Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: A bstract Near-extremal black holes are subject to large quantum effects, which modify their low-temperature thermodynamic behavior. Hitherto, these quantum effects were analyzed by separating the geometry into the near-horizon region and its exterior. It is desirable to understand and reproduce such corrections from the full higher-dimensional asymptotically flat or AdS geometry’s perspective. We address this question in this article and fill this gap. Specifically, we find off-shell eigenmodes of the quadratic fluctuation operator of the Euclidean gravitational dynamics, with eigenvalues that vanish linearly with temperature. We illustrate this for BTZ and neutral black holes with hyperbolic horizons in AdS in Einstein-Hilbert theory, and for the charged black holes in Einstein-Maxwell theory. The linear scaling with Matsubara frequency, which is a distinctive feature of the modes, together with the fact that their wavefunctions localize close to the horizon as we approach extremality, identifies them as responsible for the aforementioned quantum effects. We provide a contour prescription to deal with the sign indefiniteness of the Euclidean Einstein-Maxwell action, which we derive to aid our analysis. We also resolve a technical puzzle regarding modes associated with rotational isometries in stationary black hole spacetimes.
Source: Journal of High Energy Physics
Institution: University of Washington
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
Awards: G2595738051, G3398237449, DISTRIBUTED QUANTUM INFORMATION: THEORY AND APPLICATIONS, G4437173897, HIGH ENERGY PARTICLE PHYSICS RESEARCH, G4689434848, THEORETICAL PHYSICS OF PARTICLES, FIELDS AND STRINGS, G638484911, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, Research in Classical and Quantum Gravity, Research in Classical and Quantum Gravity, Programs on Critical Problems in Physics, Astrophysics and Biophysics at the Aspen Center for Physics, HOLOGRAPHY: QUANTUM MECHANICAL ASPECTS OF BLACK HOLES
OpenAlex ID: W4409160326