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At least 19 records
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DOE OSTI2024

On small black holes in string theory

Abstract We discuss the worldsheet sigma-model whose target space is thed+1 dimensional Euclidean Schwarzschild black hole. We argue that in the limit where the Hawking temperature of the black hole,T, approaches the Hagedorn temperature,T H , it can be described in terms of a generalized version of the Horowitz-Polchinski effective theory. Ford≥ 6, where the Horowitz-Polchinski EFT [1, 2] does not have suitable solutions, the modified effective Lagrangian allows one to study the black hole CFT in an expansion in powers ofd− 6 andT H −T. AtT=T H , the sigma model is non-trivial for alld> 6. It exhibits an enhanced SU(2) symmetry, and is described by a non-abelian Thirring model with a radially dependent coupling. The resulting picture connects naturally to the results of [3–5], that relate Schwarzschild black holes in flat spacetime at largedto the two dimensional black hole. We also discuss an analogous open string system, in which the black hole is replaced by a system of two separated D-branes connected by a throat. In this system, the asymptotic separation of the branes plays the role of the inverse temperature. At the critical separation, the system is described by a Kondo-type model, which again exhibits an enhanced SU(2) symmetry. At larged, the brane system gives rise to the hairpin brane [6].

Physics↗
DOE OSTI2025

The evaporation of black holes in supergravity

In supergravity, charged rotating black holes are generically driven towards becoming extremal and supersymmetric through the emission of Hawking radiation. Eventually, as the black hole approaches the BPS bound and is close to becoming supersymmetric, quantum gravity corrections become critical to describing the emission of Hawking radiation, making the QFT in curved spacetime approximation inaccurate. In this paper, we compute how such quantum gravity corrections affect the spectrum of Hawking radiation for black holes in $\mathcal{N}$ = 2 supergravity in flatspace. We show that due to such corrections, the spectrum of emitted Hawking radiation for both spin-0 and spin-1/2 particles deviates drastically at low temperatures from the naively expected black-body spectrum. Rather remarkably, the spectrum exhibits a discrete emission line from direct transitions from near-BPS to BPS states, providing the first controlled example where the discreteness of the black hole energies is visible in the emitted Hawking radiation. Similar quantum gravity effects drastically modify the absorption cross-section: BPS black holes are transparent to certain frequencies, while near-BPS black holes appear much larger than the semi-classical prediction.

AdS-CFT Correspondence↗
DOE OSTI2023

The universality of black hole thermodynamics

The thermodynamic properties of black holes — temperature, entropy and radiation rates — are usually associated with the presence of a horizon. We argue that any extremely compact object (ECO) must have the same thermodynamic properties. Here, quantum fields just outside the surface of an ECO have a large negative Casimir energy similar to the Boulware vacuum of black holes. If the thermal radiation emanating from the ECO does not fill the near-surface region at the local Unruh temperature, then we find that no solution of gravity equations is possible. In string theory, black holes microstates are horizonless quantum objects called fuzzballs that are expected to have a surface ~l p outside r = 2⁢GM; thus the information puzzle is resolved while preserving the semiclassical thermodynamics of black holes.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Supergravity spectrum of AdS 5 black holes

We embed Kerr-Newman-AdS black holes into N = 8 gauged supergravity and study quadratic fluctuations around the black hole backgrounds of all fields in the larger theory. The equations of motion of the perturbations are partially diagonalized by the group theory of broken symmetry. Nearly all fields in theory have non-minimal couplings, so their equations of motion are not merely massive Klein-Gordon equations with minimal coupling to background gauge fields, and their analogues for fields with spin. In the special case of extremal black holes we identify specific modes of instability, some of which touch supersymmetric locus. For example, we identify scalar fields in supergravity that condense in the near horizon region and transition the black hole into a superconducting phase. We also identify supergravity modes that are susceptible to superradiant instability.

