Model Of Black Hole Evaporation Research Articles

A microscopic model of black hole evaporation in two dimensions

We present a microscopic model of black hole (BH) ‘evaporation’ in asymptotically AdS2 spacetimes dual to the low energy sector of the SYK model. To describe evaporation, the SYK model is coupled to a bath comprising of Nf free scalar fields Φi. We consider a linear combination of couplings of the form OSY K(t)∑iΦi(0, t), where OSY K involves products of the Kourkoulou-Maldacena operator iJ/N{sum}_{k=1}^{N/2}{s}_k^{prime }{psi}_{2k-1}(t){psi}_{2k}(t) specified by a spin vector s′. We discuss the time evolution of a product of (i) a pure state of the SYK system, namely a BH microstate characterized by a spin vector s and an effective BH temperature TBH, and (ii) a Calabrese-Cardy state of the bath characterized by an effective temperature Tbath. We take Tbath ≪ TBH, and TBH much lower than the characteristic UV scale J of the SYK model, allowing a description in terms of the time reparameterization mode. Tracing over the bath degrees of freedom leads to a Feynman-Vernon type effective action for the SYK model, which we study in the low energy limit. The leading large N behaviour of the time reparameterization mode is found, as well as the Oleft(1/sqrt{N}right) fluctuations. The latter are characterized by a non-Markovian non-linear stochastic differential equation with non-local Gaussian noise. In a restricted range of couplings, we find two classes of solutions which asymptotically approach (a) a BH at a lower temperature, and (b) a horizonless geometry. We identify these with partial and complete BH evaporation, respectively. Importantly, the asymptotic solution in both cases involves the scalar product of the spin vectors s.s′, which carries some information about the initial state. By repeating the dynamical process O(N2) times with different choices of the spin vector s′, one can in principle reconstruct the initial BH microstate.

The Page curve for reflected entropy

We study the reflected entropy SR in the West Coast Model, a toy model of black hole evaporation consisting of JT gravity coupled to end-of-the-world branes. We demonstrate the validity of the holographic duality relating it to the entanglement wedge cross section away from phase transitions. Further, we analyze the important non-perturbative effects that smooth out the discontinuity in the SR phase transition. By performing the gravitational path integral, we obtain the reflected entanglement spectrum analytically. The spectrum takes a simple form consisting of superselection sectors, which we interpret as a direct sum of geometries, a disconnected one and a connected one involving a closed universe. We find that area fluctuations of O ( sqrt{G_N} ) spread out the SR phase transition in the canonical ensemble, analogous to the entanglement entropy phase transition. We also consider a Renyi generalization of the reflected entropy and show that the location of the phase transition varies as a function of the Renyi parameter.

Causal unitary qubit model of black hole evaporation

A new simple qubit model of black hole evaporation is proposed. The model operates on four qubits and is defined in terms of quantum gates and a quantum circuit. The chief features of the model include explicit unitarity and (most notably) causality which is understood as the impossibility of the transfer of information from the interior of the black hole through its horizon. The corresponding von Neumann entanglement entropy yields a crude (four-qubit) approximation of the Page curve.

Unitarity and the information problem in an explicit model of black hole evaporation

We consider the black hole information problem in an explicitly defined spacetime modeling black hole evaporation. Using this context we review basic aspects of the problem, with a particular effort to be unambiguous about subtle topics, for instance precisely what is meant by entropy in various circumstances. We then focus on questions of unitarity, and argue that commonly invoked semiclassical statements of long term, evaporation time, and Page time ‘unitarity’ may all be violated even if physics is fundamentally unitary. This suggests that there is no horizon firewall. We discuss how the picture is modified for regular (nonsingular) evaporation models. We also compare our conclusions to recent holographic studies, and argue that they are mutually compatible.

