A major motivating factor for the search for a theory of quantum gravity is to explain the behavior of black holes, and string theory appears to be one of the best methods of achieving that goal. They attest in a nontrivial way to the nonperturbative consistency of string theory as a quantum theory of gravity. Black holes are the hydrogen atoms of quantum gravity. A central premise of string theory is that strings, the most.
Relativity gives is not complete, as the information paradox shows. In physics, string theory is a theoretical framework in which the pointlike particles of particle. Introduction to black holes, information and the string theory revolution, an paperback. We consider black holes in string theory which is a quantum theory of gravity. So string theory is one limit of this quantum theory, but there are many others. An introduction to black holes, information and the string theory. The advent of general relativity, a fully relativistic theory of gravity in which light is submitted to gravity, gave rise to. In particular, this means that observations performed by observers who remain outside the black hole can be described by a unitary time evolution. An introduction to black holes, information and the string theory revolution book. Different aspects of black hole physics in string theory. The starting point for string theory is the idea that the pointlike particles of particle physics can also be modeled as onedimensional objects called strings. String theory and the information paradox daniele amati string theory, as a consistent quantum theory that contains gravity, is the obvious arena to solve the apparent discrepancy posed by black holes between general relativity and quantum coherence. String theory is a theoretical framework that attempts to address these questions and many others. Read introduction to black holes, information and the string theory revolution, an.
An introduction to black holes, information and the string theory revolution 1. He used handwritten notes taken in class by kayla jacobs, an mit graduate, in producing them. It combines many interesting topics of quantum eld theory in two and higher dimensions. The holographic universe pdf download an introduction to black holes, information and the string theory revolution. The black hole spacetime is regarded as a strongly coupled condensate of string states closed strings, carrying gravity. Lectures on string theory uci physics and astronomy. This is the string counterpart of the world line for a point particle. Using string theory and the holographic principle i am working on the socalled fuzzball proposal, which aims to explain the interior of black holes as a fuzz of strings. They also provide a set of tools with applications from black holes to condensed matter. The holographic universe by susskind, leonard, lindesay, james isbn. Though a unification of gravity and quantum field theory still evades string theorists.
Black holes and the information paradox in string theory. Introduction to black holes, information and the string theory. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. These lectures notes provide a fasttrack introduction to modern developments in black hole physics within string theory, including microscopic computations of the black hole entropy as well as construction and quantization of microstates using supergravity. An introduction to black holes, information, and the string theory revolution the holographic universe leonard susskind. The history of string theory spans several decades of intense research including two superstring revolutions. As you can see, from 1973 to 1985 the output of string theory papers was very low. Supermassive black holes exist at the centre of probably every galaxy, with a mass ten to one hundred billion times greater than the sun.
String theorists have created mathematical models of black holes that appear similar to predictions made by stephen hawking more. A real black hole, in fact, must be characterized by at least three charges. A jump in paper output after 1985 can be easily observed, corresponding to the first superstring revolution mentioned above. Atish dabholkar quantum black holes 7 consistency tests of string theory black holes provide a very useful thermodynamic context where quantum gravitational effects are calculable and highly precise tests are possible.
We will end with seeing how string theory has now provided us with a resolution of the paradox. Extremal black holes in string theory1 this note is an introduction to black holes in string theory and microstate counting of extremal black holes. Aims to educate the physicist or student of physics who is not an expert on string theory, on the revolution that has. Literature this is the writeup of my course introduction to string theory, held in the master programme at the university of heidelberg during winter term 201112. In this note we follow the original calculation of strominger and vafa, where the state counting is done for a particular class of. An introduction to black holes, information and the string. An introduction to black holes, information and the string theory revolution by leonard susskind, james lindesay.
Professor zwiebach has not thoroughly proofread these notes but believes they will be useful to people that want to know what goes on during lecture and what material gets. Buy introduction to black holes, information and the string theory. As a string evolves in time it sweeps out a twodimensional surface in spacetime, which is called the world sheet of the string. This is a working draft and is currently a set of personal notes. In perturbative string theory the bekensteinhawking entropy associated to a macroscopic black hole finds an explanation as follows. A unique exposition of the foundations of the quantum theory of black holes including the impact of string theory, the idea of black hole complementarily and the holographic principle bull. One of the consequences of einsteins general theory of relativity was a solution in which spacetime curved so much that even a beam of light became trapped.
