Horizons and the wave function of Planckian quantum black holes

Abstract At the Planck scale the distinction between elementary particles and black holes becomes fuzzy. The very definition of a “quantum black hole” (QBH) is an open issue. Starting from the idea that, at the Planck scale, the radius of the event horizon undergoes quantum oscillations, we introduce a black hole mass-radius Generalized Uncertainty Principle (GUP) and derive a corresponding gravitational wavelength. Next we recover a GUP encoding effective geometry. This semi-classical gravitational description admits black hole configurations only for masses higher than the Planck mass. Quantum corrections lead to a vanishing Hawking temperature when the Planck mass is approached from above. Finally we replace our semi-classical model by a relativistic wave equation for the “horizon wave function”. The solution admits a discrete mass spectrum which is bounded from below by a stable ground state with energy close to the Planck mass. Interestingly higher angular momentum states fit onto Regge trajectories indicating their stringy nature.