The vacuum must contain virtual fluctuations of black hole microstates for each mass M. We observe that the expected suppression for M ? mp is counteracted by the large number Exp[Sbek] of such states. From string theory, we learn that these microstates are extended objects that are resistant to compression. We argue that recognizing this ‘virtual extended compression-resistant’ component of the gravitational vacuum is crucial for understanding gravitational physics. Remarkably, such virtual excitations have no significant effect for observable systems like stars, but they resolve two important problems: (a) gravitational collapse is halted outside the horizon radius, removing the information paradox, (b) spacetime acquires a ‘stiffness’ against the curving effects of vacuum energy; this ameliorates the cosmological constant problem posed by the existence of a planck scale Λ.
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