Remarks on Black Hole Instabilities and Closed String Tachyons

TL;DR

This paper explores the relationship between black hole instabilities and closed string tachyon condensation, proposing a geometric interpretation and a generalized correspondence principle linking string theory and black hole physics.

Contribution

It introduces a geometrical view of tachyon condensation involving cycle capping and formulates a generalized correspondence principle connecting string and black hole dynamics.

Findings

Identifies a semiclassical regime linking tachyon condensation and black hole instability flows.

Proposes a geometric interpretation of tachyon condensation as cycle capping.

Illustrates the correspondence principle in various contexts, including Hagedorn transition and brane systems.

Abstract

Physical arguments stemming from the theory of black-hole thermodynamics are used to put constraints on the dynamics of closed-string tachyon condensation in Scherk--Schwarz compactifications. A geometrical interpretation of the tachyon condensation involves an effective capping of a noncontractible cycle, thus removing the very topology that supports the tachyons. A semiclassical regime is identified in which the matching between the tachyon condensation and the black-hole instability flow is possible. We formulate a generalized correspondence principle and illustrate it in several different circumstances: an Euclidean interpretation of the transition from strings to black holes across the Hagedorn temperature and instabilities in the brane-antibrane system.