Toward explaining black hole entropy quantization in loop quantum gravity

Abstract

In a remarkable numerical analysis of the spectrum of states for a spherically symmetric black hole in loop quantum gravity, Corichi, Diaz-Polo and Fernandez-Borja found that the entropy of the black hole horizon increases in what resembles discrete steps as a function of area. In the present article we reformulate the combinatorial problem of counting horizon states in terms of paths through a certain space. This formulation sheds some light on the origins of this step-like behavior of the entropy. In particular, using a few extra assumptions we arrive at a formula that reproduces the observed step-length to a few tenths of a percent accuracy. However, in our reformulation the periodicity ultimately arises as a property of some complicated process, the properties of which, in turn, depend on the properties of the area spectrum in loop quantum gravity in a rather opaque way. Thus, in some sense, a deep explanation of the observed periodicity is still lacking.

15 pages, 5 figures. v3: final version (essentially as it appeared in PRD)

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Cited by in corpus (10)

• Black Holes in Loop Quantum Gravity
• Detailed black hole state counting in loop quantum gravity
• Isolated Horizons and Black Hole Entropy in Loop Quantum Gravity
• Fine-grained state counting for black holes in loop quantum gravity
• Black hole state degeneracy in Loop Quantum Gravity
• Entropy calculation for a toy black hole
• Black hole radiation spectrum in LQG: Isolated Horizon framework
• Black holes and entropy in loop quantum gravity: An overview
• Loop quantum gravity - a short review
• Holographic bound in covariant loop quantum gravity