arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Larus Thorlacius.
This lecture reviews the black hole information paradox and briefly appraises some proposed resolutions in view of developments in string theory. It goes on to give an elementary introduction to the holographic principle.
We construct covariant coordinate transformations on the fuzzy sphere and utilize these to construct a covariant map from a gauge theory on the fuzzy sphere to a gauge theory on the ordinary sphere. We show that this construction coincides with the Seiberg-Witten map on the Moyal plane in the appropriate limit. The analysis takes place in the algebra and is independent of any star-product representation.
We study scalar solitons on the fuzzy sphere at arbitrary radius and noncommutativity. We prove that no solitons exist if the radius is below a certain value. Solitons do exist for radii above a critical value which depends on the noncommutativity parameter. We construct a family of soliton solutions which are stable and which converge to solitons on the Moyal plane in an appropriate limit. These solutions are rotationally symmetric about an axis and have no allowed deformations. Solitons that describe multiple lumps on the fuzzy sphere can also be constructed but they are not stable.
At sufficiently low energy the dynamics of a string web is dominated by zero modes involving rigid motion of the internal strings. The dimension of the associated moduli space equals the maximal number of internal faces in the web. The generic web moduli space has boundaries and multiple branches, and for webs with three or more faces the geometry is curved. Webs can also be studied in a lift to M-theory, where a string web is replaced by a membrane wrapped on a holomorphic curve in spacetime. In this case the moduli space is complexified and admits a Kaehler metric.
Solutions of Born-Infeld theory, representing strings extending from a Dirichlet p-brane, are also solutions of the higher derivative generalization of the Born-Infeld equations defining an exact open string vacuum configuration.
Recently, solutions of the Born-Infeld theory representing strings emanating from a Dirichlet p-brane have been constructed. We discuss the embedding of these Born-Infeld solutions into the non-abelian theory appropriate to multiple overlapping p-branes. We also prove supersymmetry of the solutions explicitly in the full nonlinear theory. We then study transverse fluctuations, both from the worldbrane point of view and by analyzing a test-string in the supergravity background of a Dp-brane. We find agreement between the two approaches for the cases p=3,4.
D-branes are string theory solitons defined by boundary conditions on open strings that end on them. They play an important role in the non-perturbative dynamics of string theory and have found a wide range of applications. These lectures give a basic introduction to D-branes and their dynamics.
The thermodynamics of a gas of strings and D-branes near the Hagedorn transition is described by a coupled set of Boltzmann equations for weakly interacting open and closed long strings. The resulting distributions are dominated by the open string sector, indicating that D-branes grow to fill space at high temperature.
The evaporation of a large mass black hole can be described throughout most of its lifetime by a low-energy effective theory defined on a suitably chosen set of smooth spacelike hypersurfaces. The conventional argument for information loss rests on the assumption that the effective theory is a local quantum field theory. We present evidence that this assumption fails in the context of string theory. The commutator of operators in light-front string theory, corresponding to certain low-energy observers on opposite sides of the event horizon, remains large even when these observers are spacelike separated by a macroscopic distance. This suggests that degrees of freedom inside a black hole should not be viewed as independent from those outside the event horizon. These nonlocal effects are only significant under extreme kinematic circumstances, such as in the high-redshift geometry of a black hole. Commutators of space-like separated operators corresponding to ordinary low-energy observers in Minkowski space are strongly suppressed in string theory.
Black hole formation and evaporation is studied in the semiclassical approximation in simple 1+1-dimensional models, with emphasis on issues related to Hawking's information paradox. Exact semiclassical solutions are described and questions of boundary conditions and vacuum stability are discussed. The validity of the semiclassical approximation has been called into question in the context of the information puzzle. A different approach, where black hole evolution is assumed to be unitary, is described. It requires unusual causal properties and kinematic behavior of matter that may be realized in string theory. Based on lectures given at the 1994 Trieste Spring School
The approach of 't Hooft to the puzzles of black hole evaporation can be applied to a simpler system with analogous features. The system is $1+1$ dimensional electrodynamics in a linear dilaton background. Analogues of black holes, Hawking radiation and evaporation exist in this system. In perturbation theory there appears to be an information paradox but this gets resolved in the full quantum theory and there exists an exact $S$-matrix, which is fully unitary and information conserving. 't Hooft's method gives the leading terms in a systematic approximation to the exact result.