The system is $1+1$ dimensional electrodynamics in a linear dilaton background. Analogues of black holes, Hawking…
The paper uses geometrical arguments to derive equations with relevance for cosmology; 5-dimensional spacetime is assumed because it has been shown in other works to provide a setting for significant unification of different areas of…
Cosmological and astrophysical measurements indicate that the universe contains a large amount of dark matter. A number of weak scale dark matter candidates have been proposed in extensions of the standard model. The potential to discover…
It is commonly stated that we have entered the era of precision cosmology in which a number of important observations have reached a degree of precision, and a level of agreement with theory, that is comparable with many Earth-based physics…
Combining intervals of ekpyrotic (ultra-slow) contraction with a (non-singular) classical bounce naturally leads to a novel cyclic theory of the universe in which the Hubble parameter, energy density and temperature oscillate periodically,…
In recent years we have come to understand how the information paradox is resolved in string theory. The huge entropy $S_{bek}={A\over 4G}$ of black holes is realized by an explicit set of horizon sized `fuzzball' wavefunctions. The…
Black hole thermodynamics suggests that, in order to describe the physics of distant observers, one may model a black hole as a standard quantum system with density of states set by the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy $S_\mathrm{BH}$. This idea…
Black holes have been implicated in two paradoxes that involve apparently non-unitary dynamics. According to Hawking's theory, information that is absorbed by a black hole is destroyed, and the originally pure state of a black hole is…
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…
We review recent progress on the information paradox. We explain why exponentially small correlations in the radiation emitted by a black hole are sufficient to resolve the original paradox put forward by Hawking. We then describe a…
We investigate the black holes properties with a very simple and semi-classical model of spacetime discretization. In this context, we apply the Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and the equipartition energy theorem to thereto, obtaining…
The formation and evaporation of a black hole can be viewed as a scattering process in Quantum Gravity. Semiclassical arguments indicate that the process should be non-unitary, and that all the information of the original quantum state…