Fuzzballs and the information paradox: a summary and conjectures

TL;DR

This paper reviews how string theory's fuzzball microstates offer a promising resolution to the black hole information paradox, highlighting recent progress in understanding non-extremal states and their radiation.

Contribution

It summarizes recent developments in fuzzball microstates, including non-extremal solutions, and proposes conjectures on black hole dynamics and quantum nature.

Findings

Fuzzball microstates are horizon-sized structures resolving the paradox.

Non-extremal microstates exhibit information-carrying radiation.

The large phase space of fuzzballs suggests a more quantum black hole structure.

Abstract

The black hole information paradox is one of the most important issues in theoretical physics. We review some recent progress using string theory in understanding the nature of black hole microstates. For all cases where these microstates have been constructed, one finds that they are horizon sized `fuzzballs'. Most computations are for extremal states, but recently one has been able to study a special family of non-extremal microstates, and see `information carrying radiation' emerge from these gravity solutions. We discuss how the fuzzball picture can resolve the information paradox. We use the nature of fuzzball states to make some conjectures on the dynamical aspects of black holes, observing that the large phase space of fuzzball solutions can make the black hole more `quantum' than assumed in traditional treatments.