Les Houches Lectures on Black Holes

TL;DR

This lecture series provides a comprehensive overview of black hole physics, covering classical, quantum, and information-theoretic aspects, with detailed discussions on models, Hawking radiation, and the information paradox.

Contribution

It offers an in-depth synthesis of black hole theory, including new insights into quantum effects and the information puzzle, with detailed models and conceptual frameworks.

Findings

Analysis of causal structures and Penrose diagrams.

Discussion of quantum effects like Hawking radiation.

Exploration of the black hole information paradox and potential resolutions.

Abstract

Contents: 1. Introduction 2. Causal Structure and Penrose Diagrams: Minkowski Space; 1+1 Dimensional Minkowski Space; Schwarzchild Black Holes; Gravitational Collapse and the Vaidya Spacetimes; Event Horizons, Apparent Horizons, and Trapped Surfaces 3. Black Holes in Two Dimensions: General Relativity in the $S$-Wave Sector; Classical Dilaton Gravity; Eternal Black Holes; Coupling to Conformal Matter; Hawking Radiation and the Trace Anomaly; The Quantum State; Including the Back-Reaction; The Large $N$ Approximation; Conformal Invariance and Generalizations of Dilaton Gravity; The Soluble $RST$ Model 4. The Information Puzzle in Four Dimensions: Can the Information Come Out Before the Endpoint?; Low-Energy Effective Descriptions of the Planckian Endpoint; Remnants?; Information Destruction?; The Superposition Principle; Energy Conservation The New Rules; Superselection Sectors, $\alpha$-parameters, and the Restoration of Unitarity 5. Conclusions and Outlook