Quantum phase transitions and the breakdown of classical general relativity

Abstract

It is proposed that the event horizon of a black hole is a quantum phase transition of the vacuum of space-time analogous to the liquid-vapor critical point of a bose fluid. The equations of classical general relativity remain valid arbitrarily close to the horizon yet fail there through the divergence of a characteristic coherence length ξ. The integrity of global time, required for conventional quantum mechanics to be defined, is maintained. The metric inside the event horizon is different from that predicted by classical general relativity and may be de Sitter space. The deviations from classical behavior lead to distinct spectroscopic and bolometric signatures that can, in principle, be observed at large distances from the black hole.

Cosmology and the standard model

“…Chapline et al [8], and Mazur and Mottola [7], have recently carried this notion further, and argue that a black hole is to be considered a droplet of quantum liquid, with a nonsingular interior which is in fact static DeSitter space. The value of the cosmological constant in the interior differs from its value exterior to the horizon and serves as a kind of order parameter.…”

“…It is a reductionist version of evolutionary cosmology as envisaged by Smolin [6], utilizing a speculative model of black hole interiors dubbed gravastars by Mazur and Mottola [7,8]. In this scenario, the interiors of mature black holes are nonsingular and described by the aforementioned static DeSitter metric which characterizes the future of our own universe.…”

Pions versus magnons: from QCD to antiferromagnets and quantum Hall ferromagnets

“…In this context, attempts to use condensed matter language in order to describe fundamental physics should also be mentioned. This includes D-theory in which classical fields emerge dynamically by dimensional reduction of discrete variables [63], emergent relativity [64], effective gravity from quantum liquids [65], as well as higher-dimensional analogs of the quantum Hall effect [66,67], artificial light, and other recent developments [68]. Apparently, exploring the relations between particle and condensed matter physics remains promising.…”

On the theory and phenomenology of spacetime symmetries at the Planck scale

“…[13,14]), in which spacetime itself is seen as a sort of emerging critical-point entity. Condensed-matter theorists are used to describe the degrees of freedom that are measured in the laboratory as collective excitations within a theoretical framework whose primary description is given in terms of much different, and often practically inaccessible, fundamental degrees of freedom.…”