The Holographic Chemistry of Black Holes

Abstract: Black Holes are amongst the strangest objects in the universe. They form from the collapse of matter into an object whose gravitational pull is so strong, nothing can escape from them. Yet a black hole also radiates heat like a blackbody, with a temperature equal to its surface gravity, an entropy equal to its area, and an energy equal to its mass. Over the past 15 years we have come to understand that the vacuum energy — as embodied by a cosmological constant — plays a pivotal role in the thermodynamic behaviour of black holes. Mass becomes chemical enthalpy, the notion of a thermodynamic volume appears, and black holes exhibit a broad range of chemical phenomena, including liquid/gas phase transitions similar to a Van der Waals fluid, triple points similar to that of water, re-entrant phase transitions that appear in gels and heat engines. Under certain conditions they can even behave like superfluid helium! Now known as “Black Hole Chemistry”, I will review this subject and then go on to describe new work that is providing a pathway toward understanding these phenomena from the perspective of Gauge-Gravity duality, in which phase transitions in the (gravitational) bulk become dual to phase transitions in the dual gauge theory.

general relativity and quantum cosmologyHEP - theorymathematical physicsquantum physics

Audience: advanced learners

( paper | video )

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Tricontinental Quantum Fundamentals Seminar

Series comments: The Tricontinental Quantum Fundamentals Seminar (3C-QFS) is an online seminar series connecting researchers from Australia, Europe, and America. Our goal is to facilitate discussion between the three continents and bring together those working on foundational topics in relativistic quantum physics, covering but not limited to:

• Measurement, localisation, and causality in relativistic quantum theory
• Energy conditions and quantum inequalities
• Non-locality and observer-dependence of entanglement
• Quantum reference frames and symmetries in quantum theory
• Holography, AdS/CFT, and analogue gravity

For 3C-QFS, we wish to foster an inclusive community and promote open discussion by encouraging a casual atmosphere during the seminars.

The seminars are held online via Zoom, consisting of 40-60 minute talks followed by additional time for questions. We meet every three weeks on Tuesday, alternating between two times in order to connect research communities across two of the three continents.

For those unable to join the seminars live, talks are recorded and hosted on the 3C-QFS YouTube channel.

The seminar series is primarily for students and academics active in the foundations of physics. To sign up for the mailing list and join the seminars live, please complete the registration form on the 3C-QFS website.

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