Nonperturbative Instability of Black Holes in Quantum Gravity

TL;DR

This paper links the nonperturbative decay rate of black holes to their Bekenstein-Hawking entropy, providing a physical interpretation that the entropy measures the black hole's likelihood to vanish via quantum tunneling.

Contribution

It introduces a novel interpretation of black hole entropy as a measure of nonperturbative decay probability in quantum gravity.

Findings

Decay rate proportional to exp(-S_bh)

Black hole entropy measures its quantum disappearance likelihood

Provides a physical meaning to Bekenstein-Hawking entropy

Abstract

The decay rate for a black hole to decay nonperturbatively via tunneling is shown to be related to the Bekenstein-Hawking black hole entropy $S_{bh}$. This new physical interpretation of the black hole entropy was presented first in 1988 in this paper. I quote here the relevant statement: ``It should be noticed that the decay rate of a black hole due to nonperturbative instability is proportional to $\exp(-S_{bh}$, where $S_{bh}$ is the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. This seems to indicate that the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy is the measure of the ability of a black hole to disappear from our Universe in the one quantum jump, with the simultaneous production of particles carrying away its total energy.''