arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Carlo Rovelli.
The black-hole firewall theorem derives a suspicious consequence (large energy-momentum density on the horizon of a black hole) from a set of seemingly reasonable hypotheses. I point out the hypothesis which is likely to be unrealistic---a hypothesis not always sufficiently made explicit--- and discuss the subtle confusion at its origin: mixing-up of two different notions of entropy and misusing of the entropy bound.
We sharpen a recent observation by Tim Maudlin: differential calculus is a natural language for physics only if additional structure, like the definition of a Hodge dual or a metric, is given; but the discrete version of this calculus provides this additional structure for free.
I identify where precisely is low-entropy located in the early universe, arguing that some common answers overplay the role of gravity. I discuss the available interpretations of the "improbability" of this early low-entropy.
Loop Quantum gravity predicts that black holes evolve into white holes.
The Bose-Marletto-Vedral experiment tests a non-relativistic quantum effect due to a gravitational interaction. It has received attention because it may soon be within observational reach in the lab. We observe here that: (i) in relativistic language the experiment tests an interference effect between proper-time intervals; (ii) the relevant difference of proper times is of the order of the Planck time if the masses of the particles in the experiment are of the order of the Planck mass (micrograms); (iii) the experiment might open a window on the structure of time at the Planck scale: if time differences are discrete at this scale ---as quantum gravity research may suggest--- the Planckian discreteness of time could show up as quantum levels of a measurable entanglement entropy.
Recent results on the end of black hole evaporation give new weight to the hypothesis that a component of dark matter could be formed by remnants of evaporated black holes: stable Planck-size white holes with a large interior. The expected lifetime of these objects is consistent with their production at reheating. But remnants could also be pre-big bang relics in a bounce cosmology, and this possibility has strong implications on the issue of the source of past low entropy: it could realise a perspectival interpretation of past low entropy. The ideas briefly presented in this essay are developed in forthcoming papers.
We show that the expected lifetime of white holes formed as remnants of evaporated black holes is consistent with their production at reheating. We give a simple quantum description of these objects and argue that a quantum superposition of black and white holes with large interiors is stable, because it is protected by the existence of a minimal eigenvalue of the area, predicted by Loop Quantum Gravity. These two results support the hypothesis that a component of dark matter could be formed by small black hole remnants.
Dark matter could be composed by black-hole remnants formed before the big-bang era in a bouncing cosmology. This hypothetical scenario has major implications on the issue of the arrow of time: it would upset a common attribution of past low entropy to the state of the geometry, and provide a concrete realisation to the perspectival interpretation of past low entropy.
Building on a technical result by Brunnemann and Rideout on the spectrum of the Volume operator in Loop Quantum Gravity, we show that the dimension of the space of the quadrivalent, diffeomorphism invariant states with no zero-volume nodes describing a region with total volume smaller than $V$, has \emph{finite} dimension, bounded by $V \log V$. This allows us to introduce the notion of "volume entropy" for this phase space: the von Neumann entropy associated to the measurement of volume.
We study the natural extension of spacetime across Schwarzschild's central singularity and the behavior of the geodesics crossing it. Locality implies that this extension is independent from the future fate of black holes. We argue that this extension is the natural $\hbar\!\to\!0$ limit of the effective quantum geometry inside a black hole, and show that the central region contains causal diamonds with area satisfying Bousso's bound for an entropy that can be as large as Hawking's radiation entropy. This result sheds light on the possibility that Hawking radiation is purified by information crossing the internal singularity.
The term 'locality' is used in different contexts with different meanings. There have been claims that relational quantum mechanics is local, but it is not clear then how it accounts for the effects that go under the usual name of quantum non-locality. The present article shows that the failure of 'locality' in the sense of Bell, once interpreted in the relational framework, reduces to the existence of a common cause in an indeterministic context. In particular, there is no need to appeal to a mysterious space-like influence to understand it.
The possibility that a black hole could tunnel into a white hole has recently received attention. Here we present a metric that improves the 'firework' metric: it describes the entire process and solves the Einstein equations everywhere except on a small transition surface that corresponds to the quantum tunnelling. We compute the corresponding ray-tracing map from past infinity to future infinity explicitly.
Contrary to claims about the irrelevance of philosophy for science, I argue that philosophy has had, and still has, far more influence on physics than is commonly assumed. I maintain that the current anti-philosophical ideology has had damaging effects on the fertility of science. I also suggest that recent important empirical results, such as the detection of the Higgs particle and gravitational waves, and the failure to detect supersymmetry where many expected to find it, question the validity of certain philosophical assumptions common among theoretical physicists, inviting us to engage in a clearer philosophical reflection on scientific method.
Quantum tunneling of a black hole into a white hole provides a model for the full life cycle of a black hole. The white hole acts as a long-lived remnant, solving the black-hole information paradox. The remnant solution of the paradox has long been viewed with suspicion, mostly because remnants seemed to be such exotic objects. We point out that (i) established physics includes objects with precisely the required properties for remnants: white holes with small masses but large finite interiors; (ii) non-perturbative quantum-gravity indicates that a black hole tunnels precisely into such a white hole, at the end of its evaporation. We address the objections to the existence of white-hole remnants, discuss their stability, and show how the notions of entropy relevant in this context allow them to evade several no-go arguments. A black hole's formation, evaporation, tunneling to a white hole, and final slow decay, form a unitary process that does not violate any known physics.
Quantum gravity is expected to require modifications of the notions of space and time. I discuss and clarify how this happens in Loop Quantum Gravity.
Quantum mechanics is not about 'quantum states': it is about values of physical variables. I give a short fresh presentation and update on the $relational$ perspective on the theory, and a comment on its philosophical implications.
A new phenomenon, recently studied in theoretical physics, may have considerable interest for astronomers: the explosive decay of old primordial black holes via quantum tunnelling. Models predict radio and gamma bursts with a characteristic frequency-distance relation making them identifiable. Their detection would be of major theoretical importance.
The Paper actually concerns a toy model, not physical Casimir cavities made of conducting plates, but the results are taken implicitly to apply in general. We question on general physical grounds one basic assumption and the results of a renormalization procedure. Then, for physical systems, i) considering condensed matter theory/experiments, we find strong evidence against the conclusive claims concerning a putative and dominating surface energy present individually on the plates, and ii) we propose two experiments with physical Casimir cavities to show in detail that the results of the renormalization in this case look somewhat paradoxical. In any case the proposed experiments appear to be feasible and thus it could be tested if the putative self-energies of the plates are indeed there in a physical Casimir cavity, or if the toy model of the Paper has by contrast no connection with physical reality. However at the moment the authors are not legitimate to issue as conclusive claims statements like- refute the claim sometimes attributed to Feynman that virtual photons do not gravitate -