Black hole information paradox
scientific question of whether information can disappear in a black hole
The black hole information paradox is an unsolved problem in physics and a paradox that appears when the predictions of quantum mechanics and general relativity are combined. The theory of general relativity predicts the existence of black holes that are regions of spacetime from which nothing—not even light—can escape. In the 1970s, Stephen Hawking applied the semiclassical approach of quantum field theory in curved spacetime to such systems and found that an isolated black hole would emit a form of radiation (now called Hawking radiation in his honor). He also argued that the detailed form of the radiation would be independent of the initial state of the black hole, and depend only on its mass, electric charge and angular momentum.
The information paradox appears when one considers a process in which a black hole is formed through a physical process and then evaporates away entirely through Hawking radiation. Hawking's calculation suggests that the final state of radiation would retain information only about the total mass, electric charge and angular momentum of the initial state. Since many different states can have the same mass, charge and angular momentum, this suggests that many initial physical states could evolve into the same final state. Therefore, information about the details of the initial state would be permanently lost. However, this loss violates a core precept of quantum physics known as unitarity. In quantum mechanics the state of the system is encoded by its wave function and the evolution of the wave function is determined by a unitary operator.
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