The pioneering work of Bekenstein and Hawking in the 1970s showed that black holes have thermodynamic properties like temperature and entropy. This discovery gave rise to deep questions about the quantum structure of spacetime, in particular, (1) What is the nature of the microscopic states underlying a black hole? (2) How does one describe the collective behavior (phases) of these microstates?
In this colloquium, I will discuss some recent developments on these themes in the context of supersymmetric black holes in string theory. After a broad introduction I will discuss two prototype models in which we can study these questions at a detailed quantitative level.
In the first model we see how the discreteness of the quantum Hilbert space of black hole microstates emerges from the continuum gravitational variables. In the second model we uncover a rich phase diagram that generalizes the Hawking-Page transition in the gravitational theory and the deconfinement transition in the dual gauge theory.
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Quantum black holes and Quantum phases of gravity: Glimpses into the microstructure of gravity
Sameer Murthy, King's College London
Monday, May 20, 2024 - 4:00pm
PAA A-102