Black hole evaporation in random matrix theory (RMT) and statistical CFTs

In this talk, with two parts, I will first show how to capture both Hawking's non-unitary entropy curve and density matrix-connecting contributions that restore unitarity, in a toy RMT quantum system modelling black hole evaporation. The motivation is to find the simplest possible dynamical model that captures this aspect of gravitational physics. In the model, there is a dynamical phase transition in the averaging that connects the density matrices in a replica wormhole-like manner and restores unitarity in the entropy curve. In the second half of the talk, I will discuss ongoing follow-up work describing black hole evaporation and unitarity restoration in statistical descriptions of holographic CFTs.