arXiv subjects

S. Carlip

Publications and source records attributed to S. Carlip.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2002

Black holes may not constrain varying constants

New and rather controversial observations hint that the fine structure constant αmay have been smaller in the early universe, suggesting that some of the fundamental ``constants'' of physics may be dynamical. In a recent paper, Davies, Davis, and Lineweaver have argued that black hole thermodynamics favors theories in which the speed of light c decreases with time, and disfavors those in which the fundamental electric charge e increases. We show that when one considers the full thermal environment of a black hole, no such conclusion can be drawn: thermodynamics is consistent with an increase in αwhether it comes from a decrease in c, an increase in e, or a combination of the two.

hep-th↗

arXiv2002

Near-Horizon Conformal Symmetry and Black Hole Entropy

Near an event horizon, the action of general relativity acquires a new asymptotic conformal symmetry. Using two-dimensional dilaton gravity as a test case, I show that this symmetry results in a chiral Virasoro algebra with a calculable classical central charge, and that Cardy's formula for the density of states reproduces the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. This result lends support to the notion that the universal nature of black hole entropy is controlled by conformal symmetry near the horizon.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2001

Quantum Gravity: a Progress Report

The problem of reconciling general relativity and quantum theory has fascinated and bedeviled physicists for more than 70 years. Despite recent progress in string theory and loop quantum gravity, a complete solution remains out of reach. I review the status of the continuing effort to quantize gravity, emphasizing the underlying conceptual issues and the various attempts to come to grips with them.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2001

Liouville Lost, Liouville Regained: Central Charge in a Dynamical Background

Several recent approaches to black hole entropy obtain the density of states from the central charge of a Liouville theory. If Liouville theory is coupled to a dynamical spacetime background, however, the classical central charge vanishes. I show that the central charge can be restored by introducing appropriate constraints, which may be interpreted as fall-off conditions at a boundary such as a black hole horizon.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2000

Logarithmic Corrections to Black Hole Entropy from the Cardy Formula

Many recent attempts to calculate black hole entropy from first principles rely on conformal field theory techniques. By examining the logarithmic corrections to the Cardy formula, I compute the first-order quantum correction to the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy in several models, including those based on asymptotic symmetries, horizon symmetries, and certain string theories. Despite very different physical assumptions, these models all give a correction proportional to the logarithm of the horizon size, and agree qualitatively with recent results from ``quantum geometry'' in 3+1 dimensions. There are some indications that even the coefficient of the correction may be universal, up to differences that depend on the treatment of angular momentum and conserved charges.

gr-qc↗

arXiv1999

Aberration and the Speed of Gravity

The observed absence of gravitational aberration requires that ``Newtonian'' gravity propagate at a speed $c_g>2\times10^{10}c$. By evaluating the gravitational effect of an accelerating mass, I show that aberration in general relativity is almost exactly canceled by velocity-dependent interactions, permitting $c_g=c$. This cancellation is dictated by conservation laws and the quadrupole nature of gravitational radiation.

gr-qc↗

arXiv1999

Black Hole Entropy from Horizon Conformal Field Theory

String theory and ``quantum geometry'' have recently offered independent statistical mechanical explanations of black hole thermodynamics. But these successes raise a new problem: why should models with such different microscopic degrees of freedom yield identical results? I propose that the asymptotic behavior of the density of states at a black hole horizon may be determined by an underlying symmetry inherited from classical general relativity, independent of the details of quantum gravity. I offer evidence that a two-dimensional conformal symmetry at the horizon, with a classical central extension, may provide the needed behavior.

gr-qc↗

arXiv1999

Reply to the comment by Park and Ho

This is a reply to a recent comment (hep-th/9910158) by Park and Ho on a paper (hep-th/9812013) that describes a derivation of black hole entropy from horizon conformal field theory. The criticism of Park and Ho is partially correct - the original paper did not give the complete surface term in the Hamiltonian - but it does not affect the conclusions, which have been checked using a somewhat different, manifestly covariant formalism (gr-qc/9906126).

hep-th↗

arXiv1999

Kinetic Energy and the Equivalence Principle

According to the general theory of relativity, kinetic energy contributes to gravitational mass. Surprisingly, the observational evidence for this prediction does not seem to be discussed in the literature. I reanalyze existing experimental data to test the equivalence principle for the kinetic energy of atomic electrons, and show that fairly strong limits on possible violations can be obtained. I discuss the relationship of this result to the occasional claim that ``light falls with twice the acceleration of ordinary matter.''

