100th paper: BH=SC

Post date: Sep 20, 2017 10:19:30 PM

I realized when putting in my newest preprint into my Publications and arXiv postings, that this is my 100th paper! Time flies.

It is fitting that it is something totally different than my usual field of work.

The paper, coauthored with Sreenath K. Manikandan, has an interesting thesis: The the quantum physics of black holes is very similar to the quantum physics of superconductor/metal interfaces. In particular, Stephen Hawking's theoretical discovery that black holes can radiate particles is closely analogous to the proximity effect in superconductors, where the superconducting order parameter can "leak out" of the superconductor and into a normal metal nearby.

We claim that deeper insight into the black hole information problem can be had by asking what happens to the spin information of an electron that comes from a normal metal, and enters a superconductor. It turns out that the particle can enter, but the particle's information cannot: the superconductor acts as an information mirror, transferring the information to a retror-eflected hole (Andreev reflection). It was conjectured by John Preskill that the same thing happens in black holes, where the information is transferred from the infalling matter to the Hawking radiation.

We discuss lots of interesting ideas associated with that theme. This was a fun paper to write.

arXiv:1709.06154 [pdf, ps, other]

Andreev reflections and the quantum physics of black holes

Sreenath K. Manikandan, Andrew N. Jordan

Comments: 19 pages, 7 figures

Subjects: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc); Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con); High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th); Quantum Physics (quant-ph)