About
Professor Larsen works on theoretical physics with special focus on the quantum description of black holes.
Black holes are holes in space itself where the time experienced by faraway observers stops entirely. In the environment near a black hole gravity is so strong that quantum fluctuations of vacuum manifest themselves as thermal radiation. This phenomenon gives a window into the quantum structure of space and time itself. Larsen pursues a research program aimed at uncovering further secrets from the quantum black hole.
The theory of black holes is under best theoretical control in situations motivated by string theory, such as supergravity in anti-deSitter space. In these settings, it is realistic to compute the response to probes with high precision and study the development of the black hole over very long time scales. Such results can be compared with descriptions that are entirely quantum mechanical, and only indirectly related to traditional space and time. Together, these complementary methods build an emerging theory of quantum gravity.
Mathematical techniques and physical insights developed in the pursuit of quantum gravity have close connections to other areas of theoretical physics. For example, inflationary cosmology recasts the quantum fluctuations near black hole as the seeds of all structure in the entire Universe. The low temperature behavior of black holes involves exotic phases of quantum matter, like Bose-Einstein condensation and superconductivity. Quantum entanglement and other ideas from quantum computing and quantum information science are now applied to describe the structure of space and time. Larsen is actively engaged with these interdisciplinary interfaces of theoretical physics.
Selected Publications
AdS2 holography and effective QFT, (Sangmin Choi and Finn Larsen), Jour. High. Ener. Phys. 11, 151 (2023).
A nAttractor Mechanism for nAdS2/nCFT1 holography, (Finn Larsen), Jour. High. Ener. Phys. 4, 55 (2019).
Universal corrections to non-extremal black hole entropy in N ≥ 2 supergravity, (Anthony M. Charles, and Finn Larsen), Jour. High. Ener. Phys. 6, 200 (2015).
Logarithmic Corrections to N ≥ 2 Black Hole Entropy, (Cynthia Keeler, Finn Larsen, and Pedro Lisbao), Phys. Rev. D 90 4, 043011 (2014).
Field(s) of Study
- Theoretical High Energy Physics
