Resolution of Black Hole Singularities in Jackiw-Teitelboim Gravity

TL;DR

This paper shows how adding a confining potential in Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity resolves black hole singularities by preventing infinite wormhole growth, aligning quantum mechanics with finite black hole entropy.

Contribution

It introduces a confining potential that ensures spectral discreteness and dynamically resolves black hole singularities in JT gravity.

Findings

The confining potential reproduces known perturbative results.

It prevents wormhole length from diverging, avoiding singularities.

Implications for late-time gravitational dynamics and horizon disappearance.

Abstract

In Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity, the naive Schwarzian quantum mechanics leads to a continuous bulk spectrum, in apparent contradiction with the finite entropy of the black hole, which requires a discrete spectrum with level spacing of order $e^{-S_0}$. It was recently shown that restoring spectral discreteness with random statistics requires the introduction of a left confining potential that becomes relevant when the renormalized wormhole length reaches order $e^{S_0}$. In this work, we show how the known perturbative results of JT gravity are recovered within this modified framework. More importantly, we demonstrate that this modification has a direct dynamical consequence: it resolves the black-hole singularity. The confining potential generates a repulsive force at exponentially large wormhole length, preventing the indefinite growth that would otherwise lead to a singularity. We explain in detail how this turnaround arises and explore its implications for late-time bulk gravitational dynamics, the disappearance of horizons, and possible observational consequences.