What is Hawking Paradox?

Hawking’s paradox states that because black hole radiation is thermal in nature, it cannot carry information. As a result, when black holes evaporate, they destroy all information about the stars that formed them. However, a new study suggests that information about the origin of a black hole may still be supposed to be. “quantum hair” around black holesallows you to recover information about the stars that created them.

Learn more about the work of scientists

Lead study author Xavier Calmet, professor of physics at the University of Sussex, explained that the study “is the final nail in the coffin of the paradox because we now fully understand the physical phenomenon in which information flows out of a black hole.”

The team’s conclusions are thought-provoking Modification of Hawking radiation, which makes it “non-thermal”, allowing it to carry information from the black hole. Although black holes do not carry the “memory” of the stars they once were, the rules of quantum physics state that information cannot be erased from the universe.

In the past, black holes’ lack of distinguishing features led them to be called “hairless” in the words of physicist John Wheeler. However, if the last black hole was simple, the first star that gave birth to it is a complex astrophysical object composed of a complex mixture of protons, electrons and neutrons.

Kalme and his colleague Steve Hsu, professor of theoretical physics at Michigan State University, have been working to resolve Hawking’s paradox since 2021. In their previous study, published in March 2022, the team argued that black holes have “quantum hair” in the form of a unique quantum trace in the gravitational fields surrounding them.

Why is it really important

The new study reassessed Hawking’s 1976 calculations by taking into account the effects of “quantum gravity,” a description of gravity according to the principles of quantum mechanics. “While these quantum gravity corrections are small, they are crucial for black holes to evaporate,” Kalme explained. Given quantum gravity, the radiation emitted by black holes may contain information about the star that created it.

The team’s findings provide valuable information about black holes and their behavior that could be invaluable in modeling black holes in laboratories on Earth. However, astrophysicists cannot currently measure the effect suggested by researchers as it is small. Still, this new study may be a step towards finally resolving Stephen Hawking’s famous black hole paradox.