Effective Field Theory Description of Horizon-Fluid Determines the Scrambling Time

Abstract

Black hole horizons interact with external fields when matter or energy falls through them. Such non-stationary black hole horizons can be described using viscous fluid equations. This work attempts to describe this process using effective field theory methods. Such a description can provide important insights beyond classical black hole physics. In this work, we construct a low-energy effective field theory description for the horizon-fluid of a 4-dimensional, asymptotically flat, Einstein black hole. The effective field theory of the dynamical horizon has two ingredients: degrees of freedom involved in the interaction with external fields and symmetry. The dual requirements of incorporating near-horizon symmetries (S1 diffeomorphism) and possessing length scales due to external perturbations are naturally satisfied if the theory on the non-stationary black hole horizon is a deformed Conformal Field Theory (CFT). For the homogeneous external perturbations, at the lowest order, this leads to a (2+1)-dimensional massive scalar field where the mass is related to the extent of the deformation of the CFT. We determine the mass by obtaining the correlation function corresponding to the effective field and relating it to the bulk viscosity of the horizon-fluid. Additionally, we show that the coefficient of bulk viscosity of the horizon-fluid determines the time required for black holes to scramble. Furthermore, we argue that matter-field modes with energy less than meff falling into the horizon thermalize more slowly. Finally, we construct a microscopic toy model for the horizon-fluid that reduces to the effective field theory with a single scalar degree of freedom. We then discuss the usefulness of the effective field model in understanding how information escapes from a black hole at late times.