Black Hole Interior Research Articles

Collisions of localized shocks and quantum circuits

We study collisions between localized shockwaves inside a black hole interior. We give a holographic boundary description of this process in terms of the overlap of two growing perturbations in a shared quantum circuit. The perturbations grow both exponentially as well as ballistically. Due to a competition between different physical effects, the circuit analysis shows dependence on the transverse locations and exhibits four regimes of qualitatively different behaviors. On the gravity side we study properties of the post-collision geometry, using exact calculations in simple setups and estimations in more general circumstances. We show that the circuit analysis offers intuitive and surprisingly accurate predictions about gravity computations involving non-linear features of general relativity.

On the time dependence of holographic complexity for charged AdS black holes with scalar hair

In the presence of a scalar hair perturbation, the Cauchy horizon of a Reissner-Nordström black hole disappears and is replaced by the rapid collapse of the Einstein-Rosen bridge, which leads to a Kasner singularity [1, 2]. We study the time-dependence of holographic complexity, both for the volume and for the action proposals, in a class of models with hairy black holes. Volume complexity can only probe a portion of the black hole interior that remains far away from the Kasner singularity. We provide numerical evidence that the Lloyd bound is satisfied by the volume complexity rate in all the parameter space that we explored. Action complexity can instead probe a portion of the spacetime closer to the singularity. In particular, the complexity rate diverges at the critical time tc for which the Wheeler-DeWitt patch touches the singularity. After the critical time the action complexity rate approaches a constant. We find that the Kasner exponent does not directly affect the details of the divergence of the complexity rate at t = tc and the late-time behaviour of the complexity. The Lloyd bound is violated by action complexity at finite time, because the complexity rate diverges at t = tc. We find that the Lloyd bound is satisfied by the asymptotic action complexity rate in all the parameter space that we investigated.

Traversing through a black hole singularity

We show that the Kantowski-Sachs model of a Schwarzschild black hole interior can be slightly generalized in order to accommodate spatial metrics of different orientations, and in this formulation the equations of motion admit a variable redefinition that makes the system regular at the singularity. This system will then traverse the singularity in a deterministic way (information will be conserved through it), and evolve into a time-reversed and orientation-flipped Schwarzschild white hole interior.

The entanglement wedge of unknown couplings

The black hole interior is a mysterious region of spacetime where non-perturbative effects are sometimes important. These non-perturbative effects are believed to be highly theory-dependent. We sharpen these statements by considering a setup where the state of the black hole is in a superposition of states corresponding to boundary theories with different couplings, entangled with a reference which keeps track of those couplings. The entanglement wedge of the reference can then be interpreted as the bulk region most sensitive to the values of the couplings. In simple bulk models, e.g., JT gravity + a matter BCFT, the QES formula implies that the reference contains the black hole interior at late times. We also analyze the Renyi-2 entropy tr ρ2 of the reference, which can be viewed as a diagnostic of chaos via the Loschmidt echo. We find explicitly the replica wormhole that diagnoses the island and restores unitarity. Numerical and analytical evidence of these statements in the SYK model is presented. Similar considerations are expected to apply in higher dimensional AdS/CFT, for marginal and even irrelevant couplings.

Black holes in the limiting curvature theory of gravity

We discuss a recently proposed limiting curvature theory of gravity and its application to the problem of singularities inside black holes. In this theory the growth of the curvature is suppressed by specially chosen inequality constraints included in the gravity action. We consider a case of a spherically symmetric four-dimensional black hole and demonstrated that imposed curvature constraints modify a solution in the black hole interior. Instead of forming the curvature singularity the modified metric describes a space which is exponentially expanding in one direction and oscillating the other two directions. The space–time is complete and its polynomial curvature invariants are uniformly bounded.

