HEP Theory Journal Club

Are Black Hole Orbits in Maximal Supergravity Solvable?

Zahra Zahraee

McGill

In this talk, I will discuss the dynamics (specifically the precession) of bound states of two extremal black holes in N=8 supergravity. In particular, we ask whether such bound systems possess hidden symmetries to make them solvable or not. A “solvable” model of gravity can be highly interesting as a testbed for various methods and can be an illuminating tool for studying different aspects of quantum gravity. We approach this problem in two distinct but overlapping limits: post-Newtonian, and probe limit. To the first non-trivial order, we find that the symmetry exists in both limits, which hints for the integrability of the system. Further, I will briefly review a systematic method (recently developed by O’connell et al) of extracting classical physics from a quantum field theory and its usefulness for generalizing our results to higher orders.