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Let’s start with the problem that Bekenstein’s entropy
originally raised: are there microscopic degrees of
freedom that can account for the entropy of black
holes? If so what are they, and how do we count
them? An idea that has proved fruitful is that black
holes are the natural extrapolation of the spectrum of
elementary particles to extremely high mass10. This NGC 4696, an elliptical galaxy in the Centaurus cluster, whose bright core is likely to
idea was first expressed by ‘t Hooft who speculated conceal a black hole.
that the sparse energy spectrum of ordinary
elementary particles will become increasingly dense
as the energy is increased. As the Planck energy is
exceeded, the spectrum becomes so dense that it can eigenvalues and the density of states can be exactly
best be studied statistically and thermodynamically. computed. One finds from such calculations17–19 that
This is where string theory made its appearance in the level density grows exponentially with mass, from
black-hole physics. which it follows that the entropy of a highly excited
Even before Bekenstein’s entropy conjecture, string is proportional to its mass. The constant of
string theory was being studied as a possible quantum proportionality depends on the details of the setup
theory of gravity that contained a dense spectrum (for example, the compactification scheme of extra
of excited particle states. Indeed, the spectrum of dimensions, and so on). Without getting into the
these excited particles is so rich that it was common technical details, the result can be simply understood.
to study it by the methods of statistical mechanics The typical highly excited string is a random-walking
and thermodynamics16–19. Nevertheless, it took about tangle that is best described statistically, and a simple
twenty years to make the connection between the way to do so is to picture the string as living on a
statistical properties of strings and black holes20. lattice with spacing ls. In this approximation, the
Several versions of string theory exist — bosonic string is composed of a series of connected lattice
string theory, two type-I string theories, two links. In all versions of string theory, the mass per
type-II theories and heterotic theory, among the unit length is a fixed constant of order 1/ls. Thus if the
possibilities. In all of these versions, gravitating mass of the string is M, it can be pictured as being
matter is described by general relativity. As a composed of Mls links.
consequence, string theories all contain black Next, consider the entropy of the string. As the
holes. If the theory is consistent it must contain string random-walks through the lattice, at each site
an explanation of microstates that make up the a number of possibilities exist: the string can proceed
Bekenstein entropy. Furthermore, as the entropy straight ahead; it can backtrack over the previous
formula of equation (3) is universal, all of the various link; or it can turn in any of a few ways. It is evident
string theories must give the same answer.
Let’s consider a highly excited string in its rest
frame. A given string-theory setup (I will assume
RADICAL NEW IDEAS ABOUT CAUSALITY AND THE
four space–time dimensions but the principles are STRUCTURE OF SPACE–TIME WERE REQUIRED.
easily extendible to other number of dimensions) is
characterized by a number of constants, but, for our that the number of states of the random string will be
purposes, only two are important: one dimensionless exponential in the number of links. Thus it follows
string coupling constant g and a length scale ls, that the entropy will be proportional to the number
called the string scale. The string scale is the basic of links:
dimensional length scale in the theory and all other
scales derive from it. For example, the Planck length lP, S = cMls , (6)
or equivalently the gravitational constant G, is related
to these by G ≡ lP2 = g2ls2. where c is a numerical constant that depends on
The quantization of free strings (here ‘free’ means the detailed string-theory setup. As in the case of
g = 0) is an exact science. The energy eigenstates, black holes, if a string has both energy (mass) and
Box 2: Supersymmetry
Supersymmetry describes a physical symmetry not supersymmetric. Only very special objects,
that may exist between two classes of particle, called BPS (Bogomol’nyi–Prasad–Sommerfeld)
bosons and fermions: each boson has a configurations, are supersymmetric.
