The VECRO hypothesis

Abstract: We consider three fundamental issues in quantum gravity: (a) the black hole information paradox (b) the unboundedness of entropy that can be stored inside a black hole horizon (c) the relation between the black hole horizon and the cosmological horizon. With help from the small corrections theorem, we convert each of these issues into a sharp conflict. We then argue that all three conflicts can be resolved by the following hypothesis: {\it the vacuum wavefunctional of quantum gravity contains a vecro' component made of virtual fluctuations of configurations of the same type that arise in the fuzzball structure of black hole microstates}. Further, if we assume that causality holds to leading order in gently curved spacetime, then we {\it must} have such a vecro component in order to resolve the above conflicts. The term vecro stands forVirtual Extended Compression-Resistant Objects', and characterizes the nature of the vacuum fluctuations that resolve the puzzles. It is interesting that puzzle (c) may relate the role of quantum gravity in black holes to observations in the sky.