Gamma Ray Bursts from a Quantum Critical Surface

Abstract

The logical inconsistency of quantum mechanics and general relativity can be avoided if the relativity principle fails for length scales smaller than the quantum coherence length for the vacuum state. Ordinarily this corresponds to energies near the Planck energy, but recently it has been pointed out that near to the event horizon of a black hole the coherence length can be much larger and Planck scale physics can take over at macroscopic distances from the event horizon. This has dramatic consequences for the phenomenology of black holes. If we assume that at the Planck scale elementary particles interact via a universal 4-point interaction and baryon number conservation is violated, then the rest mass of a star hitting the event horizon of a large black hole would be rapidly converted into a burst of gamma rays followed by a pulse of hard X-rays whose duration is on the order of the light transit time across the black hole. Predictions for the gamma ray spectra are strikingly similar to those observed for cosmic gamma ray bursts.