2002/03/08 by Eric A. Minassian, Eric Minassian
Physics and Astronomy · #BTZ black hole #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Black hole (networking) #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Gravitational singularity #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #Quantization (signal processing) #Quantum field theory in curved spacetime #Quantum gravity #Spacetime #Spacetime topology #Torus #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0264-9381/19/23/301
published as Class.Quant.Grav. 19 (2002) 5877-5901 · 30 pages, LaTeX, 1 eps figure (problem with eps figure corrected)
arxiv created 2002/03/08 · openalex publication_date 2002/11/08 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The effects of spacetime quantization on black-hole and big-bang/big-crunch singularities can be studied using new tools from (2 + 1)-dimensional quantum gravity. I investigate effects of spacetime quantization on the singularities of the (2 + 1)-dimensional BTZ black hole and the (2 + 1)-dimensional torus universe. Hosoya has considered the BTZ black hole, and using a 'quantum-generalized affine parameter' (QGAP), has shown that, for some specific paths, quantum effects 'smear' the singularity. Using generic Gaussian wavefunctions, I show that both the BTZ black hole and the torus universe contain families of paths that still reach the singularities with finite QGAPs, suggesting that singularities persist in quantum gravity. More realistic calculations, using modular-invariant wavefunctions of Carlip and Nelson for the torus universe, further support this conclusion.