Quantum Black Holes: A Critical Analysis (Efieldtheory.Com Series in Theoretical Physics)

This book presents a critical analysis of Bekenstein-Hawking Black Hole Thermodynamics. The fundamental problem of this theory is the black hole negative heat capacity, which is inconsistent with thermal equilibrium in Statistical Mechanics. Re-interpreting the WKB formula for the partition function as the decay probability of the false (black hole) vacuum, as is usual in Quantum Field Theory, one arrives instead at the Leblanc-Harms theory describing quantum black holes and black objects as pure state resonant p-brane excitations at the Planck scale, in agreement with general arguments stating that all such excitations should be black holes because their gravitational radius is equal or larger than their effective Compton radius. The book also reviews the important work of the Belinski group demonstrating the non-existence of the Unruh and Hawking effects in Mean-Field theory. The wavefunctions used in the standard calculations do not form complete sets in Minkowski spacetime and a zero-energy mode on the light-cone boundary spoils the Bogoliubov transformation needed for these effects. In support of these conclusions, the Belinski-Pizzi proof of no semiclassical particle tunnelling across a black hole event horizon is also presented. The Leblanc-Harms and Belinski group results therefore lead to the collapse of the Hawking theory of black holes as thermal objects. Quantum black holes are instead pure state Planck scale resonances without a classical horizon structure. The book further discusses black hole horizon formation in trans-Planckian string scattering as well as the non-existence of the maximum Hagedorn temperature in string theories and the inconsistency of string quantization in Hilbert space. It is argued that rigged Hilbert space should be relevant in string and p-brane theories and so quantum black holes should be described as Planck scale Gamow states.