{
  "abstract": "It is a problem of great importance in quantum gravity whether quantum effects lead to nontrivial structure near black hole horizons, and if their interiors are emergent features of a large $N$ limit. We show that the strongly chaotic nature of black holes, captured by random matrix statistics of their spectrum, makes it so that a suitably gravitationally dressed infalling observer takes an infinite amount of proper time to reach the horizon. This makes the black hole interior operationally inaccessible to any outside observer, marking a sharp breakdown of the large $N$ causal structure of black holes in quantum gravity. To model the experience of an infalling observer, we study the response of an infalling particle detector coupled to a matter field in a 2d quantum black hole background, finding a peak in the detector's excitation probability as it enters an infinitely long non-perturbative journey close to the black hole horizon.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2609.05164",
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Victor Franken"
    },
    {
      "name": "Thomas G. Mertens"
    },
    {
      "name": "Bruno de S. L. Torres"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4asbhg90c4b8w.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2609.05164",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "4asbhg90c4b8w",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.05164",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "gr-qc"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "hep-th"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3106|Black Holes and Theoretical Physics"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7211912347",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.05164",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-04",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4asbhg90c4b8w.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:14Z",
      "native_id": "2609.05164",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.05164"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:gr-qc",
      "subfield": "gravitation"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:hep-th",
      "subfield": "high-energy"
    }
  ],
  "title": "The endless journey towards the horizon of a quantum black hole",
  "title_text": "The endless journey towards the horizon of a quantum black hole",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:19:14Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4asbhg90c4b8w",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}