Synthetic Fuzzballs: A Linear Ramp from Black Hole Normal Modes

TL;DR

This paper investigates the normal modes of a scalar field in a black hole with a stretched horizon, revealing a robust linear ramp in the spectral form factor indicative of chaotic behavior, distinct from integrable systems.

Contribution

It introduces a model for black hole microstates using a stretched horizon to compute normal modes and demonstrates the presence of a linear ramp in the spectral form factor, linking it to chaotic dynamics.

Findings

Spectral form factor exhibits a clear dip-ramp-plateau structure.

Linear ramp persists across different geometries and is not typical of integrable systems.

Normal mode spectrum's quasi-degeneracy underpins the ramp phenomenon.

Abstract

We consider a black hole with a stretched horizon as a toy model for a fuzzball microstate. The stretched horizon provides a cut-off, and therefore one can determine the normal (as opposed to quasi-normal) modes of a probe scalar in this geometry. For the BTZ black hole, we compute these as a function of the level $n$ and the angular quantum number $J$. Conventional level repulsion is absent in this system, and yet we find that the Spectral Form Factor (SFF) shows clear evidence for a dip-ramp-plateau structure with a linear ramp of slope $\sim 1$ on a log-log plot, with or without ensemble averaging. We show that this is a robust feature of stretched horizons by repeating our calculations on the Rindler wedge (times a compact space). We also observe that this is {\em not} a generic feature of integrable systems, as illustrated by standard examples like integrable billiards and random 2-site coupled SYK model, among others. The origins of the ramp can be traced to the hierarchically weaker dependence of the normal mode spectrum on the quantum numbers of the compact directions, and the resulting quasi-degeneracy. We conclude by noting an analogy between the 4-site coupled SYK model and the quartic coupling responsible for the non-linear instability of capped geometries. Based on this, we speculate that incorporating probe self-interactions will lead to stronger connections to random matrix behavior.