Edward Witten: Invitation to Black Hole Thermodynamics, session 2

This Masterclass by Edward Witten was organized by the Wolfgang Pauli Centre and took place from 14 to 17 January 2025 in Hamburg. As the laureate of the 2023 Hamburg Prize for Theoretical Physics, Edward Witten delivered a lecture series consisting of seven sessions in total.

Speaker: Edward Witten

Title: Invitation to Black Hole Thermodynamics

Abstract: Since the work of Bekenstein and Hawking over half a century ago, it has been understood that although classically a black hole is a featureless object that satisfies a "no hair theorem", quantum mechanically a black hole behaves as a complex many-body system that obeys the laws of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. I will provide an introduction to some of the old and new ideas in this subject, in which much is understood and much is not understood.

For more information, visit the event page: https://indico.desy.de/event/46572/