AdS-CFT Correspondence↗
DOE OSTI2024

How the black hole puzzles are resolved in string theory

String theory has provided a resolution of the puzzles that arise in the quantum theory of black holes. The emerging picture of the hole, encoded in the ‘fuzzball paradigm’, offers deep lessons about the role of quantum gravity on macroscopic length scales. Here, in this article we list these puzzles and explain how they get resolved. We extract the lessons of this resolution in a form that does not involve the technical details of string theory; it is hoped that this form will allow the lessons to be absorbed into other approaches to quantum gravity.

black holes↗
DOE OSTI2024

Thermodynamics of the near-extremal Kerr spacetime

We examine the thermodynamics of a near-extremal Kerr black hole, and demonstrate that the geometry behaves as an ordinary quantum system with a vanishingly small degeneracy at low temperatures. This is in contrast with the classical analysis, which instead predicts a macroscopic entropy for the extremal Kerr black hole. Our results follow from a careful analysis of the gravitational path integral. Specifically, the low temperature canonical partition function behaves as Z ~ T$\frac{3}{2}$ e S 0 +c log S 0 , with S 0 the classical degeneracy and c a numerical coefficient we compute. This is in line with the general expectations for non-supersymmetric near-extremal black hole thermodynamics, as has been clarified in the recent past, although cases without spherical symmetry have not yet been fully analyzed until now. We also point out some curious features relating to the rotational zero modes of the near-extremal Kerr black hole background that affects the coefficient c. This raises a puzzle when considering similar black holes in string theory. Our results generalize to other rotating black holes, as we briefly exemplify.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

$T\overline{T}$, black holes and negative strings

String theory on AdS 3 has a solvable single-trace irrelevant deformation that is closely related to $T\overline{T}$. For one sign of the coupling, it leads to an asymptotically linear dilaton spacetime, and a corresponding Hagedorn spectrum. For the other, the resulting spacetime has a curvature singularity at a finite radial location, and an upper bound on the energies of states. Beyond the singularity, the signature of spacetime is flipped and there is an asymptotically linear dilaton boundary at infinity. We study the properties of black holes and fundamental strings in this spacetime, and find a sensible picture. The singularity does not give rise to a hard ultraviolet wall for excitations -one must include the region beyond it to understand the theory. The size of black holes diverges as their energy approaches the upper bound, as does the location of the singularity. Fundamental strings pass smoothly through the singularity, but if their energy is above the upper bound, their trajectories are singular. From the point of view of the boundary at infinity, this background can be thought of as a vacuum of Little String Theory which contains a large number of negative strings.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

The gravitational index of 5d black holes and black strings

The supersymmetric index of 5d black strings and spinning black holes in M-theory is related to that of 4d black holes in type IIA supergravity when both theories are compactified on the same Calabi-Yau threefold. We find the finite-temperature saddles for the 5d gravitational supersymmetric index by uplifting the recently found attractor saddles of the corresponding 4d index. We study uplifts for two types of geometries: 5d black holes and 5d black strings. For 5d black holes, the uplift guarantees that the index of 4d and 5d black holes match. For 5d black strings, the saddle reproduces the microscopic index at leading order in G N , even without the conventional decoupling limit taken in AdS/CFT. In particular, when the temperature is set to be finite in the 5d flat space region, the black string index is computed from an asymptotically flat solution where the AdS throat is absent. Further, as the temperature is lowered and eventually becomes infinitesimally small in the flat space region, the solution admits a novel decoupling limit in which the AdS 3 throat takes the form of a finite-temperature BTZ black hole that is known to compute the index in AdS 3 /CFT 2 . This represents the first step towards understanding holography for supersymmetric observables in flat space, away from the decoupling limit.

