Quantum Hotspots: Mean Fields, Open EFTs, Nonlocality and Decoherence Near Black Holes

Abstract Effective theories describing black hole exteriors resemble open quantum systems inasmuch as many unmeasurable degrees of freedom beyond the horizon interact with those we can see. A solvable Caldeira‐Leggett type model of a quantum field that mixes with many unmeasured thermal degrees of freedom on a shared surface was proposed in arXiv:2106.09854 to provide a benchmark against which more complete black hole calculations might be …