arXiv · 2607.28746
From Horizon Microstates to the Black Hole Membrane
Abstract
The membrane paradigm represents a black-hole horizon by a fictitious conducting surface. We derive a microscopic electromagnetic membrane from black-hole matrix quantum mechanics. The fuzzy-sphere horizon carries a Berry monopole, placing its fundamental fermionic partons in lowest-Landau-level states with Ohmic and Hall responses. Off-diagonal bifundamental modes connecting the horizon and exterior matrix blocks become tachyonic near the horizon and condense, dynamically coupling the horizon gauge field to the exterior Maxwell field. In the low-frequency regime $\omega R\ll1$, the fixed-parton transport description predicts frequency- and helicity-dependent reflectivity. At larger frequency, real parton excitations require a black-hole $S$-matrix. Ohm's law then fixes the inclusive absorption probability; unitarity bounds the local absorption cross section by the horizon area, with the classical conductivity $1/4\pi$ saturating this maximal-absorption bound.
Explore related subjects
Keep this discovery
Chong-Sun Chu. 2026-07-30. From Horizon Microstates to the Black Hole Membrane. https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.28746
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.