Will further develop mathematics for describing black holes

Quantum mechanics collides head-on with Einstein’s theory of gravitation in the description of black holes. To better understand the properties of black holes, researchers have produced a new mathematical tool, the holographic correspondence, which Wallenberg Academy Fellow Laura Donnay will now further develop.

Black holes compel physicists to reconsider the fundamental laws of nature as their understanding requires both Einstein’s theory of gravity and quantum physics – but these two theories collide. For example, Stephen Hawking showed that black holes evaporate, and thus that the information they contained seems to be forever lost, a phenomenon which breaks the laws of quantum mechanics.

In their work to try to unify these two fundamental theories of physics, and so better describe black holes, physicists have developed a new form of mathematical tool called the holographic correspondence. It has led to spectacular progress in the understanding of the strange properties of black holes.  

Dr Laura Donnay, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at TU Wien, will now develop a new holographic correspondence which is suitable to describe realistic kinds of spacetime and observable phenomena.  She will also investigate a newly discovered and intriguing infinite set of symmetries that appear close to the horizon of a black hole. 

As a Wallenberg Academy Fellow, Laura Donnay will work at Stockholm University. 

Photo: Luiza Puiu