fermionic superpartner, and each fermion a Supersymmetry provides enormous
bosonic superpartner. A point that should mathematical power, but mostly when it is applied to
be emphasized is that although the results supersymmetric configurations in supersymmetric
discussed in this review are rigorous exact backgrounds. In the context of black holes, this is
consequences of string theory, they apply only rather limiting. Any theory that contains Einstein
to idealized supersymmetric theories. More than gravity, whether supersymmetric or not, will have
that, the precise tests apply to supersymmetric Schwarzschild black holes. But Schwarzschild black
configurations in supersymmetric theories. holes are not supersymmetric configurations, even
Consider the more familiar case of ordinary in supersymmetric theories. For this reason, an
rotation symmetry. Experience has taught us exact counting of the microstates of Schwarzschild
that the laws of physics are rotationally invariant. black holes (computing the numerical coefficient
But individual configurations may or may not in the area law) has not yet been possible in string
be rotationally symmetric. For example, in theory. But fortunately, there is a special subclass
the realm of atomic physics, only atoms with of black holes, so-called extremal BPS black holes,
vanishing angular momentum are rotationally that preserve a degree of supersymmetry such that
symmetric. In the same way, a string-theory setup exact counting of their microstates is possible.
may lead to supersymmetric laws (one would Although the supersymmetric mathematical aspects
say that the background is supersymmetric) but are downplayed in the main text, the rigour of the
individual objects in that theory are typically conclusions is wholly dependent on supersymmetry.
A. FABIAN ET AL./CXC/NASA
But the experiment can be modified so that
the infalling observer monitors the proton and
sends the message just before it crosses the horizon.
Classically this experiment is quite feasible, but, just
as in Heisenberg’s experiment, the particle nature of
light (or other signal carriers) will defeat the attempt.
To see why, assume that the threshold temperature
for inducing baryon violation is Tb. From equation The core of the Perseus cluster. The blue–green wisps near the centre could be the remains
(5), the proton encounters this temperature when its of a small galaxy, falling into a supermassive black hole at the cluster core.
proper distance from the horizon is ρb, given by
1 .
ρb =
2πTb clear that conventional, local, four-dimensional
quantum field theory has far too many degrees of
Once the proton gets this close to the horizon, there freedom to describe a system that includes gravity.
is very little time to interact with it and send out the This was more or less clear from the uncontrollable
message. From when the proton is at distance ρb until ultraviolet divergences that plagued early attempts to
it crosses the horizon the proper time is of order quantize Einstein’s equations. The thought occurred
to many people that a cutoff at the Planck length
δτ ~ ρb = 1 . would fix the problems. In other words, the right
(10)
2πTb theory should not have a continuum of degrees of
freedom but more likely, one degree of freedom
Thus the falling observer has a very short time in per Planck volume of space. The idea was to divide
which to detect the relevant bit of information (proton space into discrete ‘voxels’ (volume-pixels, the
or no proton) and send out the signal. Classically, three-dimensional analogue of pixels). But, as we
an arbitrary amount of information can be carried will see, this is still a tremendous overestimate of the
by a signal of arbitrarily small energy. But quantum number of degrees of freedom, the correct number
mechanically, information must be carried by discrete for a gravitating system is vastly fewer than one per
quanta. At least one quantum must be involved and Planck volume.
its emission must take place during the time interval To see why this is so, let us consider the concept
specified by equation (10). It follows that the proton of the maximum entropy of a system. The entropy of
must interact with a quantum carrying energy at least a system is maximum when nothing at all is known
of order Tb — that is, a sufficiently energetic quantum about the system. In that case, the number of possible
to cause the proton to decay. Thus the experiment quantum states that the system can occupy is the
cannot be done without disturbing the very quantity dimensionality of the Hilbert space of states — call
we are trying to measure. The situation is very it N. The maximum entropy is the logarithm of this
reminiscent of Heisenberg’s difficulty in measuring number: Smax = logN.
velocity and position46. As a simple illustrative example that might serve
as a model for a voxelated quantum field theory,
THE HOLOGRAPHIC PRINCIPLE consider a spatial lattice of binary degrees of freedom.
For example, each cell of a cubic lattice might have
The earliest attempts to quantize gravity were based a fermion degree of freedom that can either be
on conventional quantum field theory. However, occupied or unoccupied. The number of cells of the
over the last decade it has become abundantly lattice is given by V/V0, where V is the volume of
R2
The centre of the Milky Way, in radio waves. The bright region, known as Sagittarius A*,
probably surrounds a black hole at the galactic core.
ds2 =
(1−r2)2
[
(1+r2)dt2 − 4dr2 − 4r2dΩ2 ],
674 nature physics | VOL 2 | OCTOBER 2006 | www.nature.com/naturephysics