{"id":234950,"date":"2023-05-08T12:00:56","date_gmt":"2023-05-08T11:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=234950"},"modified":"2023-05-07T06:07:35","modified_gmt":"2023-05-07T05:07:35","slug":"scientists-say-theyve-finally-solved-stephen-hawkings-black-hole-paradox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/05\/scientists-say-theyve-finally-solved-stephen-hawkings-black-hole-paradox\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists Say They&#8217;ve Finally Solved Stephen Hawking&#8217;s Black Hole Paradox"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_234952\" style=\"width: 460px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/black-hole-royalty-free-image-1682882206.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-234952\" class=\"wp-image-234952\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/black-hole-royalty-free-image-1682882206-1024x717.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"315\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/black-hole-royalty-free-image-1682882206-1024x717.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/black-hole-royalty-free-image-1682882206-300x210.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/black-hole-royalty-free-image-1682882206-768x538.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/black-hole-royalty-free-image-1682882206.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-234952\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andriy Onufriyenko\/\/Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n<ul class=\"css-1rk79nl et3p2gv0\" data-node-id=\"0\">\n<li><em>Scientists may have just solved the famous Hawking information paradox.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>The paradox states that information can neither be emitted from a black hole or preserved inside forever. But the laws of quantum physics dictate that information cannot be destroyed.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>By adding quantum gravity into Hawking\u2019s original calculations, researchers found that information could in fact be carried out on Hawking radiation.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0\" data-node-id=\"2\"><em>5 May 2023 &#8211;\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/space\/deep-space\/a43443403\/scientists-discover-one-of-biggest-black-holes-ever\/\" class=\"body-link css-3wjtm9 et3p2gv0\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/space\/deep-space\/a43443403\/scientists-discover-one-of-biggest-black-holes-ever\/\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"Black holes\">Black holes<\/a> are one of the most active areas of cosmological research. We know they\u2019re a big deal, we know their effects reach into the far edges of the universe, and we know they really test the laws of physics from time to time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0\" data-node-id=\"3\">Interestingly, despite these huge gravity wells continuing to prove somewhat of a mystery, they\u2019ve long been thought pretty easy to describe. Researchers only needed three parameters\u2014their mass, their angular momentum (how fast they\u2019re spinning), and their electric charge. This straightforward-ness has led some physicists to refer to black holes as \u201cbald.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0\" data-node-id=\"4\">But there\u2019s a catch, and it\u2019s a pretty big one\u2014the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a40847455\/hawking-paradox\/\" class=\"body-link css-3wjtm9 et3p2gv0\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a40847455\/hawking-paradox\/\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"Hawking information paradox\">Hawking information paradox<\/a>. Introduced by Stephen Hawking in 1976, this paradox basically says that black holes are doing something impossible: they\u2019re destroying information.<\/p>\n<div class=\"journey-unblur-content css-0 e10xr3vp6\" data-node-id=\"5\" data-interactive=\"WatchNext\">\n<div class=\"css-1ujafpv e10xr3vp5\" data-embed=\"watch-next\">\n<div class=\"css-11jw0pr e10xr3vp4\">\n<div class=\"css-1ocka91 e10xr3vp3\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0\" data-node-id=\"6\">Astronomers, however, think they\u2019ve finally cracked that paradox.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0\" data-node-id=\"8\">According to the laws of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a40898392\/quantum-physics-consciousness\/\" class=\"body-link css-3wjtm9 et3p2gv0\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a40898392\/quantum-physics-consciousness\/\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"quantum physics\">quantum physics<\/a>, information cannot be destroyed. You should be able to analyze an existing object and use the information contained within to track that object back through its evolutionary history to see where it came from. For example, you should be able to look at the aftermath of a supernova and tell what kind of star exploded.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0\" data-node-id=\"9\">Hawking argued, though, that under our current understanding of black holes, you can\u2019t track them back to their source. You can\u2019t look at the radiation of a black hole and see what kinds of stars have fallen in. This is because the radiation leaking out of black holes (known as Hawking radiation) is thermal, which can\u2019t carry information.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0\" data-node-id=\"10\">Hawking also discovered that the information can\u2019t stay locked in the black hole forever. And if it can\u2019t stay in and it can\u2019t ride radiation out, it\u2019s being destroyed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0\" data-node-id=\"11\">Or is it?<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0\" data-node-id=\"12\">According to a group of researchers who just published a new study, the answer is no. And it comes back to the idea of \u201cbald\u201d black holes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0\" data-node-id=\"13\">Last year, this group of researchers published a paper that claimed that black holes weren\u2019t bald at all, but had what is now casually referred to as \u201cquantum hair.