What is the smallest unit of area? To find out, theorists have been wrestling with the notion of quantum black holes. Two independent analyses now seem to lead to the same answer.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Dreyer, O. Phys. Rev. Lett. (in the press); preprint gr-qc/0211076 at <http://arXiv.org> (2002).
Hawking, S. Commun. Math. Phys. 43, 199–220 (1975).
Bekenstein, J. Phys. Rev. D 7, 2333–2346 (1973).
Thorne, K., Price, R. & Macdonald, D. (eds) Black Holes: The Membrane Paradigm (Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, 1986).
Rovelli, C. Living Rev. Relativity 1, 1 (1998); http://www.livingreviews.org/Articles/Volume1/1998-1rovelli
Rovelli, C. & Smolin, S. Nucl. Phys. B 442, 593–622 (1995).
Ashtekar, A., Baez, J., Corichi, C. & Krasnov, K. Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 904–907 (1998).
Hod, S. Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 4293–4296 (1998).
Nollert, H.-P Phys. Rev. D 47, 5253–5258 (1993).
Motl, L. preprint gr-qc/0212096 at <http://arXiv.org> (2002).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Baez, J. The quantum of area?. Nature 421, 702–703 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/421702a
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/421702a
- Springer Nature Limited
This article is cited by
-
Planck Oscillators in the Background Dark Energy
International Journal of Theoretical Physics (2010)
-
The Planck Oscillators and the Black Hole Thermodynamics Correspondence
International Journal of Theoretical Physics (2009)
-
A Note on the Characterization of Gravitation
Foundations of Physics Letters (2005)