On the Intrinsic Parity of Black Holes

TL;DR

This paper explores the intrinsic parity of black holes, revealing that their quantum state space may be larger than traditionally thought, with implications for symmetry properties and low-energy physics interactions.

Contribution

It demonstrates that black hole Hilbert space must include additional states to account for discrete symmetries like parity, challenging conventional quantum number assignments.

Findings

Black hole Hilbert space extends beyond mass, charge, and angular momentum.

Semi-classical black hole spectrum is parity symmetric.

Gravitational effects in high-energy scattering influence low-energy physics.

Abstract

We investigate the intrinsic parity of black holes. It appears that discrete symmetries require the black hole Hilbert space to be larger than suggested by the usual quantum numbers M (mass), Q (charge) and J (angular momentum). Recent results on black hole production in trans-Planckian scattering lead to gravitational effects which do not decouple from low-energy physics. Dispersion relations incorporating these effects imply that the semi-classical black hole spectrum is similar in parity even and odd channels. This result can be generalized to other discrete and continuous symmetries.