Project

Quantum Black Holes: a lower-dimensional perspective.

Code
11P9Z24N
Duration
01 November 2023 → 31 October 2027
Funding
Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)
Research disciplines
  • Natural sciences
    • General relativity and gravitation
    • Geometric aspects of physics
    • Field theory and string theory
Keywords
Black hole horizons Cosmology Holographic quantum gravity
 
Project description

Understanding quantum gravity is one of the most fundamental problems in high-energy theoretical physics and black holes are believed to offer us valuable tools in investigating it. Recent breakthroughs in astronomy confirmed that these objects are abundant in our universe. While we have a good semi-classical understanding of how they work, we still lack a satisfactory description both in terms of general relativity and quantum mechanics. A particularly disturbing process in this regard is black hole evaporation, discovered by Hawking in the 70's, that led to the formulation of the famous black hole information paradox. My research project aims to investigate quantum black holes in simplified lower-dimensional set-ups using Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity models. These models have proven to be extremely useful in describing the dynamics of near-extremal Anti-de-Sitter black holes. I plan to use JT models to identify and quantify different universality classes, governing the dynamics of near-extremal (rotating) black holes in 3+1-dimensional de Sitter space. Another important step towards the understanding of the properties of quantum black holes consists in studying their supersymmetric versions and the related JT supergravity models. Finally, I aim to formulate a framework that addresses some aspects of the black hole information paradox by using JT techniques to describe the experience of infalling observers at the black hole horizon.