Black Holes ― Thermodynamics, Information, and Firewalls

This book reflects the resurgence of interest in the quantum properties of black holes, culminating most recently in controversial discussions about firewalls. On the thermodynamic side, it describes how new developments allowed the inclusion of pressure/volume terms in the first law, leading to a new understanding of black holes as chemical systems, experiencing novel phenomena such as triple points and reentrant phase transitions. On the quantum-information side, the reader learns how basic arguments undergirding quantum complementarity have been shown to be flawed; and how this suggests that a black hole may surround itself with a firewall: a violent and chaotic region of highly excited states. In this thorough and pedagogical treatment, Robert Mann traces these new developments from their roots to our present-day understanding, highlighting their relationships and the challenges they present for quantum gravity.

Robert Mann
Dept of Physics & Astronomy
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario
N2L 3G1 Canada

Robert Mann is Professor of Physics at the University of Waterloo, has been a visiting researcher at Harvard University, Cambridge University, University of Queensland and the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, and is a Fulbright Fellow. Winner of two teaching awards, he was chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Waterloo from 2001-2008 and served as president of the Canadian Association of Physicists. He is author of over 350 refereed journal papers and has given over 200 invited seminars and colloquia. His research interests are in black holes, cosmology, string theory, particle physics, quantum foundations, and quantum information.