Allowable Complex Black Holes in the Euclidean Gravitational Path Integral

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Authors: Vineeth Krishna, Finn Krebs Larsen
Cited by: 0

Abstract

The Euclidean Gravitational Path Integral has proven remarkably effective in the quantum regime of black hole physics. In this work, we examine the applicability of the Kontsevich-Segal-Witten (KSW) criterion for admissible complex metrics in the context of the Euclidean Gravitational Path Integral. We find that, for the super-conformal index of ${\cal N}=4$ SYM with unequal angular momenta, the black hole saddle points violate the KSW criterion precisely where the statistical description of the index breaks down. The corresponding critical point coincides with a phase transition into two-component ``grey galaxy'' configurations in the micro-canonical ensemble.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Black Holes and Theoretical Physics Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories Quantum chaos and dynamical systems

Publication details

Journal / source
arXiv (Cornell University)
Publication date
5 February 2026
Document type
Preprint