Space-like Singularities and Thermalization

Abstract

We conjecture that space-like singularities are simply regions in which all available degrees of freedom are excited, and the system cycles randomly through generic quantum states in its Hilbert space. There is no simple geometric description of the interior of such a region, but if it is embedded in a semi-classical space-time an external observer sees it as a black hole. Big Bang and Crunch singularities, for which there is no such embedding, must be described in purely quantum terms. We present several possible descriptions of such cosmologies.

JHEP LaTex, 11 pages, V.2 has added acknowledgments and references

References in corpus (8)

• The holographic principle
• The Pre-Big Bang Scenario in String Cosmology
• A Cyclic Model of the Universe
• Gauge Theory and the Excision of Repulson Singularities
• Black Hole Complementarity vs. Locality
• Black hole information, unitarity, and nonlocality
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• Holographic Space-Time Does Not Predict Firewalls
• A Short Review of Time Dependent Solutions and Space-like Singularities in String Theory
• Eternal Inflation, past and future
• Statistical physics of black holes as quantum-mechanical systems
• Pedagogical notes on black holes, de Sitter space, and bifurcated horizons