Quantized shells as a tool for studying semiclassical effects in general relativity

TL;DR

This paper models thin shells in general relativity as quantum many-body systems to analyze semiclassical effects and backreaction during gravitational collapse.

Contribution

It introduces a quantum and thermodynamic framework for thin shells, enabling the study of quantum effects and backreaction in gravitational collapse scenarios.

Findings

Quantum effects become significant near the singularity.

Backreaction influences the shell's trajectory during collapse.

Thermodynamic description provides new insights into shell dynamics.

Abstract

Thin shells in general relativity can be used both as models of collapsing objects and as probes in the space-time outside compact sources. Therefore they provide a useful tool for the analysis of the final fate of collapsing matter and of the effects induced in the matter by strong gravitational fields. We describe the radiating shell as a (second quantized) many-body system with one collective degree of freedom, the (average) radius, by means of an effective action which also entails a thermodynamic description. Then we study some of the quantum effects that occur in the matter when the shell evolves from an (essentially classical) large initial radius towards the singularity and compute the corresponding backreaction on its trajectory.