# Black Holes and Calogero Models

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## Abstract

We argue that the large $`n`$ limit of the $`n`$-particle $`SU(1,1|2)`$ superconformal Calogero model provides a microscopic description of the extreme Reissner-Nordström black hole in the near-horizon limit.

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An amusing feature of the matrix model approach to M-theory is that apparently intractable problems of quantum D=11 supergravity are resolved by a return to non-relativistic quantum mechanics . The M(atrix) model Hamiltonian, which can be viewed as that of an $`SU(\mathrm{})`$ D=1 super-Yang-Mills (SYM) theory, was originally found from a light-front gauge-fixed version of the D=11 supermembrane , but the interpretation given to it in  was inspired by the observation  that there is a close similarity between this supermembrane Hamiltonian and that of $`n`$ IIA D0-branes  in the large $`n`$ limit. However, because the D0-brane Hamiltonian differs from that of the M(atrix) model by the inclusion of relativistic corrections, the precise connection has only recently become clear. By viewing the limit in which relativistic corrections are supressed as one in which the spacelike circle of $`S^1`$-compactified M-theory becomes null, it was shown in  that all degrees of freedom other than D0-branes are also supressed, thus establishing that the M(atrix) model Hamiltonian captures the full dynamics of (uncompactified) M-theory. Here we wish to observe, because it will provide a useful perspective on our later results, that this limit can be understood as a ‘near-horizon’ limit. In the ‘dual-frame’ metric , the D0-brane solution of IIA supergravity approaches $`adS_2\times S^8`$ . Near the $`adS_2`$ Killing horizon, and for sufficiently large $`n`$, there is a dual description of the D0-brane dynamics  in terms of IIA supergravity on $`adS_2\times S^8`$  (which is the null reduction of the M-wave ).

Because $`adS_2`$ has an $`SL(2;\text{})`$ isometry group one might expect the M(atrix) model Hamiltonian to exhibit this symmetry as a worldline conformal symmetry, in analogy to the dual adS/CFT descriptions of D3-brane dynamics  in a similar ‘near-horizon’ limit . The SYM interpretation of the M(atrix) model makes it clear that there can be no such symmetry because D-dimensional SYM theories are conformally invariant only for $`D=4`$. In accord with this observation, the $`SL(2;\text{})`$ symmetry of the $`adS_2\times S^8`$ metric does not extend to the complete supergravity solution because it is broken by the dilaton field. Nevertheless, since the value of the dilaton is simply related to the matrix model coupling constant one might expect there to be a ‘generalized’ conformal symmetry taking a matrix model at one value of the coupling constant to the same model at a different value of the coupling constant. Just such a ‘generalized’ conformal symmetry was exhibited in , but the above explanation of this result indicates that it should be a general phenomenon applicable not only to D0-branes but to all 0-brane intersections for which the dual-frame supergravity metric has an $`adS_2`$ factor. The ‘generalized’ $`SL(2;\text{})`$ conformal invariance will become a genuine conformal invariance in those cases for which the dilaton is constant. These ‘genuinely conformal’ cases are the focus of this paper.

A case in point is the four intersecting D3-brane configuration

$$\begin{array}{cccccccccc}D3:\hfill & 1& 2& 3& & & & & & \\ D3:\hfill & 1& & & 4& 5& & & & \\ D3:\hfill & & 2& & 4& & 6& & & \\ D3:\hfill & & & 3& & 5& 6& & & \end{array}$$

As explained in , this corresponds to a black hole solution of the $`T^6`$ reduction of IIB supergravity for which all scalar fields, including the dilaton, approach constant values near the horizon. The special case for which the scalar fields are everywhere constant is the extreme Reissner-Nordström (RN) black hole. In all cases the near horizon geometry is $`adS_2\times S^2`$ and the isometry supergroup is $`SU(1,1|2)`$. Assuming that $`adS_2\times S^2`$ is equally a solution of the full, non-perturbative, IIB superstring theory (which seems likely in view of the results of ) we may conclude that $`SU(1,1|2)`$ acts as a superconformal group on the quantum mechanical model governing the fluctuation of the branes in the region of the intersection. But what is this model? Whatever it is, we expect that it has a dual description as $`N=2`$ D=4 supergravity on $`adS_2\times S^2`$ in a limit that involves interpreting each of the four supergravity D3-branes as a large number of coincident microscopic D3-branes. Equivalently, we expect some limit of the superconformal mechanics model to provide a microscopic description of the extreme RN black hole, at least near the horizon. The determination of this model is therefore likely to be an important step in our understanding of the quantum mechanics of black holes.

The field theory on the string intersection of any two of the four D3-branes of the above configuration is a (4,4) supersymmetric D=2 SYM theory. The intersection with the remaining two D3-branes must reduce this to a D=1 N=4 superconformal quantum mechanics, so we need some $`n`$-particle $`SU(1,1|2)`$-invariant superconformal mechanics that is related, in the large $`n`$ limit, to a reduction of a D=2 SYM theory. One such model, omitting fermions, is the $`n`$ particle Calogero model  with Hamiltonian

$$H=\frac{1}{2}\underset{i}{}p_i^2+\underset{i<j}{}\frac{\lambda ^2}{(q_iq_j)^2}$$
(1)   
where $`(p_i,q_i)`$ ($`i=1,\mathrm{},n`$) are the n-particle phase space coordinates, and $`\lambda `$ is a coupling constant<sup>*</sup><sup>*</sup>*Calogero models have arisen previously in the context of the matrix model describing D0-brane dynamics  but since the latter cannot be conformal invariant, for the reasons given above, they are necessarily different from those considered here.. This model, like a number of variants of it, is integrable and has been studied extensively in this context (see e.g. ). A distinguishing feature of the particular model defined by the above Hamiltonian is that its action is invariant under an $`SL(2;\text{})`$ group acting as a worldline conformal group , so we shall call it the ‘Conformal Calogero’ (CC) model. The conformal symmetry arises from an action of $`SL(2;\text{})`$ on phase space, generated by $`(H,K,D)`$ where $`H`$ is the Hamiltonian (1), $`K=\frac{1}{2}_iq_i^2`$ generates conformal boosts and $`D=\frac{1}{2}_ip_iq_i`$ generates dilatations. The generators $`H`$ and $`K`$ are lightlike with respect to the Killing form on $`sl(2;\text{})`$ while $`D`$ is spacelike. In our conventions timelike generators are ‘compact’.

We propose that the model describing the 0-brane intersection of the above four D3-brane configuration is the N=4 supersymmetric extension of the CC model, and hence that this model provides a microscopic description of the extreme RN black hole in the near-horizon limit. The N=2 superconformal Calogero model is described by the superpotential $`\lambda _{i<j}\mathrm{log}|q_iq_j|`$. It is a special case of the N=2 supersymmetric, but generically non-conformal, Calogero-Moser (CM) model studied in ; this fact will play a part in our proposal. Unfortunately, the N=4 supersymmetric extensions of the CC and CM models have not yet been constructed but the main features are clear and we shall discuss them later. First we wish to explain the motivation for our proposal in the context of the bosonic model.

The $`n`$-particle CC model was shown in  to be equivalent in the large $`n`$ limit to a D=2 $`SU(n)`$ gauge theory on a cylinder. A related observation that we shall elaborate on here is that the CC model can be obtained by symplectic reduction of a class of matrix models. Consider, for example, the space of hermitian $`n\times n`$ matrices $`X`$ with the flat metric $`\mathrm{tr}(\mathrm{dX})(\mathrm{d}\overline{\mathrm{X}})`$. The corresponding free particle mechanics model is manifestly conformal invariant. It is also invariant under $`SU(n)`$ transformations acting by conjugation on $`X`$. The corresponding conserved ‘angular momenta’ are encoded in the conserved traceless hermitian matrix

$$\mu =i[X,P],$$
(2)   
where $`P=\dot{X}`$ is the momentum canonically conjugate to $`X`$. The idea now is to work at some fixed values of the angular momenta. This gives constraints, and one quotients phase space by the action generated by these constraints to get a reduced Hamiltonian system on the quotient. In order to obtain the CC system this way one must choose the angular momenta such that $`\mu `$ has $`n1`$ equal eigenvalues $`\lambda `$. The stability group of the matrix $`\mu `$ is then $`S(U(1)\times U(n1))U(n)`$, and the action of this group may be used to bring $`X`$ to the diagonal form $`X=\mathrm{diag}(q_1,\mathrm{},q_n)`$ and $`P`$ to a form with diagonal entries $`p_i`$ and off-diagonal entries $`P_{ij}=i\lambda /(q_iq_j)`$. The reduced Hamiltonian, $`\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{trP}^2`$, is just (1).

It will prove instructive to consider the $`n=2`$ case in more detail. In this case the configuration space is $`\text{𝔼}^4`$. We can write $`X`$ as

$$X=U\mathrm{\Delta }U^1,$$
(3)   
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }=diag(q_1,q_2)`$ and $`U`$ is the $`SU(2)`$ matrix

$$U=\left(\begin{array}{cc}u& v\\ \overline{v}& \overline{u}\end{array}\right)(|u|^2+|v|^2=1).$$
(4)   
There is a $`U(1)`$ redundancy in this description because we can take $`(u,\overline{v})e^{i\alpha }(u,\overline{v})`$ without changing $`X`$. We thus have a parametrization of $`X`$ in terms of $`(q_1,q_2)`$ and the coordinates of $`SU(2)/U(1)S^2`$. Introducing the centre of mass coordinate $`Q=(q_1+q_2)/2`$ and the relative position coordinate $`q=(q_1q_2)`$ we find that

$$ds^2=2dQ^2+\frac{1}{2}\left[dq^2+q^2d\mathrm{\Omega }_2^2\right].$$
(5)   
Note that the 3-metric describing the relative motion on $`\text{𝔼}^3`$ is flat. The angular momentum matrix $`\mu `$ has eigenvalues $`\pm \lambda `$ where $`\lambda `$ is the length of the angular momentum 3-vector $`𝐋`$ associated with the $`SO(3)`$ isometry of $`S^2`$. At fixed $`\lambda `$, the Hamiltonian is

$$H=\frac{1}{2}\left[p^2+\frac{g}{q^2}\right],$$
(6)   
where

$$g=\lambda ^2.$$
(7)   
This is the conformal mechanics Hamiltonian of de Alfaro, Fubini and Furlan (DFF)  with coupling constant $`g`$. The CC models thus provide a natural generalization of DFF conformal mechanics.

The $`N=2`$ supersymmetric extension of the DFF model, with $`SU(1,1|1)`$ superconformal symmetry was constructed in . This model is clearly related to the 2-particle N=2 superconformal Calogero model in the same way as above. The superpotential in the latter case is

$$\lambda \mathrm{log}|q_1q_2|=\lambda \mathrm{log}|q|,$$
(8)   
but this is precisely the superpotential of N=2 superconformal mechanics. Conversely, by simply adding in a trivial centre of mass motion one can obtain the 2-particle N=2 superconformal Calogero model by a simple change of variables, and the $`n`$-particle model is a straightforward generalization . The $`N=4`$ extension of the DFF model, with $`SU(1,1|2)`$ superconformal symmetry, was constructed in ; the construction is not completely obvious because there is still only one physical boson variable, $`q`$, despite the N=4 supersymmetry. However, it should be clear from the above discussion that the N=4 2-particle superconformal Calogero model is already implicit in the N=4 superconformal mechanics. We expect that the $`n`$-particle generalization will again be straightforward, but the complete construction will not be attempted here.

We now come to the main motivation for our proposal. It was shown in  that the N=4 superconformal mechanics model describes the dynamics of a superparticle of unit mass (and charge to mass ratio equal to that of the black hole) in the near-horizon geometry of an extreme RN black hole in the limit of large black hole massSolutions $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ of the covariant Klein-Gordan equation on $`adS_2`$ in satisfy $`i_t\mathrm{\Phi }=\widehat{H}\mathrm{\Phi }`$ where $`2\widehat{H}=qp(q^1p)+g^2/q^2`$, and the inner product is $`𝑑rr^1|\mathrm{\Phi }|^2`$. It follows that $`\widehat{H}`$ provides the correct resolution of the operator ordering ambiguity inherent in the classical hamiltonian (6). This ordering differs from the ’naive’ one used in studies of quantum conformal mechanics but the change of ordering does not affect the qualitative properties of the model needed here.. The coupling constant was found to be

$$g=4\mathrm{}^2,$$
(9)   
where $`\mathrm{}`$ is the particle’s orbital angular momentum operator quantum number. Actually, the result of  is that $`g=4L^2`$ where $`L^2`$ is the operator with eigenvalues $`\mathrm{}(\mathrm{}+1)`$, but the shift of $`\mathrm{}^2`$ to $`\mathrm{}(\mathrm{}+1)`$ can be interpreted as a consequence of integrating out the fermions , so one finds $`g=4\mathrm{}^2`$ if the fermions are simply omitted. Even so, there is an apparent discrepancy with (7) because it would be natural to suppose from our derivation of conformal mechanics from the $`2\times 2`$ hermitian matrix model that, in the quantum theory, $`\lambda `$ should take on integer values, but this is consistent with (9), and integer $`\mathrm{}`$, only if $`\lambda `$ is an even integer. The resolution of this discrepancy is that in arriving at (6) we implicity assumed that $`q`$ was positive. If one allows $`q`$ to be negative, then the parametrization (3) of $`X`$ has an additional redundancy which can be removed by identification of antipodal points on the 2-sphere. Only those harmonics with even angular momentum quantum number are well defined on $`S^2/\text{}_2\text{}P^2`$, so allowing $`q`$ to be negative leads to the restriction $`\lambda =2\mathrm{}`$ for integer $`\mathrm{}`$.

