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arXiv:hep-th/9409089hep-th

The World as a Hologram

L. Susskind

Abstract

According to 't Hooft the combination of quantum mechanics and gravity requires the three dimensional world to be an image of data that can be stored on a two dimensional projection much like a holographic image. The two dimensional description only requires one discrete degree of freedom per Planck area and yet it is rich enough to describe all three dimensional phenomena. After outlining 't Hooft's proposal I give a preliminary informal description of how it may be implemented. One finds a basic requirement that particles must grow in size as their momenta are increased far above the Planck scale. The consequences for high energy particle collisions are described. The phenomena of particle growth with momentum was previously discussed in the context of string theory and was related to information spreading near black hole horizons. The considerations of this paper indicate that the effect is much more rapid at all but the earliest times. In fact the rate of spreading is found to saturate the bound from causality. Finally we consider string theory as a possible realization of 't Hooft's idea. The light front lattice string model of Klebanov and Susskind is reviewed and its similarities with the holographic theory are demonstrated. The agreement between the two requires unproven but plausible assumptions about the nonperturbative behavior of string theory. Very similar ideas to those in this paper have been long held by Charles Thorn.

arXiv comments
SU-ITP-94-33, phyzzx, 33 pages and 5 figures (Some typos fixed and one reference added.)
Journal reference
J.Math.Phys.36:6377-6396,1995
DOI
doi:10.1063/1.531249
Subjects
hep-thHigh Energy Physics, Theory

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Linked by 5 identifiable commenters in 5 comments across 3 threads, from Jun 2018 to Sep 2026. Found in 1 HN submission from Sep 2026 to Sep 2026. Open submission discussions.

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Discussed in comments3 threads

  1. Gravity seems holographic. What does that mean for reality? 3 comments

    • Susskind's original paper is shockingly readable, at least the first section. It doesn't use a lot of fancy math or derivations to justify holography. Mostly it uses basic concepts from undergraduate physics to show how the idea of holography is consistent and makes sense…

      qnleighView on HNParent context

    • "The World as a Hologram" (1994) https://arxiv.org/html/hep-th/9409089v2 .. citations: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=1288333106183032878... But can there be holograms within the outer hologram?

      westurnerView on HNParent context

    • I recommend when sharing arxiv links to link to the abstract. That way your reader can decide for themselves whether they want to bother with either a PDF or HTML version, especially since the HTML views are still experimental and have occasional display issues across devices.…

      godwinson__4-8View on HNParent context

  2. Simulation of what a massive black hole would look like 1 comment

    • Lovely. Interestingly, this feature of black holes that they allow you to see what is on the "far side" of the black hole as a result of gravitational lensing was one of the heuristics used by Leonard Susskind to propose the holographic principle in his famous paper, "The World…

      rsj_hnView on HNParent context

  3. The Universe Is Not a Simulation, but We Can Now Simulate It 1 comment

    • https://arxiv.org/pdf/hep-th/9409089.pdf (DOI:10.1063/1.531249) cited 3221 times: Let us begin with a maximally dense object, a black hole. It will be assumed that the entropy is found on the horizon and that no more than one bit per Planck area can stored there. The only thing…

      stillbourneView on HNParent context

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