Brij Kapadia

In physics, we have competing theories: General Relativity, our theory of gravity, and Quantum Field Theory, our theory of small particles. Originally, General Relativity predicted black holes, objects that form when a lot of matter comes together at a singular point, before we had any experimental data to confirm that black holes exist in our universe. However, General Relativity fails to describe the center of a black hole. General Relativity blows up, or approaches infinity, near the center of a black hole. This problem led physicists to use Quantum Field Theory to describe this small, central point of a black hole. However, no unification of these theories has been discovered.

My project tries to figure out a potential method we can use to unify both of these theories into a theory of everything. The specific method I will be using is to study the thermodynamics of a black hole. Thermodynamics is the process of giving a big picture summary of a black hole through values like temperature, volume, and pressure. Thermodynamics is like having a birds-eye overview rather than focusing on the tiny details. One reason this approach is significant is because in order to calculate values like temperature, both General Relativity and Quantum Field Theory are necessary. Thus, studying black hole Thermodynamics can help to merge these theories.

In my project, I will be calculating a quantity known as the effective temperature inside a black hole. The effective temperature framework is a way to calculate the temperature seen by a specific person. One of the strange results of black hole physics is that the way we calculate the temperature of a black hole depends on where we are located. The effective temperature framework is a way to determine the temperature seen anywhere. This framework has not been studied significantly inside a black hole, which is why in my project I plan to study how this framework behaves inside a black hole. Hopefully, through calculating the temperature and analyzing the results, I can help merge General Relativity and Quantum Field Theory.