Two-time alternative to the Ashtekar-Olmedo-Singh black hole interior

We investigate the viability of a recently proposed generalization of the Ashtekar-Olmedo-Singh spacetime for the effective description of the interior region of a Schwarzschild black hole within the framework of loop quantum cosmology. The approach is based on a choice of polymerization parameters that is more general than the ones previously considered in the literature and that results in the natural appearance of two times to describe the solutions. If one is interested in examining the physics derived from this model, it is fundamental to ensure that one can attain a well-defined effective geometry in the whole region under consideration, in particular as regards the redundancy of the two times, which one needs to express in terms of a single time coordinate. In order to determine whether this requirement is met, we analyze the definition of these times and their relation. We show that one can reach an acceptable interior spacetime geometry by exploiting the freedom to define the origins of the two times independently.

Bubbles of nothing in binary black holes and black rings, and viceversa

We argue that expanding bubbles of nothing are a widespread feature of systems of black holes with multiple or non-spherical horizons, appearing as a limit of regions that are narrowly enclosed by the horizons. The bubble is a minimal cycle that links the Einstein-Rosen bridges in the system, and its expansion occurs through the familiar stretching of space in black hole interiors. We demonstrate this idea (which does not involve any Wick rotations) with explicit constructions in four and five dimensions. The geometries of expanding bubbles in these dimensions arise as a limit of, respectively, static black hole binaries and black rings. The limit is such that the separation between the two black holes, or the inner hole of the black ring, becomes very small, and the horizons of the black holes correspond to acceleration horizons of the bubbles. We also explain how a five-dimensional black hole binary gives rise to a different type of expanding bubble. We then show that bubble spacetimes can host black hole binaries and black rings in static equilibrium, with their gravitational attraction being balanced against the background spacetime expansion. Similar constructions are expected in six or more dimensions, but most of these solutions can be obtained only numerically. Finally, we argue that the Nariai solution can be regarded as containing an expanding circular bubble of nothing.

The volume of the black hole interior at late times

Understanding the fate of semi-classical black hole solutions at very late times is one of the most important open questions in quantum gravity. In this paper, we provide a path integral definition of the volume of the black hole interior and study it at arbitrarily late times for black holes in various models of two-dimensional gravity. Because of a novel universal cancellation between the contributions of the semi-classical black hole spectrum and some of its non-perturbative corrections, we find that, after a linear growth at early times, the length of the interior saturates at a time, and towards a value, that is exponentially large in the entropy of the black hole. This provides a non-perturbative test of the complexity equals volume proposal since complexity is also expected to plateau at the same value and at the same time.

Unbounded Energy Collisions inside and outside Black Holes

The possibility of on-horizon collisions of unbounded energy in the case of an extreme Kerr black hole is known as the BSW effect. It is also a widely accepted point of view that the energy collision of two identical particles of mass m near the horizon of a Schwarzschild black hole is limited to a value of 25 m. We show that there are two possible scenarios for unbounded energy collisions both for the exterior and for the interior of spherically symmetric black holes. Similar scenarios are found for axially symmetric black holes. It is shown that divergent (infinite) energy on-(inner)horizon collisions are excluded due to the anisotropic character of the dynamics of black hole interiors.

Seeing behind black hole horizons in SYK

We present an explicit reconstruction of the interior of an AdS2 black hole in Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity, that is entirely formulated in the dual SYK model and makes no direct reference to the gravitational bulk. We do this by introducing a probe “observer” in the right wormhole exterior and using the prescription of [arXiv:2009.04476] to transport SYK operators along the probe’s infalling worldline and into the black hole interior, using an appropriate SYK modular Hamiltonian. Our SYK computation recovers the precise proper time at which signals sent from the left boundary are registered by our observer’s apparatus inside the wormhole. The success of the computation relies on the universal properties of SYK and we outline a promising avenue for extending it to higher dimensions and applying it to the computation of scattering amplitudes behind the horizon.