AdS-CFT correspondence↗
DOE OSTI2020

Classical double copy of nonsingular black holes

We apply the classical double copy procedure to a class of regular, non-singular black hole solutions. We give several examples, paying particular attention to a string-theory-corrected black hole solution emerging from T-duality. Non-perturbative stringy corrections introduce an ultraviolet (UV) zero-point length cutoff which results in non-singular black hole spacetimes. Apart from the UV regulator, the solution is equivalent to the Bardeen black hole spacetime. We extend this solution to include an asymptotic de Sitter background. All Yang-Mills field theory quantities associated with the double copy are well-behaved and finite for all values of parameters. Furthermore, we present a thorough analysis of the black hole horizon structure, additionally uncovering a simple yet new connection between horizons on the gravity side and electric fields on the gauge theory side of the double copy.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Holography: Quantum Mechanical Aspects of Black Holes (Final Report)

Current theories of fundamental physics are based on quantum field theory, unifying quantum mechanics and special relativity. A similar unification of quantum field theory with gravity has been elusive. String theory is a consistent model of quantum gravity and it is important to identify general lessons that can be applied to the real world. The main technique that emerged from such studies has been the gravitational path integral. During the period of this grant, the PI has explored the implication of the gravitational path integral in novel setups to uncover new features of rotating black holes in four dimensions, as well as increasing our understanding of some specific black holes in string theory.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Delaying the inevitable: tidal disruption in microstate geometries

Microstate geometries in string theory replace the black-hole horizon with a smooth geometric “cap” at the horizon scale. In geometries constructed using superstratum technology, this cap has the somewhat surprising property that induces very large tidal deformations on infalling observers that are far away from it. We find that this large-distance amplification of the tidal effects is also present in horizonless microstate geometries constructed as bubbling solutions, but can be tamed by suitably arranging the bubbles to reduce the strength of some of the gravitational multipole moments. However, despite this taming, these tidal effects still become large at a significant distance from the microstructure. This result suggests that an observer will not fall unharmed into the structure replacing the black hole horizon.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Separability of the Dirac equation in the STU black hole spacetime: Pairwise-equal charge case study

We study the separability of the Dirac equation in the background of four dimensional charged rotating asymptotically flat black hole solution of supergravity and the low energy string theory known as STU black hole. In particular, we analyze in detail the separability conditions in the pairwise equal charge STU black hole space-time. While in the latter case the minimally coupled Dirac equation is not separable, the introduction of a specific torsion term ensures the separability. The source of the torsion is the Kalb-Ramond field, which is an integral part of string theory, but further aspects of its properties and coupling to fermionic fields remain to be studied. To derive the torsion, two different approaches are used in conformally related frames, showing that the torsion is not unique. The correspondingly modified Dirac equations in the Einstein and string frames are shown to be separable. Furthermore, the massless radial and angular wave equations are examined; they show close similarity with corresponding equations for the standard Kerr background. A generalization of the Teukolsky equation for the pairwise equal case is conjectured. We also briefly analyze a technically sophisticated radial equation in the massive case.

Dirac equation↗
DOE OSTI2022

Stringy ER = EPR

The ER = EPR correspondence relates a superposition of entangled, disconnected spacetimes to a connected spacetime with an Einstein-Rosen bridge. We construct examples in which both sides may be described by weakly-coupled string theory. The relation between them is given by a Lorentzian continuation of the FZZ duality of the two-dimensional Euclidean black hole CFT in one example, and in another example by continuation of a similar duality that we propose for the asymptotic Euclidean AdS 3 black hole. This gives a microscopic understanding of ER = EPR: one has a worldsheet duality between string theory in a connected, eternal black hole, and in a superposition of disconnected geometries in an entangled state. The disconnected description includes a condensate of entangled folded strings emanating from a strong-coupling region in place of a bifurcation point. Our construction relies on a Lorentzian interpretation of Euclidean time winding operators via angular quantization, as well as some lesser known worldsheet string theories, such as perturbation theory around a thermofield-double state, which we define using Schwinger-Keldysh contours in target space.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Islands and Page curves in 4d from Type IIB

