Detecting Black Hole Microstates

Abstract

We demonstrate that the Euclidean two-point function of an appropriately chosen probe operator can detect the microstate of an asymptotically AdS black hole. This detection, which requires a tuned, state-dependent choice of probe, is the result of a new gravitational saddle, which dominates over the usual saddles. The gravitational result can be explicitly reproduced in the dual boundary CFT if we assume the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis. We also discuss a binary search protocol to detect the black hole microstate from a candidate list.