Finding pythons in unexpected places

We argue that novel (highly nonclassical) quantum extremal surfaces (QESs) play a crucial role in reconstructing the black hole interior even for isolated, single-sided, non-evaporating black holes (i.e. with no auxiliary reservoir). Specifically, any code subspace where interior outgoing modes can be excited will have a QES in its maximally mixed state. We argue that as a result, reconstruction of interior outgoing modes is always exponentially complex. Our construction provides evidence in favor of a strong python’s lunch proposal: that nonminimal QESs are the exclusive source of exponential complexity in the holographic dictionary. We also comment on the relevance of these QESs to the geometrization of state dependence in the typicality arguments for firewalls.

No scalar-haired Cauchy horizon theorem in Einstein-Maxwell-Horndeski theories

Recently, a no inner (Cauchy) horizon theorem for static black holes with non-trivial scalar hairs has been proved in Einstein-Maxwell-scalar theories. In this paper, we study an extension of the theorem to the static black holes in Einstein-Maxwell-Horndeski theories. We study the black hole interior geometry for some exact solutions and find that the spacetime has a (space-like) curvature singularity where the black hole mass gets an extremum and the Hawking temperature vanishes. We discuss further extensions of the theorem, including general Horndeski theories from disformal transformations.

Kasner geometries inside holographic superconductors

The recent study of holographic superconductors has shown the emergence of a Kasner universe behind the event horizon. This paper serves to add to the discussion by introducing two modifications to the holographic superconductor model: an axion field term and an Einstein-Maxwell-scalar (EMS) coupling term. We first discuss the effect the modification parameters have on the condensate then explore the black hole interior dynamics. Features previously identified in the interior are found in the model presented, including the collapse of the Einstein-Rosen bridge, Josephson oscillations and Kasner inversions/transitions. However, we find that by increasing the EMS coupling parameter, the collapse does not occur near the axion-Reissner-Nordström horizon and the oscillations are no longer present; the geometry entering into a Kasner regime after a large-r collapse instead.

Replica wormholes and the black hole interior

Recent work has shown how to obtain the Page curve of an evaporating black hole from holographic computations of entanglement entropy. We show how these computations can be justified using the replica trick, from geometries with a spacetime wormhole connecting the different replicas. In a simple model, we study the Page transition in detail by summing replica geometries with different topologies. We compute related quantities in less detail in more complicated models, including JT gravity coupled to conformal matter and the SYK model. Separately, we give a direct gravitational argument for entanglement wedge reconstruction using an explicit formula known as the Petz map; again, a spacetime wormhole plays an important role. We discuss an interpretation of the wormhole geometries as part of some ensemble average implicit in the gravity description.

The final Kasner regime inside black holes with scalar or vector hair

The final (close to the singularity) dynamical behavior of the metric inside black holes with massive charged scalar or vector hair is analyzed for general anisotropic and inhomogeneous initial conditions. These solutions are relevant to a holographic realization of superconductivity. It is shown that the dynamics falls within the scope of the “cosmological billiard” description and that in both cases, the corresponding hyperbolic billiard region has infinite volume so that the system ultimately settles down to a final Kasner regime. For massive vector hair, the conclusion holds because the longitudinal mode plays the same role as a scalar field. There exists, however, a measure-zero subset of solutions characterized by vanishing longitudinal modes that exhibit a chaotic behavior with an infinite number of BKL oscillations as one goes to the singularity.

Low regularity extensions beyond Cauchy horizons

We prove that if in a C 0 spacetime a complete partial Cauchy hypersurface has a non-empty Cauchy horizon, then the horizon is caused by the presence of almost closed causal curves behind it or by the influence of points at infinity. This statement is related to strong cosmic censorship and a conjecture of Wald. In this light, Wald’s conjecture can be formulated as a PDE problem about the location of Cauchy horizons inside black hole interiors.