I have worked on degeneracy counting problem to obtain precision results on black hole entropy as well as on black holes as solution to the supergravity equations of motion. Solutions with only one or two di erent charges, instead, have a vanishing horizon. It is essentially a duality between string theory and a type of quantum field theory. The schwarzschild black hole an introduction to black. String theory describes how strings propagate through space and interact with each other. String theory tries to explain black holes dummies. Actually black holes are complicated objects containing all the information of the objects that fall into them this information would be. This is a set of latexed notes on string theory from liam mcallisters physics 7683. For instance solving the information loss paradox will likely require a deep. But we have already run into a contradiction in applying quantum field theory, although we didnt spell it out. Leonard susskind, one of the coinventors of the holographic principle as well as one of the founders of string theory, develops and explains these concepts. These include threecharge black holes in five dimensions and fourcharge black holes in four dimensions, which can be interpreted as approximations to solutions of.
Permanent address, department of physics, stanford university, stanford, ca 943054060 permanent address, department of physics, howard. Introduction to black holes, information and the string theory revolution, an. In quantum eld theory, the weakly coupled limit is the same as the classical eld limit, both are governed by a saddle point expansion of the path integral. Introduction to string theory universiteit utrecht. The holographic universe by susskind, leonard 2004 paperback leonard susskind on. This section provides lecture notes for the course. Thus far our description of the nearhorizon region of black holes, or rindler space. In this thesis i have mainly been working on different aspects of blackhole physics and adscft within the context of string theory. Thus far our description of the nearhorizon region of black holes, or rindler space, has been in terms of quantum field theory in a fixed background geometry. Download pdf an introduction to black holes, information. String theory is a theory being constructed to describe the quantum mechanics of spacetime. Pdf the black hole war download full pdf book download.
Pdf an introduction to black holes, information and the. Progress has been done in trying to identify the quantum microstates that are counted. These lecture notes were prepared in latex by bryan owens, an mit student. In fact, since string theory obeys the usual principles of quantum mechanics, we expect that information should not be lost in black holes. Through the combined efforts of many researchers, string theory has developed into a broad and varied subject with connections to quantum gravity, particle and condensed matter physics, cosmology, and pure mathematics. Introduction to string theory chapter 0 eth zurich, hs prof. The holographic universe, authorleonard susskind and james verton lindesay, year2004. Black holes in string theory university of southampton. Over the last decade the physics of black holes has been.
During the past three decades investigators have unveiled a number of deep connections between physical information and black holes whose consequences for ordinary systems go beyond what has been deduced purely from the axioms of information theory. The stretched horizon an introduction to black holes. From the june 2016 issue the fall and rise of string theory. As such, the theory should explain whether black holes are consistent with quantum mechanics or not. Introduction to black holes, information and the string. Lecture notes string theory for undergraduates physics. But we have already run into a contradiction in applying quantum field theory. A black hole in string theory is a bound state of strings and multidimensional objects, called branes.
So far, the theorists have shown that string theory is the only game meeting certain conditions in towns wildly different from our universe, but they are optimistic that their techniques will generalize to somewhat more realistic physical worlds. String theory course at cornell university in spring 2010. The holographic universe book online at best prices in india on. String theory has been applied to a variety of problems in black hole physics. Outline 1 introduction and excuses 2 development of string theory 3 various popular models 4 some advertised tests 5 predictions of the anthropic landscape 6 what does it mean to test a theory. Above is a graph of the number of string theory papers published per year from 1973 onward, as catalogued by the isi web of science. The stretched horizon an introduction to black holes, information.
String theory and the fuzzball proposal are still work in. String theory string theory is the theory obtained from the quantum mechanical description of a relativistic string a proposed uni. The dominant approach to a quantum theory of gravity in theoretical particle physics joseph conlon string theory. From the june 2016 issue the fall and rise of string theory while the novel theory may never live up to the early hype, its innovative tools have. Dbranes, adscft and mtheory open the doors to the study of nonperturbative physics. The holographic universe on free shipping on qualified orders. First, all the di erent string theories which i will try to tell you about by the end. An introduction to black holes, information and the string theory revolution, pp. These solutions became called black holes, and the study of them is one of the most intriguing fields of cosmology. Black holes in string theory this section considers supersymmetric and hence extremal black holes that have finite entropy in the supergravity approximation. Buy introduction to black holes, information and the string theory revolution, an. String theory only game in town tests quanta magazine. Black holes are one of the most famous predictions of einsteins theory of general relativity. The holographic universe by leonard susskind, 97898125612, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide.