Once Before Time - Martin Bojowald [145]
In this case, the equations of loop quantum gravity cannot yet be formulated and analyzed in exterior space, but they can be inside the horizon, as Abhay Ashtekar and I endeavored to do in 2003. This is the basis of results for the form of black holes in a quantum theory of gravity. Interior equations, as well as the Penrose diagram in figure 29 based on them, show that the classical singularity is penetrated as in cosmology and that, according to current evidence, the interior reconnects with the exterior behind the singularity. Also as in quantum cosmology, constraints on the wave function of the black hole arise from the decoupling of singular states. The compatibility of those conditions in the interior with the static behavior outside is an important test of consistency for the form of black holes in quantum gravity.
As pointed out first by Daniel Cartin and Gaurav Khanna in 2006, those conditions merely imply that the wave function behind the singularity, in the classically invisible part, assumes the exact mirror image of the wave function before the singularity—in the classically visible part. As unexciting as this may seem, it shows the consistency of all evidence currently available for the behavior of black holes: We know that the singularity is penetrated by the wave function in the interior, and we know that the exterior of this kind of black hole is static. Indications make it plausible that the interior must be connected with the exterior before as well as after the singularity; there is, in other words, no splitting off into a daughter universe. Now, if the static exterior is subject to no temporal change, the interior can be connected with it only if it behaves behind the singularity just as it does before it (even though it is not static itself). Exactly this is required by the dynamic initial conditions; and all secure insights, as well as indications still to be buttressed, are tied to each other consistently.
If the black hole is not situated in empty space, the exterior space-time is far more dynamic and complicated, but also more interesting. A precise understanding of the connection between interior and exterior regions by means of the wave function and its constraints would be crucial for predictions of what happens after Hawking evaporation of a black hole, and what astrophysical consequences this might have. Studies of the wave function in cosmology as well as black hole physics thus promise deep insights for our understanding of the universe, even if a possibly unique wave function cannot be exploited financially.
In the human age—in the universe cycle before she began to call herself Quman—the life-forms, which in their consciousness sheltered Quman in the all too classical phase, once settled on the planet Earth. Here there was a parasite, the lancet liver fluke, that counted ants as well as cows among its hosts. To transit from an ant into a cow, the parasite wandered to the ant brain, influencing it in such a way that this host bit down tightly on the tip of a blade of grass and remained there, thus ensuring the transition into a grazing cow as the next host.
Quman had found refuge in the human brain, where she withstood the classical drought. Tied up as she was, she could only wait. But like the little lancet liver fluke, she patiently worked toward the transition into a new host—a new cycle of the universe in full quantum freshness. Divided among countless individuals, progress was often frustrating; but gradually it took place. As the parasite with the ants, she induced her host to engage