The derivation of conformal mechanics from a charged particle on $`adS_2\times S^2`$ makes crucial use of a coordinate system for which the $`adS_2`$ metric is

$$ds^2=R^4q^4dt^2+4R^2q^2dq^2,$$
(10)   
where $`R`$ is the radius of curvature. The singularity at $`q=\mathrm{}`$ is just a coordinate singularity at a Killing horizon of $`h=_t`$. The vector fields

$$d=t_t+\frac{1}{2}q_q,k=\left(t^2+q^4/R^2\right)_t+tq_q.$$
(11)   
are also Killing, and $`(h,d,k)`$ have the $`sl(2;\text{})`$ commutation relations

$$[d,h]=h,[d,k]=k,[h,k]=2d.$$
(12)   
The key result of  is that the particle trajectory $`q(t)`$ is described by a relativistic conformal mechanics, and that the Hamiltonian describing this evolution in $`t`$ reduces in the large $`R`$ limit to the non-relativistic Hamiltonian (6). Just as this Hamiltonian, $`H`$, is associated with the Killing vector field $`h`$, so there are two other functions on phase space, $`D`$ and $`K`$ associated to $`d`$ and $`k`$. Their Poisson bracket algebra is isomorphic to (12).

In the quantum theory, the DFF Hamiltonian has a continuous spectrum with $`E>0`$ but no ground state at $`E=0`$ . This feature is a reflection of the incompleteness of the classical dynamics because a state of zero energy would be time-independent and hence associated with a fixed set of $`_t`$ on $`adS_2`$, i.e. its Killing horizon. The classical cure for the incompleteness due to the Killing horizon is simply to choose a global coordinate system on $`adS_2`$, e.g.

$$t=\frac{\mathrm{sin}\tau }{\mathrm{cos}\tau \mathrm{sin}\rho },q^2=\frac{R\mathrm{cos}\rho }{\mathrm{cos}\tau \mathrm{sin}\rho },$$
(13)   
where $`|\rho |<\pi /2`$, and $`\tau `$ is periodically identified with period $`2\pi `$. The metric is now

$$ds_2^2=(R\mathrm{sec}\rho )^2[d\tau ^2+d\rho ^2].$$
(14)   
We see that $`_\tau `$ is Killing. It is a compact generator of $`SL(2;\text{})`$; in fact

$$_\tau =\frac{1}{2}(h+k).$$
(15)   
Classical evolution in $`\tau `$ is complete because $`_\tau `$ has no horizon. The corresponding Hamiltonian $`\stackrel{~}{H}(\rho ,p_\rho )`$ can be found by solving the mass-shell constraint in the new coordinates, but the quantum states it evolves belong to a new Hilbert space. It is also no longer obvious how to take the non-relativistic limit and hence unclear how to generalize to the multi-particle case. For these reasons we shall not pursue this approach here. Instead, we retain the original Hilbert space but evolve the states via a new, non-conformal, Hamiltonian $`H^{}=H+K`$, as suggested by the formula (15). This was also done in , where it was found that $`H^{}`$ has a unique ground state with a series of evenly spaced excited states, as expected for evolution in a periodically identified time parameter. Curiously, despite the fact that orbits of $`_\tau `$ pass through $`q=\mathrm{}`$, a particle in the ground state of $`H^{}`$ has zero probability of being at $`q=\mathrm{}`$ because the ground state wave-function is 

$$\psi _0=q^\alpha e^{q^2/4},(\alpha =\frac{1}{2}\left[1+\sqrt{1+4g}\right]).$$
(16)   
Two particles do not make a black hole, so we now wish to generalize the above $`n=2`$ discussion to $`n>2`$. A complication of the $`n>2`$ case is that there are many possibilities for the angular-momentum matrix $`\mu `$. Only the choice described above, $`n1`$ equal eigenvalues, leads to the n-particle conformal Calogero model. A partial motivation for this choice comes from the observation  that the one independent eigenvalue $`\lambda `$ of the $`n=2`$ case is an ‘almost-central’ charge in the superconformal algebra; it is not truly central because it can be removed by a redefinition of the $`sl(2;\text{})`$ charges but, for a given definition, the anticommutator of the odd charges is $`\lambda `$-dependent. The equal eigenvalue condition for $`n>2`$ is thus analogous to a BPS condition. In any case, having made this choice we arrive at the CC Hamiltonian (1), which we now rewrite as