Quantum maximin surfaces

We formulate a quantum generalization of maximin surfaces and show that a quantum maximin surface is identical to the minimal quantum extremal surface, introduced in the EW prescription. We discuss various subtleties and complications associated to a maximinimization of the bulk von Neumann entropy due to corners and unboundedness and present arguments that nonetheless a maximinimization of the UV-finite generalized entropy should be well-defined. We give the first general proof that the EW prescription satisfies entanglement wedge nesting and the strong subadditivity inequality. In addition, we apply the quantum maximin technology to prove that recently proposed generalizations of the EW prescription to nonholographic subsystems (including the so-called “quantum extremal islands”) also satisfy entanglement wedge nesting and strong subadditivity. Our results hold in the regime where backreaction of bulk quantum fields can be treated perturbatively in GNħ, but we emphasize that they are valid even when gradients of the bulk entropy are of the same order as variations in the area, a regime recently investigated in new models of black hole evaporation in AdS/CFT.

Local quenches, bulk entanglement entropy and a unitary Page curve

Quantum corrections to the entanglement entropy of matter fields interacting with dynamical gravity have proven to be very important in the study of the black hole information problem. We consider a one-particle excited state of a massive scalar field infalling in a pure AdS3 geometry and compute these corrections for bulk subregions anchored on the AdS boundary. In the dual CFT2, the state is given by the insertion of a local primary operator and its evolution thereafter. We calculate the area and bulk entanglement entropy corrections at order mathcal{O}left({N}^0right), both in AdS and its CFT dual. The two calculations match, thus providing a non-trivial check of the FLM formula in a dynamical setting. Further, we observe that the bulk entanglement entropy follows a Page curve. We explain the precise sense in which our setup can be interpreted as a simple model of black hole evaporation and comment on the implications for the information problem.

Simple holographic models of black hole evaporation

Several recent papers have shown a close relationship between entanglement wedge reconstruction and the unitarity of black hole evaporation in AdS/CFT. The analysis of these papers however has a rather puzzling feature: all calculations are done using bulk dynamics which are essentially those Hawking used to predict information loss, but applying ideas from entanglement wedge reconstruction seems to suggest a Page curve which is consistent with information conservation. Why should two different calculations in the same model give different answers for the Page curve? In this note we present a new pair of models which clarify this situation. Our first model gives a holographic illustration of unitary black hole evaporation, in which the analogue of the Hawking radiation purifies itself as expected, and this purification is reproduced by the entanglement wedge analysis. Moreover a smooth black hole interior persists until the last stages the evaporation process. Our second model gives an alternative holographic interpretation of the situation where the bulk evolution leads to information loss: unlike in the models proposed so far, this bulk information loss is correctly reproduced by the entanglement wedge analysis. This serves as an illustration that quantum extremal surfaces are in some sense kinematic: the time-dependence of the entropy they compute depends on the choice of bulk dynamics. In both models no bulk quantum corrections need to be considered: classical extremal surfaces are enough to do the job. We argue that our first model is the one which gives the right analogy for what actually happens to evaporating black holes, but we also emphasize that any complete resolution of the information problem will require an understanding of non-perturbative bulk dynamics.

Information flow in black hole evaporation

Recently, new holographic models of black hole evaporation have given fresh insights into the information paradox [1–3]. In these models, the black hole evaporates into an auxiliary bath space after a quantum quench, wherein the holographic theory and the bath are joined. One particularly exciting development is the appearance of ‘ER=EPR’-like wormholes in the (doubly) holographic model of [3]. At late times, the entanglement wedge of the bath includes the interior of the black hole. In this paper, we employ both numerical and analytic methods to study how information about the black hole interior is encoded in the Hawking radiation. In particular, we systematically excise intervals from the bath from the system and study the corresponding Page transition. Repeating this process ad infinitum, we end up with a fractal structure on which the black hole interior is encoded, implementing the überholography protocol of [4].

Emergent geometry from stochastic dynamics, or Hawking evaporation in M(atrix) theory

We develop an microscopic model of the M-theory Schwarzschild black hole using the Banks-Fischler-Shenker-Susskind Matrix formulation of quantum gravity. The underlying dynamics is known to be chaotic, which allows us to use methods from Random Matrix Theory and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics to propose a coarse-grained bottom-up picture of the event horizon — and the associated Hawking evaporation phenomenon. The analysis is possible due to a hierarchy between the various timescales at work. Event horizon physics is found to be non-local at the Planck scale, and we demonstrate how non-unitary physics and information loss arise from the process of averaging over the chaotic unitary dynamics. Most interestingly, we correlate the onset of non-unitarity with the emergence of spacetime geometry outside the horizon. We also write a mean field action for the evolution of qubits — represented by polarization states of supergravity modes. This evolution is shown to have similarities to a recent toy model of black hole evaporation proposed by Osuga and Page — a model aimed at developing a plausible no-firewall scenario.

