What year are you in?
I am in my 3rd year.
What group are you in?
Prof. Samir Mathur
Where are you from?
I am originally from the Pink City of India—Jaipur.
Describe your research in 200 words or fewer.
In the 1970s Hawking revealed that near a black hole’s event horizon, tiny particles constantly appear and disappear. Occasionally, one particle from the pair falls into the black hole, while the other escapes, carrying energy away from the black hole, called Hawking radiation, and it slowly causes black holes to shrink and vanish. Black holes act as information sinks. When objects enter a black hole, their unique characteristics vanish forever. Although Hawking radiation is emitted from the black hole’s horizon, it cannot preserve information about the objects inside. Moreover, we must consider the source of a black hole’s entropy and identify its microstates in the context of Boltzmannian theory.
String theory, particularly the work of Strominger and Vafa, began shedding light on black hole microstates, offering a breakthrough in our understanding. Professor Samir Mathur introduced the concept of “fuzzballs,” which are distinct from classical black holes as they lack a horizon. Fuzzballs release information about their internal structure as they cool down, akin to how coal releases fumes as it burns. Fuzzballs from outside can be modeled as extremely compact objects(ECOs). These are objects with radius closely approaching the size of a black hole. My research aims to understand the thermodynamics of these ECOs and answer why horizonless fuzzballs obey thermodynamics of classical black holes. In our recent work, conducted in April 2023, we focused on this problem. Our work provided compelling evidence that any Extremely Compact Object (ECO)—an entity with a radius in close proximity to that of a black hole—shares identical thermodynamic properties to that of a black hole. Our findings gained recognition when we received the 3rd prize in the prestigious 2023 Gravity Research competition.
We also study fuzzballs using something known as the D1D5P CFT system. In this system, not all states contribute to the entropy. But there is a way known as lifting to classify these states. States that remain unlifted under this contribute to the crucial index. The leading-order behavior of this index aligns with classical Bekenstein-Hawking black hole entropy calculations. So to correctly understand the entropy of black holes in the fuzzball program, one must naturally ask: Which states within the theory undergo lifting, and to what extent? The pursuit of this query forms the other aspect of my research. Finally, I am also working on another facet of fuzzballs. We conjecture that there are virtual fluctuations of the vacuum in the form of fuzzballs called VECROs(Virtual Extended Compression Resistant Objects) and these affect the expansion of the universe. We propose these virtual excitations as a candidate for dark energy.
What have you done in physics that you are proud of?
I am proud of our Gravity Research Essay that won us the 3rd prize this year. I’m also proud of my Youtube channel: Time before Space, where I communicate interesting concepts in physics and interviews with contemporary physicists working around the globe. Apart from this, I have also helped many young students and got them into Physics. It’s a great feeling to inspire students.
What have you done outside of physics that you are proud of?
I went to the Kaun Banega Crorepati (an iconic quiz show on TV in India) in my 10th grade. I’ve won the third prize in the Camlin national level painting competition back in India and I’m proud of that as well.
What are your future goals?
My goals in my research would be to come up with an algorithm to construct super-descendant algebras. I’d also like to work on topological solitons and construct models of dark energy using VECROs. Career-wise, I want to get into academia – teaching physics in a better way and igniting young minds. I’d like to recall one of Albert Einstein’s quotes: “The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.” I wish to change that for my students. Finally, if everything works out, my goal would be to win a Nobel prize…