The black hole S-Matrix from quantum mechanics

Abstract

We revisit the old black hole S-Matrix construction and its new partial wave expansion of ’t Hooft. Inspired by old ideas from non-critical string theory & c = 1 Matrix Quantum Mechanics, we reformulate the scattering in terms of a quantum mechanical model — of waves scattering off inverted harmonic oscillator potentials — that exactly reproduces the unitary black hole S-Matrix for all spherical harmonics; each partial wave corresponds to an inverted harmonic oscillator with ground state energy that is shifted relative to the s-wave oscillator. Identifying a connection to 2d string theory allows us to show that there is an exponential degeneracy in how a given total initial energy may be distributed among many partial waves of the 4d black hole.