The quantum gravitational black hole is neither black nor white
arXiv:gr-qc/0405087 · doi:10.1142/S0218271804006504 10.1023/B:GERG.0000048979.62382.33
Abstract
Understanding the end state of black hole evaporation, the microscopic origin of black hole entropy, the information loss paradox, and the nature of the singularity arising in gravitational collapse - these are outstanding challenges for any candidate quantum theory of gravity. Recently, a midisuperspace model of quantum gravitational collapse has been solved using a lattice regularization scheme. It is shown that the mass of an eternal black hole follows the Bekenstein spectrum, and a related argument provides a fairly accurate estimate of the entropy. The solution also describes a quantized mass-energy distribution around a central black hole, which in the WKB approximation, is precisely Hawking radiation. The leading quantum gravitational correction makes the spectrum non-thermal, thus providing a plausible resolution of the information loss problem.
6 pages. This essay received the fourth award in the Gravity Research Foundation Essay Competition, 2004