Quantum states of the spacetime, and formation of black holes in AdS

Abstract: We argue that a non-perturbative description of quantum gravity should involve two (non-interacting) copies of a dual field theory on the boundary, and describe the states of the spacetimes accordingly. So, for instance, a complete description of the asymptotically Anti-de-Sitter spacetimes is given by two copies of the conformal field theory associated to the global AdS spacetime. We also argue that, in this context, gravitational collapse and formation of a black hole may be described by unitary evolution of the dual non-perturbative degrees of freedom.