https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-014-2752-3
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
Black holes as critical point of quantum phase transition
1
Department für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Arnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics, Theresienstr. 37, 80333 , München, Germany
2
Max-Planck-Institut für Physik, Föhringer Ring 6, 80805 , München, Germany
3
Theory Department, CERN, 1211 , Geneva 23, Switzerland
4
Department of Physics, Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, New York University, 4 Washington Place, New York, NY, 10003, USA
5
Instituto de Física Teórica UAM-CSIC, C-XVI, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Cantoblanco, 28049 , Madrid, Spain
* e-mail: georgi.dvali@cern.ch
Received:
5
September
2013
Accepted:
20
January
2014
Published online:
12
February
2014
We reformulate the quantum black hole portrait in the language of modern condensed matter physics. We show that black holes can be understood as a graviton Bose–Einstein condensate at the critical point of a quantum phase transition, identical to what has been observed in systems of cold atoms. The Bogoliubov modes that become degenerate and nearly gapless at this point are the holographic quantum degrees of freedom responsible for the black hole entropy and the information storage. They have no (semi)classical counterparts and become inaccessible in this limit. These findings indicate a deep connection between the seemingly remote systems and suggest a new quantum foundation of holography. They also open an intriguing possibility of simulating black hole information processing in table-top labs.
© The Author(s), 2014
