The Kerr black hole as a quantum rotator

DOI10.1088/0264-9381/20/11/321MaRDI QIDQ4407017zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Gilad Gour, Allan Joseph Michael Medved

Publication date 19 January 2004

Published in Classical and Quantum Gravity (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0211089

angular momentum quantization horizon area quantization Kerr black hole reduced phase space

Exact solutions to problems in general relativity and gravitational theory (83C15) Quantization of the gravitational field (83C45) Black holes (83C57)

Abstract: It has been proposed by Bekenstein and others that the horizon area of a black hole conforms, upon quantization, to a discrete and uniformly spaced spectrum. In this paper, we consider the area spectrum for the highly non-trivial case of a rotating (Kerr) black hole solution. Following a prior work by Barvinsky, Das and Kunstatter, we are able to express the area spectrum in terms of an integer-valued quantum number and an angular-momentum operator. Moreover, by using an analogy between the Kerr black hole and a quantum rotator, we are able to quantize the angular-momentum sector. We find the area spectrum to be

A_{n, J_{c l}} = 8 p i h b a r (n + J_{c l} + 1 / 2)

, where

n

and

J_{c l}

are both integers. The quantum number

J_{c l}

is related to but distinct from the eigenvalue

j

of the angular momentum of the black hole. Actually, it represents the ``classical angular momentum and, for $J_{c l} g g 1$ , $J_{c l} a p p r o x j$ .

Review text

During the 70's, J. D. Bekenstein proposed that the horizon area ($A$) of a black hole should be quantized. His claim comes from the fact that $A$ behaves, for a slowly changing black hole, as an adiabatic invariant and from Ehrenfest's principle it should have a discrete spectrum. Bekenstein even suggested an explicit form for the area spectrum where the levels are equally spaced. Since the publication of Bekenstein's proposal, several works have appeared where the horizon area spectrum is derived in a rigorous manner, for different black holes. In the present work, the authors derive the horizon area spectrum for the Kerr black hole. They start by choosing the classical phase space variables that better describe the Kerr black hole. They study the commutation relations between the canonical variables and their conjugated momenta for few sets of canonical variables. After that, they choose the following canonical variables ($M$, $J_{cl}$, $J_\alpha$, $J_\gamma$) and their conjugated momenta ( $\Pi_M$, $\Pi_{cl}$, $\Pi_\alpha$, $\Pi_\gamma$). In this set of canonical variables, $M$ is the black hole mass, $J_{cl}$ is the modulus of the black hole angular momentum, $J_\alpha$ and $J_\gamma$ are, respectively, the $\alpha$ and $\gamma$ components of the black hole angular momentum. Here, $\alpha$ and $\gamma$ are two of the three Euler angles. As the first and most important step in order to quantize the black hole horizon area, the authors impose the following periodicity condition upon $\Pi_M$, $\Pi_M = \Pi_M + 2\pi/k$, where $k$ is the surface gravity at the horizon. After that, they decide to introduce a new pair of canonically conjugated variables to replace ($M$, $\Pi_M$) such that the new pair directly incorporates the periodic nature of $\Pi_M$. The new pair of canonical variables ($X$, ${\mathcal P}_X$) is related to the old one by the following canonical transformations, $X = \sqrt{B/\pi} \cos{(\Pi_M k)}$ and ${\mathcal P}_X = \sqrt{B/\pi} \sin{(\Pi_M k)}$, where $B = (1/4) ( A - 8\pi J_{cl})$ and $A$ is the horizon area. Now, combining the above equations and transforming all classically defined quantities in quantum operators, the authors write the operatorial equation, \[ (1/2\pi) \widehat B\equiv (1/8\pi) [ \widehat A- 8\pi \widehat J_{cl} ]= \widehat X^2/2+ \widehat {\mathcal P}^2_X/2, \tag{1} \] where the addition of a \textit{hat} to the letter representing a certain classical quantity, means the quantum operator associated with that classical quantity. Since the domain of $\widehat X$ and $\widehat {\mathcal P}_X$ is the entire two-dimensional plane, the right-hand side of Equation (1) can be recognized as the operatorial expression for the Hamiltonian of a particular one-dimensional harmonic oscillator. Therefore, the spectrum of $\widehat B$ is given by, \[ (1/2\pi) B_n=\hbar ( n+1/2), \tag{2} \] where $n = 0,1,2,\dots ,$ and $B_n$ are the eigenvalues of $\widehat B$. An important result comes from the spectrum of $\widehat B$ Equation (2) and the definition of this operator in terms of $\widehat A$ and $\widehat J_{cl}$. Since $B_n$ never vanishes, the quantum black hole can never reach the state of extremality. In order to obtain the spectrum of $\widehat A$, from Equations (1) and (2), the authors compute the spectrum of $\widehat J_{cl}$. Taking in account that $\widehat J_{cl}$ is distinct from the traditional quantum angular momentum operator $\widehat J$, they find the spectrum of the former. Then, combining this result with Equations (1) and (2), they obtain the main result of the paper, \[ A_{n, J_{cl}}=8\pi\hbar ( n+J_{cl}+1/2), \tag{3} \] where $n,J_{cl} = 0,1,2,\dots $ and $J_{cl}$ are the eigenvalues of $\widehat J_{cl}$. As one can see, from Equation (3), the spectrum of $\widehat A$ is equally spaced as suggested by Bekenstein. The authors end the article by showing that for $J_{cl} \gg 1$, one has $J_{cl} \sim j$, where $j$ are the eigenvalues of the traditional quantum angular momentum operator $\widehat J$.

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