The quantum mass gap of extremal black holes

Abstract

Using sophisticated string theory calculations, Maldacena and Susskind have intriguingly shown that near-extremal black holes are characterized by a {\it finite} mass gap above the corresponding zero-temperature (extremal) black-hole configuration. In the present compact paper we explicitly prove that the minimum energy gap ${\cal E}_{\text{gap}}=\hbar^2/M^3$, which characterizes the mass spectra of near-extremal charged Reissner-Nordstr\"om black holes, can be inferred from a simple semi-classical analysis.