Firewalls From General Covariance

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Author: Bousso, Raphael
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Bousso, Raphael
author_facet Bousso, Raphael
contents I define "horizon normalcy" as the approximate validity of Semiclassical Gravity and Effective Field Theory (SGEFT), for the description of observers that approach or cross a black hole horizon. If black holes return information, then horizon normalcy must fail substantially, at least in some global states. Proposals such as ER=EPR and nonisometric maps assert that horizon normalcy persists, so long as the Hawking radiation remains in a computationally simple state. Here I argue that state-dependent horizon normalcy - independently of the underlying mechanism, and independently of the class of radiation states asserted to guarantee normalcy - requires a breakdown of general covariance far from the black hole, or else horizon normalcy will depend on the infinite future of the exterior. This is because the radiation can be in different states at different events, all spacelike to the horizon crossing event whose normalcy is at stake. I discuss a related effect in AdS/CFT, and I argue that its resolution by timefolds is of no help here.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_08724
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Firewalls From General Covariance
Bousso, Raphael
High Energy Physics - Theory
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
I define "horizon normalcy" as the approximate validity of Semiclassical Gravity and Effective Field Theory (SGEFT), for the description of observers that approach or cross a black hole horizon. If black holes return information, then horizon normalcy must fail substantially, at least in some global states. Proposals such as ER=EPR and nonisometric maps assert that horizon normalcy persists, so long as the Hawking radiation remains in a computationally simple state. Here I argue that state-dependent horizon normalcy - independently of the underlying mechanism, and independently of the class of radiation states asserted to guarantee normalcy - requires a breakdown of general covariance far from the black hole, or else horizon normalcy will depend on the infinite future of the exterior. This is because the radiation can be in different states at different events, all spacelike to the horizon crossing event whose normalcy is at stake. I discuss a related effect in AdS/CFT, and I argue that its resolution by timefolds is of no help here.
title Firewalls From General Covariance
topic High Energy Physics - Theory
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.08724