Stretched horizons, quasiparticles and quasinormal modes

TL;DR

This paper models stretched horizons as a gas of quasiparticles whose properties are linked to quasinormal modes, providing insights into black hole entropy and horizon dynamics within various spacetime backgrounds.

Contribution

It introduces a quasiparticle framework for describing stretched horizons, connecting quasinormal modes to horizon microstates across multiple gravitational models.

Findings

Quasiparticles have lifetimes set by quasinormal mode imaginary parts.

The model applies to Schwarzschild, Dp-branes, BTZ, and de Sitter horizons.

The description clarifies the entropy-area relationship.

Abstract

We propose that stretched horizons can be described in terms of a gas of non-interacting quasiparticles. The quasiparticles are unstable, with a lifetime set by the imaginary part of the lowest quasinormal mode frequency. If the horizon arises from an AdS/CFT style duality the quasiparticles are also the effective low-energy degrees of freedom of the finite-temperature CFT. We analyze a large class of models including Schwarzschild black holes, non-extremal Dp-branes, the rotating BTZ black hole and de Sitter space, and we comment on degenerate horizons. The quasiparticle description makes manifest the relationship between entropy and area.