After extensive research, scientists (may) have currently found a solution to Stephen Hawking’s popular ‘black hole information paradox’.

 

Decoding Black Hole Information Paradox

 

Since the 1970s, scientists are puzzled by Hawking’s black hole information paradox theory. However, recently, a team of researchers has published two studies proposing that black hole feature ‘quantum hair’. These ‘quantum hair’ led scientists to break out of this decades-old conundrum which highlighted possible inconsistencies between Einstein’s general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics.

 

‘Quantum Hair from Gravity’

 

Titled ‘Quantum Hair from Gravity’, researchers from the  University of Sussex, University of Bologna and Michigan State University have collaborated on this project. Their collective work attempts to integrate Einstein’s theory of relativity and quantum mechanics by utilizing new mathematical formulae developed during the last decade. If the notion of “quantum hair” does prove true, it would be a significant finding for theoretical physics, while eliminating the need to radically rethink how we see the universe.

According to the laws of quantum mechanics, information that exists in our universe cannot be destroyed, and this conservation of “quantum information” is fundamental to the universe. However, black holes present a challenge to these laws. This is because they are regions of spacetime nothing—not even light—can escape them due to strong gravitational force. The real question here is where does that sucked information go? This question serves as the crux of Hawking’s black hole information paradox theory.

 

Crux of Black Hole Information Paradox

 

The ‘Quantum Hair from Gravity’ paper addresses part of this question by showing that there are actually more to black holes than previously thought in classical physics. According to them, black holes are actually more complex and ‘hairier’ than general relativity can comprehend. They are more than being mere simple objects with a certain mass, speed and rotation. This is because as the matter is sucked into a collapsing black hole, a barely imperceptible imprint (a quantum hair) is left in its gravitational field. It is this quantum imprint that serves as the mechanism for preserving information at the quantum level.

Working under the notions of classical physics, it would be considered impossible to go back in time to differentiate between the two stars, given the similar final states of the two black holes.

 

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