Quantum circuit model of black hole evaporation

We consider a quantum circuit model describing the evaporation process of black holes. We specifically examine the behavior of the multipartite entanglement represented by this model, and find that the entanglement structure depends on the black hole mass M and the frequency of the Hawking radiation ω. For sufficiently small values of , the black hole and the radiation system becomes a separable state after the Page time and a firewall-like structure appears. On the contrary, for larger values of , the entanglement between the black hole and the radiation is not lost. These behaviors imply that owing to the monogamy property of the multipartite entanglement, low frequency modes of the Hawking radiation destroy the quantum correlation between the black hole and the emitted Hawking radiation.

Qubit transport model for unitary black hole evaporation without firewalls

We give an explicit toy qubit transport model for transferring information from the gravitational field of a black hole to the Hawking radiation by a continuous unitary transformation of the outgoing radiation and the black hole gravitational field. The model has no firewalls or other drama at the event horizon, and it avoids a counterargument that has been raised for subsystem transfer models as resolutions of the firewall paradox. Furthermore, it fits the set of six physical constraints that Giddings has proposed for models of black hole evaporation. It does utilize nonlocal qubits for the gravitational field but assumes that the radiation interacts locally with these nonlocal qubits, so in some sense the nonlocality is confined to the gravitational sector. Although the qubit model is too crude to be quantitatively correct for the detailed spectrum of Hawking radiation, it fits qualitatively with what is expected.

A Model of Black Hole Evaporation and 4D Weyl Anomaly

We analyze the time evolution of a spherically-symmetric collapsing matter from the point of view that black holes evaporate by nature. We consider conformal matters and solve the semi-classical Einstein equation G μ ν = 8 π G 〈 T μ ν 〉 by using the four-dimensional Weyl anomaly with a large c coefficient. Here, 〈 T μ ν 〉 contains the contribution from both the collapsing matter and Hawking radiation. The solution indicates that the collapsing matter forms a dense object and evaporates without horizon or singularity, and it has a surface, but looks like an ordinary black hole from the outside. Any object we recognize as a black hole should be such an object.

Density matrix of black hole radiation

Hawking's model of black hole evaporation is not unitary and leads to a mixed density matrix for the emitted radiation, while the Page model describes a unitary evaporation process in which the density matrix evolves from an almost thermal state to a pure state. We compare a recently proposed model of semiclassical black hole evaporation to the two established models. In particular, we study the density matrix of the outgoing radiation and determine how the magnitude of the off-diagonal corrections differs for the three frameworks. For Hawking's model, we find power-law corrections to the two-point functions that induce exponentially suppressed corrections to the off-diagonal elements of the full density matrix. This verifies that the Hawking result is correct to all orders in perturbation theory and also allows one to express the full density matrix in terms of the single-particle density matrix. We then consider the semiclassical theory for which the corrections, being non-perturbative from an effective field-theory perspective, are much less suppressed and grow monotonically in time. In this case, the R\'enyi entropy for the outgoing radiation is shown to grow linearly at early times; but this growth slows down and the entropy eventually starts to decrease at the Page time. In addition to comparing models, we emphasize the distinction between the state of the radiation emitted from a black hole, which is highly quantum, and that of the radiation emitted from a typical classical black body at the same temperature.

Constraints on the quantum state of pairs produced by semiclassical black holes

The pair-production process for a black hole (BH) is discussed within the framework of a recently proposed semiclassical model of BH evaporation. Our emphasis is on how the requirements of unitary evolution and strong subadditivity act to constrain the state of the produced pairs and their entanglement with the already emitted BH radiation. We find that the state of the produced pairs is indeed strongly constrained but that the semiclassical model is consistent with all requirements. We are led to the following picture: Initially, the pairs are produced in a state of nearly maximal entanglement amongst the partners, with a parametrically small entanglement between each positive-energy partner and the outgoing radiation, similar to Hawking’s model. But, as the BH evaporation progresses past the Page time, each positive-energy partner has a stronger entanglement with the outgoing radiation and, consequently, is less strongly entangled with its negative-energy partner. We present some evidence that this pattern of entanglement does not require non-local interactions, only EPR-like non-local correlations.

