SPINBHMICRO · New Horizons for Holography
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2022-05-02 → 2025-05-01
- EU contribution
- €251,003
- Participants
- 2
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
New Horizons for Holography
Black holes are elusive celestial objects: they are formed by collapse of heavy stars and are characterized by an event horizon that prevents us from seeing the atoms they are composed of. Black holes are thermodynamic ensembles, and they possess entropy proportional to the area of the event horizon: the latter is a precious clue in unravelling the degrees of freedom of quantum gravity, whose formulation is one of the outstanding problems in modern Theoretical Physics. One of the main objectives of the project was the study of the spectrum of microstates of the rotating black holes. These investigations encompass cases where symmetry is enhanced (so-called “supersymmetric” configurations) and more realistic Kerr black holes, which exist in our universe. Due to lack of supersymmetry, the latter case requires the development of a new framework that renders the problem computationally tractable. One of the objectives of the proposal is making use of the horizon geometry, and a regulated near-extremal geometry, to tackle this problem. At the same time, another objective of the proposal is to investigate the deformation properties of black hole horizons, and the characteristics of horizons in spacetimes with positive cosmological constant (de Sitter black holes), relevant for cosmological scenarios. These studies connect to recent results that found chaotic behavior near a black hole horizon, and aim at understanding what are the building blocks of spacetime, how they are organized and how they interact, providing a new window into the fundamental constituents of a theory of quantum gravity.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Black holes are among the most intriguing objects in theoretical physics. They are thermodynamic ensembles and they possess huge entropy, proportional to the area of the event horizon. Black hole entropy provides precious quantitative information about the microscopic structure of quantum gravity: its holographic behavior suggests that the quantum degrees of freedom of gravity are encoded in a lower-dimensional field theory. The first aim of this ambitious project is to make progress in understanding the nature of quantum gravity by using String Theory and the holographic (AdS/CFT) correspondence. The candidate will use AdS/CFT to explain the microstructure of extremal rotating black holes, whose near horizon geometry falls into the same class as those present in our universe. The counting of microstates is related to very recent exciting technical advances in the study of supersymmetric QFT by exact non-perturbative methods. The applicant will push current techniques to encompass also supersymmetry breaking setups, providing a new window into the fundamental microscopic theory of gravity. The second aim of this proposal is to investigate the process of energy extraction from fast spinning black holes. The candidate will solve the equations of Force Free Electrodynamics, which describe the electromagnetic field of the black hole magnetosphere filled with plasma, in a simplified setup of spinning black hole. She will analytically achieve a quantitative estimate of potential observational consequences, for instance the order of magnitude of the Lorentz factor of accelerated particles in black hole jets. The expertise of the candidate in black holes and holography complements that of the group at Harvard U. (Black Hole Initiative) and Milano U. in index computations, Kerr/CFT and magnetohydrodynamics, providing a unique opportunity to shed new light on these open questions.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO · MilanoCoordinatorItaly
- PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE · CambridgeUnited States
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union