\u201d It\u2019s basically the idea that if you look at the way black holes warp spacetime right at their horizons, you can detect a sort of fingerprint in the quantum realm pointing to where the matter within came from. Essentially, the hair contained the missing information.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0\" data-node-id=\"14\">At the time of that paper\u2019s release, the whole idea of quantum hair was nothing more than a deeply abstract mathematical concept. But now, in their new research, the team argues that the hair is the whole ball of wax when it comes to cracking open the paradox.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0\" data-node-id=\"15\">The researchers re-ran Hawking\u2019s original calculations that showed that the only thing coming out of black holes was information-less thermal Hawking radiation, but with one added ingredient\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a42736230\/is-quantum-gravity-real\/\" class=\"body-link css-3wjtm9 et3p2gv0\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/a42736230\/is-quantum-gravity-real\/\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"quantum gravity\">quantum gravity<\/a>. That\u2019s the description of gravity as it exists in the quantum realm, and it\u2019s something Hawking didn\u2019t originally take into account.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0\" data-node-id=\"16\">\u201cWhile these quantum gravitational corrections are minuscule, they are crucial for black hole evaporation,\u201d Xavier Calmet, professor of physics and lead author on the study, said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/stephen-hawkings-famous-black-hole-paradox-may-finally-have-a-solution\" class=\"body-link css-3wjtm9 et3p2gv0\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/stephen-hawkings-famous-black-hole-paradox-may-finally-have-a-solution\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"Live Science article\">Live Science article<\/a>. \u201cWe were able to show that these effects modify Hawking radiation in such a way that this radiation becomes non-thermal. In other words, factoring in quantum gravity, the radiation <em>can <\/em>contain information.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0\" data-node-id=\"17\">The study shows that Hawking radiation, contrary to historical belief, could scoop up information from the black holes and carry it out into the universe. Information that had been stored in the hairs around black holes could be carried out. No more destruction, no more paradox.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0\" data-node-id=\"21\">Even though this group is now sure they\u2019ve solved what Hawking could not, it\u2019s going to be very difficult\u2014if not impossible\u2014to observationally confirm the findings. That\u2019s not at all to say they should be dismissed, of course. We\u2019ve learned a lot about the universe from math and models, even though we\u2019ve never seen certain objects.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0\" data-node-id=\"22\">It just means we can\u2019t see this radiating information with our own instruments. Hawking radiation is extremely weak (and itself currently entirely theoretical), and we don\u2019t have any detectors strong enough to pick it up. We may eventually be able to see the quantum hair using <a href=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/space\/deep-space\/a43431702\/how-well-see-missing-ripples-in-spacetime\/\" class=\"body-link css-3wjtm9 et3p2gv0\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/space\/deep-space\/a43431702\/how-well-see-missing-ripples-in-spacetime\/\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"gravitational waves\">gravitational waves<\/a>, but even that tech is still firmly next-gen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0\" data-node-id=\"23\">For now, we\u2019ll have to settle for what we can figure out on Earth. The team has already produced intense mathematical models of this phenomenon, and they suggest it could be tested in lab-housed simulated black holes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0\" data-node-id=\"24\">There are still plenty of avenues for exploration and deeper study. And if this study has reinforced anything, just because information isn\u2019t obvious, doesn\u2019t mean it doesn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n<p data-node-id=\"24\">______________________________________________<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Jackie-Appel.png\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-234951 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Jackie-Appel-e1683435269830.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"90\" height=\"90\" \/><\/a>Jackie Appel<\/em><em> is a writer and Associate News Editor from Pennsylvania. She&#8217;s especially fond of writing about space and physics, and loves sharing the weird wonders of the universe with anyone who wants to listen. She is supervised in her home office by her two cats.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/space\/deep-space\/a43519907\/black-hole-paradox-stephen-hawking-finally-solved\/\" >Go to Original &#8211; popularmechanics.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>5 May 2023 &#8211; The paradox states that information can neither be emitted from a black hole or preserved inside forever. But the laws of quantum physics dictate that information cannot be destroyed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":234952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[936,937,939,2144,666,2401,304,1157,938],"class_list":["post-234950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","tag-astronomy","tag-black-hole","tag-cosmology","tag-gravity","tag-physics","tag-quantum-physics","tag-science","tag-space-science","tag-universe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234950"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":234958,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234950\/revisions\/234958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}