"Firewall" Phenomenology with Astrophysical Neutrinos

TL;DR

This paper investigates the potential astrophysical signatures of black hole firewalls, proposing that high-energy neutrino fluxes from such firewalls could explain recent PeV neutrino detections by IceCube, linking quantum gravity theories with observable phenomena.

Contribution

It introduces a phenomenological model predicting detectable neutrino signatures from black hole firewalls, connecting quantum gravity concepts with astrophysical observations.

Findings

Neutrino flux spectrum consistent with IceCube PeV neutrinos

Firewalls could produce observable high-energy neutrinos

Bridges quantum gravity theories with astrophysical data

Abstract

One of the most fundamental features of a black hole in general relativity is its event horizon: a boundary from which nothing can escape. There has been a recent surge of interest in the nature of these event horizons and their local neighbourhoods. In an attempt to resolve black hole information paradox(es), and more generally, to better understand the path towards quantum gravity, "firewalls" have been proposed as an alternative to black hole event horizons. In this paper, we explore the phenomenological implications of black holes possessing a surface or "firewall", and predict a potentially detectable signature of these firewalls in the form of a high energy astrophysical neutrino flux. We compute the spectrum of this neutrino flux in different models and show that it is a possible candidate for the source of the PeV neutrinos recently detected by IceCube. This opens up a new area of research, bridging the non-perturbative physics of quantum gravity with the observational black hole and high energy astrophysics.