Physics (Internal)

Quantum Tunneling and Black Hole Horizons

This event is part of the HET Seminar Series.

To avoid information loss it has been argued that effective field theory has to break down at the horizon of black holes. In this talk I will discuss two string-theoretic effects that have been proposed as dynamical mechanisms for such a breakdown. First, I will study potentially non-adiabatic pair-creation of open strings in Schwarzschild black holes and critically revisit the nice slice assumption employed in the discussion of information loss. Second, I will investigate quantum tunneling effects of matter (branes) into microstate geometries (built from topology and fluxes in string theory) and their potential role in avoiding the formation of a horizon in the gravitational collapse process.