Supersingular K3 surfaces for large primes

Given a K3 surface X over a field of characteristic p, Artin conjectured that if X is supersingular (meaning infinite height) then its Picard rank is 22. Along with work of Nygaard-Ogus, this conjecture implies the Tate conjecture for K3 surfaces over finite fields with p \geq 5. We prove Artin's conjecture under the additional assumption that X has a polarization of degree 2d with p > 2d+4. Assuming semistable reduction for surfaces in characteristic p, we can improve the main result to K3 surfaces which admit a polarization of degree prime-to-p when p \geq 5. The argument uses Borcherds' construction of automorphic forms on O(2,n) to construct ample divisors on the moduli space. We also establish finite-characteristic versions of the positivity of the Hodge bundle and the Kulikov-Pinkham-Persson classification of K3 degenerations. In the appendix by A. Snowden, a compatibility statement is proven between Clifford constructions and integral p-adic comparison functors.Comment: Some minor edits made; German error fixed; comments still welcom

Energy Conservation and Hawking Radiation

The conservation of energy implies that an isolated radiating black hole cannot have an emission spectrum that is precisely thermal. Moreover, the no-hair theorem is only approximately applicable. We consider the implications for the black hole information puzzle.Comment: 6 pages, LaTex; v2: references adde

The Volume of Black Holes

We propose a definition of volume for stationary spacetimes. The proposed volume is independent of the choice of stationary time-slicing, and applies even though the Killing vector may not be globally timelike. Moreover, it is constant in time, as well as simple: the volume of a spherical black hole in four dimensions turns out to be just ${4 \over 3} \pi r_+^3$. We then consider whether it is possible to construct spacetimes that have finite horizon area but infinite volume, by sending the radius to infinity while making discrete identifications to preserve the horizon area. We show that, in three or four dimensions, no such solutions exist that are not inconsistent in some way. We discuss the implications for the interpretation of the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy.Comment: 8 pages, revte

Rindler-AdS/CFT

In anti-de Sitter space a highly accelerating observer perceives a Rindler horizon. The two Rindler wedges in AdS_{d+1} are holographically dual to an entangled conformal field theory that lives on two boundaries with geometry R x H_{d-1}. For AdS_3, the holographic duality is especially tractable, allowing quantum-gravitational aspects of Rindler horizons to be probed. We recover the thermodynamics of Rindler-AdS space directly from the boundary conformal field theory. We derive the temperature from the two-point function and obtain the Rindler entropy density precisely, including numerical factors, using the Cardy formula. We also probe the causal structure of the spacetime, and find from the behavior of the one-point function that the CFT "knows" when a source has fallen across the Rindler horizon. This is so even though, from the bulk point of view, there are no local signifiers of the presence of the horizon. Finally, we discuss an alternate foliation of Rindler-AdS which is dual to a CFT living in de Sitter space.Comment: 29 Pages, 4 Figures, citations adde

Lehn's formula in Chow and Conjectures of Beauville and Voisin

The Beauville-Voisin conjecture for a hyperk\"ahler manifold X states that the subring of the Chow ring A^*(X) generated by divisor classes and Chern characters of the tangent bundle injects into the cohomology ring of X. We prove a weak version of this conjecture when X is the Hilbert scheme of points on a K3 surface, for the subring generated by divisor classes and tautological classes. This in particular implies the weak splitting conjecture of Beauville for these geometries. In the process, we extend Lehn's formula and the Li-Qin-Wang W_{1+infinity} algebra action from cohomology to Chow groups, for the Hilbert scheme of an arbitrary smooth projective surface