Quantum computational complexity from quantum information to black holes and back

Quantum computational complexity estimates the difficulty of constructing quantum states from elementary operations, a problem of prime importance for quantum computation. Surprisingly, this quantity can also serve to study a completely different physical problem – that of information processing inside black holes. Quantum computational complexity was suggested as a new entry in the holographic dictionary, which extends the connection between geometry and information and resolves the puzzle of why black hole interiors keep growing for a very long time. In this pedagogical review, we present the geometric approach to complexity advocated by Nielsen and show how it can be used to define complexity for generic quantum systems; in particular, we focus on Gaussian states in QFT, both pure and mixed, and on certain classes of CFT states. We then present the conjectured relation to gravitational quantities within the holographic correspondence and discuss several examples in which different versions of the conjectures have been tested. We highlight the relation between complexity, chaos and scrambling in chaotic systems. We conclude with a discussion of open problems and future directions. This article was written for the special issue of EPJ-C Frontiers in Holographic Duality.

Sewing spacetime with Lorentzian threads: complexity and the emergence of time in quantum gravity

Holographic entanglement entropy was recently recast in terms of Riemannian flows or ‘bit threads’. We consider the Lorentzian analog to reformulate the ‘complexity=volume’ conjecture using Lorentzian flows — timelike vector fields whose minimum flux through a boundary subregion is equal to the volume of the homologous maximal bulk Cauchy slice. By the nesting of Lorentzian flows, holographic complexity is shown to obey a number of properties. Particularly, the rate of complexity is bounded below by conditional complexity, describing a multi-step optimization with intermediate and final target states. We provide multiple explicit geometric realizations of Lorentzian flows in AdS backgrounds, including their time-dependence and behavior near the singularity in a black hole interior. Conceptually, discretized flows are interpreted as Lorentzian threads or ‘gatelines’. Upon selecting a reference state, complexity thence counts the minimum number of gatelines needed to prepare a target state described by a tensor network discretizing the maximal volume slice, matching its quantum information theoretic definition. We point out that suboptimal tensor networks are important to fully characterize the state, leading us to propose a refined notion of complexity as an ensemble average. The bulk symplectic potential provides a specific ‘canonical’ thread configuration characterizing perturbations around arbitrary CFT states. Consistency of this solution requires the bulk satisfy the linearized Einstein’s equations, which are shown to be equivalent to the holographic first law of complexity, thereby advocating for a principle of ‘spacetime complexity’. Lastly, we argue Lorentzian threads provide a notion of emergent time. This article is an expanded and detailed version of [1], including several new results.

Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity coupled to bumblebee field in four dimensional spacetime

We study Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity coupled to a bumblebee field which leads to a spontaneous Lorentz symmetry breaking in the gravitational sector. We obtain an exact black hole solution and a cosmological solution in four dimensional spacetime by a regularization scheme. We also obtain a Schwarzschild-like bumblebee black hole solution in D-dimensional spacetime. We find that the bumblebee field doesn't affect the locations of the black hole horizon, but only affects the gravitational potential. That is, its gravitational potential has a minimum value (negative) in the black hole interior and has a positive value 1+ℓ at short distance r→0. If the constant ℓ is large enough, then this kind of black hole is practically free from the singularity problem. The thermodynamics and phase transition are also studied. In a cosmological context, it is interesting that the Gauss-Bonnet term has no effect on the conservation of energy equation. A late-time expansion of de Sitter universe can be replicated in an empty space. The Gauss-Bonnet term and the bumblebee field can both actually act as a form of dark energy.

Simple analog of the black-hole information paradox in quantum Hall interfaces

The black hole information paradox has been hotly debated for the last few decades, without full resolution. This makes it desirable to find analogs of this paradox in simple and experimentally accessible systems, whose resolutions may shed light on this long-standing and fundamental problem. Here we identify and resolve an apparent "information paradox" in a quantum Hall interface between the Halperin-331 and Pfaffian states. Information carried by the pseudospin degree of freedom of the Abelian 331 quasiparticles gets scrambled when they cross the interface to enter non-Abelian Pfaffian state, and becomes inaccessible to local measurements; in this sense the Pfaffian region is an analog of black hole interior while the interface plays a role similar to its horizon. We demonstrate that the "lost" information gets recovered once the "black hole" evaporates and the quasiparticles return to the 331 region, albeit in a highly entangled form. Such recovery is quantified by the Page curve of the entropy carried by these quasiparticles, which are analogs of Hawking radiation.