Smooth extensions of black holes in loop quantum gravity

Abstract: Vacuum spherically symmetric loop quantum gravity in the midi-superspace approximation using inhomogeneous horizon-penetrating slices has been studied for a decade, and it has been noted that the singularity is eliminated. It is replaced by a region of high curvature and potentially large quantum fluctuations. It was recently pointed out that the effective semiclassical metric implies the existence of a shell of effective matter which violates energy conditions in regions where the curvature is largest. Here we propose an alternative way of treating the problem that is free from the shells. The ambiguity in the treatment is related with the existence of new observables in the quantum theory that characterize the area excitations, and how the counterpart of diffeomorphisms in the discrete quantum theory is mapped to the continuum semi-classical picture. The resulting space-time in the high curvature region inside the horizon is approximated by a metric of the type of the Simpson--Visser wormhole and it connects the black hole interior to a white hole in a smooth manner.