gr-qc↗

arXiv1999

Entropy from Conformal Field Theory at Killing Horizons

On a manifold with boundary, the constraint algebra of general relativity may acquire a central extension, which can be computed using covariant phase space techniques. When the boundary is a (local) Killing horizon, a natural set of boundary conditions leads to a Virasoro subalgebra with a calculable central charge. Conformal field theory methods may then be used to determine the density of states at the boundary. I consider a number of cases---black holes, Rindler space, de Sitter space, Taub-NUT and Taub-Bolt spaces, and dilaton gravity---and show that the resulting density of states yields the expected Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. The statistical mechanics of black hole entropy may thus be fixed by symmetry arguments, independent of details of quantum gravity.

gr-qc↗

arXiv1999

Black Hole Entropy from Conformal Field Theory in Any Dimension

Restricted to a black hole horizon, the ``gauge'' algebra of surface deformations in general relativity contains a Virasoro subalgebra with a calculable central charge. The fields in any quantum theory of gravity must transform accordingly, i.e., they must admit a conformal field theory description. Applying Cardy's formula for the asymptotic density of states, I use this result to derive the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. This method is universal---it holds for any black hole, and requires no details of quantum gravity---but it is also explicitly statistical mechanical, based on counting microscopic states.

hep-th↗

arXiv1999

Remarks on the "New Redshift Interpretation"

In a recent article in {\em Modern Physics Letters} {\bf A}, Gentry proposed a new static cosmological model that seeks to explain the Hubble relation as a combination of gravitational and Doppler red shifts. We show that Gentry's model, although supposedly based on general relativity, is inconsistent with the Einstein field equations; that it requires delicate fine tuning of initial conditions; that it is highly unstable, both gravitationally and thermodynamically; and that its predictions disagree clearly with observation.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1998

The Quantum Modular Group in (2+1)-Dimensional Gravity

The role of the modular group in the holonomy representation of (2+1)-dimensional quantum gravity is studied. This representation can be viewed as a "Heisenberg picture", and for simple topologies, the transformation to the ADM "Schr{ö}dinger picture" may be found. For spacetimes with the spatial topology of a torus, this transformation and an explicit operator representation of the mapping class group are constructed. It is shown that the quantum modular group splits the holonomy representation Hilbert space into physically equivalent orthogonal ``fundamental regions'' that are interchanged by modular transformations.

gr-qc↗

arXiv1998

What We Don't Know about BTZ Black Hole Entropy

With the recent discovery that many aspects of black hole thermodynamics can be effectively reduced to problems in three spacetime dimensions, it has become increasingly important to understand the ``statistical mechanics'' of the (2+1)-dimensional black hole of Banados, Teitelboim, and Zanelli (BTZ). Several conformal field theoretic derivations of the BTZ entropy exist, but none is completely satisfactory, and many questions remain open: there is no consensus as to what fields provide the relevant degrees of freedom or where these excitations live. In this paper, I review some of the unresolved problems and suggest avenues for their solution.

hep-th↗

arXiv1998

Dominant Topologies in Euclidean Quantum Gravity

The dominant topologies in the Euclidean path integral for quantum gravity differ sharply according on the sign of the cosmological constant. For $Λ>0$, saddle points can occur only for topologies with vanishing first Betti number and finite fundamental group. For $Λ<0$, on the other hand, the path integral is dominated by topologies with extremely complicated fundamental groups; while the contribution of each individual manifold is strongly suppressed, the ``density of topologies'' grows fast enough to overwhelm this suppression. The value $Λ=0$ is thus a sort of boundary between phases in the sum over topologies. I discuss some implications for the cosmological constant problem and the Hartle-Hawking wave function.

gr-qc↗

arXiv1996

The Statistical Mechanics of Horizons and Black Hole Thermodynamics

Although we know that black holes are characterized by a temperature and an entropy, we do not yet have a satisfactory microscopic ``statistical mechanical'' explanation for black hole thermodynamics. I describe a new approach that attributes the thermodynamic properties to ``would-be gauge'' degrees of freedom that become dynamical on the horizon. For the (2+1)-dimensional black hole, this approach gives the correct entropy. (Talk given at the Pacific Conference on Gravitation and Cosmology, Seoul, February 1996.)

gr-qc↗

arXiv1995

Statistical Mechanics and Black Hole Entropy

I review a new (and still tentative) approach to black hole thermodynamics that seeks to explain black hole entropy in terms of microscopic quantum gravitational boundary states induced on the black hole horizon.

gr-qc↗

arXiv1994

Comparative Quantizations of (2+1)-Dimensional Gravity

We compare three approaches to the quantization of (2+1)-dimensional gravity with a negative cosmological constant: reduced phase space quantization with the York time slicing, quantization of the algebra of holonomies, and quantization of the space of classical solutions. The relationships among these quantum theories allow us to define and interpret time-dependent operators in the ``frozen time'' holonomy formulation.

gr-qc↗