Year: 1993
Type: article
Abstract: Three postulates asserting the validity of conventional quantum theory, semiclassical general relativity, and the statistical basis for thermodynamics are introduced as a foundation for the study of black-hole evolution. We explain how these postulates may be implemented in a "stretched horizon" or membrane description of the black hole, appropriate to a distant observer. The technical analysis is illustrated in the simplified context of (1+1)-dimensional dilaton gravity. Our postulates imply that the dissipative properties of the stretched horizon arise from a course graining of microphysical degrees of freedom that the horizon must possess. A principle of black-hole complementarity is advocated. The overall viewpiont is similar to that poineered by 't Hooft but the detailed implementation is different.
Authors: Leonard Susskind, Lárus Thorlacius, John Uglum
Institution: Stanford University
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: National Science Foundation
OpenAlex ID: W2127668517