Variants of the black hole information paradox are studied in Type IIB string theory setups that realize four-dimensional gravity coupled to a bath. The setups are string theory versions of doubly-holographic Karch/Randall brane worlds, with black holes coupled to non-gravitating and gravitating baths. The 10d versions are based on fully backreacted solutions for configurations of D3, D5 and NS5 branes, and admit dual descriptions as N = 4 SYM on a half space and 3d $T$$^{σ}_{ρ}$ [SU(N)] SCFTs. Island contributions to the entanglement entropy of black hole radiation systems are identified through Ryu/Takayanagi surfaces and lead to Page curves. Analogs of the critical angles found in the Karch/Randall models are identified in 10d, as critical parameters in the brane configurations and dual field theories.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Gravitational index of the heterotic string

The fundamental heterotic string has a tower of BPS states whose supersymmetric index has an exponential growth in the charges. We construct the saddle-point of the gravitational path integral corresponding to this index. The saddle-point configuration is a supersymmetric rotating non-extremal Euclidean black hole. This configuration is singular in the two-derivative theory. We show that the addition of higher-derivative terms in four-dimensional N = 2 supergravity resolves the singularity. In doing so, we extend the recently-developed “new attractor mechanism” to include the effect of higher-derivative terms. Remarkably, the one-loop, four-derivative F-term contribution to the prepotential leads to a precise match of the gravitational and microscopic index. We also comment, using the effective theory near the horizon, on the possibility of a string-size near-extremal black hole. Our results clarify the meaning of different descriptions of this system in the literature. The thermal state transitions to a winding condensate and a gas of strings without ever reaching a small black hole, while the index is captured by the rotating Euclidean black hole solution and is constant and thus smoothly connected to the microscopic ensemble.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

The Fuzzball Paradigm

We describe the puzzles that arise in the quantum theory of black holes, and explain how they are resolved in string theory. We review how the Bekenstein entropy is obtained through the count of brane bound states. We describe the fuzzball construction of black hole microstates. These states have no horizon and radiate from their surface like a normal body, so there is no information puzzle. We explain how the semiclassical approximation is violated in gravitational collapse even though curvatures are low at the classical horizon. This violation happens because the collapse leads to a stretching of space that is {\it fast}: light does not have time to travel across the collapsing region to establish the `vecro' correlations needed in the quantum gravitational vacuum. These vecro correlations arise from the existence of virtual fuzzball fluctuations in the gravitational vacuum, and are significant because of the large degeneracy of fuzzball states implied by the Bekenstein entropy. It is plausible that similar effects of fast expansion may be responsible for effects like dark energy and the Early Dark Energy postulated to explain the Hubble tension.

FOS: Physical sciences↗
DOE OSTI2023

The holar wind

String theory in AdS 3 with purely NS-NS fluxes and vanishing RR moduli has a continuum of winding string excitations in radial plane wave states. BTZ black holes can emit such strings, which then flow out toward the AdS 3 boundary as a stream of massive quanta, and form a black hole analogue of the solar wind. The winding string sector thus provides a decay channel for the black hole to evaporate without having either to couple the system to an external reservoir or to match the AdS 3 throat onto an asymptotically flat region. We compute the emission amplitude of this “holar wind” in the semi-classical approximation, and consider the associated version of the black hole information paradox.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Q-balls meet fuzzballs: non-BPS microstate geometries

We construct a three-parameter family of non-extremal microstate geometries, or “microstrata”, that are dual to states and deformations of the D1-D5 CFT. These families are non-extremal analogues of superstrata. We find these microstrata by using a Q-ball-inspired Ansatz that reduces the equations of motion to solving for eleven functions of one variable. We then solve this system both perturbatively and numerically and the results match extremely well. We find that the solutions have normal mode frequencies that depend upon the amplitudes of the excitations. We also show that, at higher order in perturbations, some of the solutions, having started with normalizable modes, develop a “non-normalizable” part, suggesting that the microstrata represent states in a perturbed form of the D1-D5 CFT. This paper is intended as a “Proof of Concept” for the Q-ball-inspired approach, and we will describe how it opens the way to many interesting follow-up calculations both in supergravity and in the dual holographic field theory.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