Falling through the black hole horizon

Abstract We consider the fate of a small classical object, a “stick”, as it falls through the horizon of a large black hole (BH). Classically, the equivalence principle dictates that the stick is affected by small tidal forces, and Hawking’s quantum-mechanical model of BH evaporation makes essentially the same prediction. If, on the other hand, the BH horizon is surrounded by a “firewall”, the stick will be consumed as it falls through. We have recently extended Hawking’s model by taking into account the quantum fluctuations of the geometry and the classical back-reaction of the emitted particles. Here, we calculate the train exerted on the falling stick for our model. The strain depends on the near-horizon state of the Hawking pairs. We find that, after the Page time when the state of the pairs deviates significantly from maximal entanglement (as required by unitarity), the induced strain in our semiclassical model is still parametrically small. This is because the number of the disentangled pairs is parametrically smaller than the BH entropy. A firewall does, however, appear if the number of disentangled pairs near the horizon is of order of the BH entropy, as implicitly assumed in previous discussions in the literature.

Entanglement entropy and negative energy in two dimensions

It is well known that quantum effects can produce negative energy densities, though for limited times. Here we show in the context of two-dimensional CFT that such negative energy densities are present in any non-trivial conformal vacuum and can be interpreted in terms of the entanglement structure of such states. We derive an exact identity relating the outgoing energy flux and the entanglement entropy in the in-vacuum. When applied to two-dimensional models of black hole evaporation, this identity implies that unitarity is incompatible with monotonic mass loss.

Unitarity of black hole evaporation in final-state projection models

Almheiri et al. have emphasized that otherwise reasonable beliefs about black hole evaporation are incompatible with the monogamy of quantum entanglement, a general property of quantum mechanics. We investigate the final-state projection model of black hole evaporation proposed by Horowitz and Maldacena, pointing out that this model admits cloning of quantum states and polygamous entanglement, allowing unitarity of the evaporation process to be reconciled with smoothness of the black hole event horizon. Though the model seems to require carefully tuned dynamics to ensure exact unitarity of the black hole S-matrix, for a generic final-state boundary condition the deviations from unitarity are exponentially small in the black hole entropy; furthermore observers inside black holes need not detect any deviations from standard quantum mechanics. Though measurements performed inside old black holes could potentially produce causality-violating phenomena, the computational complexity of decoding the Hawking radiation may render the causality violation unobservable. Final-state projection models illustrate how inviolable principles of standard quantum mechanics might be circumvented in a theory of quantum gravity.

Qubit models of black hole evaporation

Recently, several simple quantum mechanical toy models of black hole evaporation have appeared in the literature attempting to illuminate the black hole information paradox. We present a general class of models that is large enough to describe both unitary and nonunitary evaporation, and study a few specific examples to clarify some potential confusions regarding recent results. We also generalize Mathur’s bound on small corrections to black hole dynamics. Conclusions are then drawn about the requirements for unitary evaporation of black holes in this class of models. We present a one-parameter family of models that continuously deforms nonunitary Hawking evaporation into a unitary process. The required deformation is large.

Black holes as Rubik’s cubes

We propose a unitary toy model of black hole evaporation, in which the entanglement between the interior and exterior degrees of freedom vanishes at late times. Our model possesses the information-free property and satisfies the niceness conditions discussed in the literature. A key feature of the model is that the Hilbert space of black hole internal states contains a vacuum state corresponding to the completely evaporated black hole, which can be reached from any initial state via the Hawking process. Our model suggests a novel quantum cosmological way in which information can get out of an evaporating black hole.

New variables for (1 + 1)-dimensional gravity

We show that the canonical formulation of a generic action for (1 + 1)-dimensional models of gravity coupled to matter admits a description in terms of Ashtekar-type variables. This opens the possibility of discussing models of black hole evaporation using loop representation techniques and verifying which paradigm emerges for the possible elimination of the black hole singularity and the issue of information loss. Although the method can be applied to any (1 + 1)-dimensional action, we implement it concretely in the case of a spherically symmetric reduction of (3 + 1) gravity and the CGHS model.