Note on the Quantum Mechanics of M Theory
arXiv:hep-th/9812237 · doi:10.1088/1126-6708/1999/03/016
Abstract
We observe that the existence of black holes limits the extent to which M Theory (or indeed any quantum theory of gravity) can be described by conventional quantum mechanics. Although there is no contradiction with the fundamental properties of quantum mechanics, one can prove that expectation values of Heisenberg operators at fixed times cannot exist in an ordinary asymptotic Lorentz frame. Only operators whose matrix elements between the vacuum and energy eigenstates with energy greater than the Planck scale are artificially cut off, can have conventional Green's functions. This implies a Planck scale cutoff on the possible localization of measurements in time. A similar behavior arises also in ``little string theories''. We argue that conventional quantum mechanics in light cone time is compatible with the properties of black holes if there are more than four non-compact flat dimensions, and also with the properties of ``little string theories''. We contrast these observations with what is known about M Theory in asymptotically Anti-de Sitter spacetimes.
JHEP latex, 16 pages; minor changes in the description of generic little string theory states
References in corpus (4)
Cited by in corpus (38)
- Large N Field Theories, String Theory and Gravity
- A brief review of "little string theories"
- Deconstructing (2,0) and Little String Theories
- LSZ in LST
- Exploring the holographic principle in asymptotically flat spacetimes via the BMS group
- Little String Theory at a TeV
- Black hole thermodynamics under the microscope
- A Critique of Pure String Theory: Heterodox Opinions of Diverse Dimensions
- Wilson Loop Correlator in the AdS/CFT Correspondence
- Shadow and deflection angle of rotating black hole in asymptotically safe gravity
- Wilson loops in SYM theory: from weak to strong coupling
- The Silence of the Little Strings
- Comments on the IIA NS5-brane
- Asymptotic Flatness, Little String Theory, and Holography
- Near Hagedorn Dynamics of NS Fivebranes, or A New Universality Class of Coiled Strings
- Gauge Symmetry and Localized Gravity in M Theory
- On The Universality Class Of Little String Theories
- UV properties of Galileons: Spectral Densities
- Exact Solutions in Higher-Dimensional Lovelock and Chern-Simons Gravity
- Black Holes and Five-brane Thermodynamics
- Asymptotic Safety, Asymptotic Darkness, and the hoop conjecture in the extreme UV
- D-Branes in Linear Dilaton Backgrounds
- A silence black hole: Hawking radiation at the Hagedorn temperature
- AdS Holography in the Penrose Limit
- Renormalizability of alternative theories of gravity: differences between power counting and entropy argument
- On Isolated Vacua and Background Independence
- Remarks on the thermodynamic stability of TT-bar deformations
- Lattice quantum gravity with scalar fields
- The continuum limit of quantum gravity at first order in perturbation theory
- How not to establish the non-renormalizability of gravity
- Stringy holography at finite density
- K3 metrics from little string theory
- Supersymmetry and Strongly Coupled Gauge Theories
- On Non-Critical Superstring/Black Hole Transition
- Solvable time-like cosets and holography beyond
- Supersymmetry, the Cosmological Constant and a Theory of Quantum Gravity in Our Universe
- Nonlocal Extension of the Borchers Classes of Quantum Fields
- Hawking Radiation of a Charged Black Hole in Quantum Gravity