$$H=H_{n1}+\frac{1}{2}p_n^2+\frac{\lambda ^2}{q_n^2}\underset{i=1}{\overset{n1}{}}\left(1q_i/q_n\right)^2.$$
(17)   
where $`H_{n1}`$ contains all terms independent of $`(q_n,p_n)`$. If we now suppose that all $`q_i`$ are small except $`q_n`$ (so that we may omit $`𝒪(q_i/q_n)`$ terms), and take $`n`$ large (so that we can ignore reduced-mass effects from factoring out the centre of mass motion) then the Hamiltonian governing the motion of the $`n`$th particle is the DFF model with

$$g=2(n1)\lambda ^2=8(n1)\mathrm{}^2,(n1).$$
(18)   
Recalling that in the quantum theory $`\mathrm{}`$ is an integer multiple of Planck’s constant, we see that the large $`n`$ limit is one in which the particle orbiting the cluster of $`n1`$ particles acquires a macroscopic angular momentum.

We thus arrive at a picture of an extreme black hole as a composite of a large number of particles interacting via a repulsive inverse cube force law. However, this picture is rather misleading because, as mentioned above, the variable $`q`$ is actually an inverse radial variable in the sense that $`q=\mathrm{}`$ corresponds to the black hole horizon. The cluster of $`n1`$ particles near $`q=0`$ is actually much further from the horizon than the one at large $`q`$, although they are still in the ‘near-horizon’ region of the black hole. One can view them as living at the $`adS_2`$ boundary, and the large $`n`$ CC model as the boundary conformal field theory in the sense of the adS/CFT correspondence . It is then natural to interpret these ‘Calogerons’ as the microscopic degrees of freedom of the black hole.

The CC model describes the dynamics of $`n`$ ordered particles in the sense that if we choose the $`q_i`$ such that $`q_{i+1}q_i>0`$ then the CC dynamics implemented by $`H`$ preserves this ordering. As for conformal mechanics, the full dynamics in which we allow $`q_{i+1}q_i0`$ will be described by some other Hamiltonian. If we follow the DFF approach described above we would replace the CC Hamiltonian by the new Hamiltonian $`H_{CM}=H+\omega ^2K`$ for some constant $`\omega `$. Now

$$K\frac{1}{2}\underset{i}{}q_i^2=\frac{1}{2n}\underset{i<j}{}(q_iq_j)^2+\frac{n}{2}Q^2$$
(19)   
where $`Q=(1/n)_iq_i`$ is the centre of mass position. We may set $`Q=0`$ without loss of generality, in which case

$$H_{CM}=\frac{1}{2}\underset{i}{}p_i^2+\underset{i<j}{}\frac{\lambda ^2}{(q_iq_j)^2}+\frac{\omega ^2}{2n}\underset{i<j}{}(q_iq_j)^2$$
(20)   
This is the Calogero-Moser (CM) Hamiltonian; it has a unique ground state and towers of excited states with energy spacings $`2\omega ,3\omega ,\mathrm{},n\omega `$ . It is therefore natural to associate $`H_{CM}`$ with a time parameter that is periodically identified with period In the $`n=2`$ case the periodicity could be taken to be $`\pi \omega ^1`$ but the inclusion of fermions will require a periodicity of $`2\pi \omega ^1`$ even in this case. One way to see this is to note that $`adS_2`$ can be embedded in $`\text{𝔼}^{(2,1)}`$, in which case its Killing spinors are the restriction of constant spinors on $`\text{𝔼}^{(2,1)}`$. It follows that the Killing spinors of $`adS_2`$ are antiperiodic in $`\tau `$ when written in a spin basis associated to the one-forms $`d\tau ,d\rho `$, where $`\tau `$ and $`\rho `$ are the $`adS_2`$ coordinates introduced previously. $`2\pi \omega ^1`$.

The ground state wave-function of $`H_{CM}`$ is similar to (16) in that particles in the ground state have zero probability of being at any of the boundaries between the $`2^{n1}`$ regions with different signs of the relative coordinates $`q_{i+1}q_i`$. Because classical trajectories connect these regions it is natural to consider them as distinct, but in the quantum theory we must choose to put the particles in one region. It is thus natural to assign the black hole an entropy $`S=(n1)\mathrm{log}2`$ (cf. ). On the other hand, the n-particle Calogero-Moser Hamiltonian describes a system of size $`L\sqrt{n}`$ as $`n\mathrm{}`$ for fixed $`\omega `$ and $`\lambda `$ , so the identification of this system with the RN black hole implies that the area $`A`$ of the black hole horizon is $`AL^2`$. It follows that $`SA`$, in qualitative agreement with the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy.