Emil Mottola
Theoretical Physicist
About me:
I, Emil Mottola earned my Ph. D. from Columbia Univ. in theoretical physics in 1979, with my thesis advisor Prof. Norman H. Christ.
I was a post-doctoral member at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton, NJ for 3 years (1979-1982). Subsequently I was a research fellow at the Institute for Theoretical Physics (ITP) in Santa Barbara, CA 1982-1986.
I then joined the staff of the High Energy Physics group T-8 of Theoretical Division at Los Alamos National Lab in 1986, where I remained based until 2021. Presently, I am an Adjunct Professor of Physics at the Univ. of New Mexico, as well as an Affiliate at the New Mexico Consortium. My UNM website is below.
I work on a wide variety of subjects in particle physics, quantum field theory, non-equilibrium and condensed matter physics, general relativity, cosmology, and the physics of black holes. I am author of some 100 publications, with more than 13,000 citations spanning these fields. My full CV and Publication List can be found here.
My central interest is the reconciling Einstein’s classical theory of general relativity, valid at macroscopic scales, with the quantum Standard Model of particle physics governing matter at the smallest microscopic scales. The tension between the two becomes acutely apparent the physics of black holes, and the various paradoxes they pose for quantum theory, emphasized by Steven Hawking. The history of physics has shown that focusing on the tensions arising when our best tested theories are applied to new or extreme circumstances can reveal the hidden assumptions that require reexamination or revision, in order to make progress to the next level of theoretical physics.
In order to resolve the various paradoxes that arise when general relativity and quantum theory are brought together in extreme ultra-compact objects of black holes, Pawel O. Mazur and I proposed that black holes are not black ‘holes’ at all, but gravitational vacuum condensate stars (or ‘gravastars’), equally compact objects possessing a physical surface and a non-singular dark energy interior.
The fundamental basis for gravastars has since been developed from quantum effective theory, based on the conformal anomaly and a dynamical theory of vacuum energy, relevant for both gravastars and cosmological dark energy. Under current investigation are the observational signatures that could distinguish gravastars from black holes in the new era of gravitational wave and multi-messenger astronomy, as well as dynamical dark energy in the cosmology.