Stephen Hawking’s Black Hole Information Paradox

No information escapes black holes, that’s the theory. But this contradicts quantum mechanics. Now the researchers want to find a solution.

Brighton – Black holes are mysterious celestial bodies: because they attract everything and let nothing go out, they themselves are invisible. It can only be discovered through interaction with other celestial bodies. In 1974 the brilliant physicist went down Stephen Hawking, who passed away in 2018, a physicist in crisis: He calculated that black holes destroy information. Hawking explained that radiation is emitted from a black hole slowly and in the form of thermal energy – the so-called Hawking radiation. However, since it is a thermal, it cannot carry any information with it.

Conversely, when a black hole slowly dissipates by emitting Hawking radiation, it loses all information about the stars from which it formed and the celestial bodies it has engulfed. However, this assumption contradicts a basic principle of quantum mechanics: information cannot simply disappear and the final state of an object contains clues about its initial state.

Stephen Hawking and the Black Hole Information Paradox

Dubbed the “black hole information paradox,” this problem has plagued cosmologists for decades. But now the research team seems to have found a solution. “This research is the final nail in the coffin of the paradox because we now understand the exact physical phenomenon of how information escapes from a dying black hole,” explains physicist Xavier Calmet (University of Sussex). On the other side live science. Calmette is the lead author of a study illustrating the solution to the information paradox in the journal Physics letters b published had become.

“While the final black hole is very simple, the parent star that spawned it is a complex astrophysical object, made up of a complex mix of protons, electrons and neutrons that combine to form the elements that make up the chemical composition of the model star,” Calmette asserts. Quantum physics says that “this black hole’s life film” can be rewound. “Starting from radiation, we should be able to recover the original black hole and eventually the star,” says the physicist.

No information leaks out of the black hole – or does it?

Calmette has been working for several years to break the paradox of black hole information caused by Hawking radiation. Now a team led by Stephen Hawking’s Calmette has done calculations from the 1970s and included a description of gravity according to the principles of quantum mechanics. Hawking did not.

“We’ve been able to show that these effects alter Hawking radiation in such a way that this radiation is non-thermal,” Calmette told Live Science, summarizing the new discovery. “In other words, if you include quantum gravity, it may contain information.”

The research team was able to identify the physical phenomenon through which information about Hawking radiation is leaking from the black hole. However, this information cannot currently be collected since there are no instruments that can measure Hawking radiation – thus it is considered purely theoretical as of now. However, Calmette suggests studying black hole simulations in laboratories to learn more. (unpaid bill)