THE BLACK HOLE
Posted On January 15, 2021
Black hole information paradox:
Paradoxes have always been intriguing and frustrating enough to keep scientists and engineers up for days and nights. They are the kind of puzzles that you can’t help but dive into, knowing you are going to drown. It takes an intellectual journey to solve it and doing so will definitely be satisfying. But here’s the catch: the solution that you seem to arrive at established into today . And will challenge what you this particular paradox know and what is already that we are going to delve is a notch above the rest for those holes. My dear space enthusiasts who study, I introduce to you
“The Black hole information paradox”
Before getting into the paradox, let’s see some basic topics that we need to know to fully grasp what it talks about. With that said, let me ask you a few questions: What are we made of? What are the things that are around you made of? Think about it before reading the next line. Did you think of ‘Atoms’? Or did you maybe think of ‘Subatomic particles’? Well, you are not wrong. But let me provide you with an interesting viewpoint by saying that we are just an “Arrangement providing a specific information”
Conservation of Information:
Everything around us is made of elementary particles. We are made of them too. These particles are fundamental. They are arranged in specific ways to form molecules, organs, and ultimately us as a whole. The arrangement of these particles provides information; in our case, “Human”. Information tells us what is what. We are different from each other as the information conveyed are unique (your hair colour, skin tone, and so on). This means that we are nothing but the arrangement of fundamental particles conveying information. The arrangement is what changes and differentiates everything around us. Both a monkey and a water bottle are made of fundamental particles. So, are they both the same?
No!
Reason: They have different arrangements. So, they give different information and thus are not the same.
Let’s about now ‘ participate in a fun thought experiment information’ ! Hypothetically, and disintegrate it such that t originally orange let’s say that to understand more I take an orange here is no more evidence that it was . Now you have no idea what it is. So, the information seems to be lost. But if all the fundamental particles of that orange and their properties like position, velocity and spin are known, scientists c an recreate that object and thus find out that it was an orange; at least theoretically. Thus, information is not truly lost even if it changes form. In the quantum world (the realm of atoms and subatomic particles), Quantum information is conserved, i.e. the information can neither be created nor destroyed.
Black Hole :
This is a region in spacetime where the matter is highly concentrated and so gravity is very strong. The pull is so strong that even light cannot escape it and as it does not reflect light, it acts like an ideal black body.
All the matter that crosses the event horizon is destroyed. The event horizon is the boundary of the black hole where the escape velocity is greater than the speed of light and according to Einstein’s theory of special relativity, nothing can achieve that speed. So certain death awaits you if you cross it after being stretched vertically and compressed horizontally into noodles. Yep, I said noodles as you will be made into long thin shapes. This effect is called “Spaghettification”. Then you will reach the centre of the black hole which is called ‘gravitational singularity’. This region contains the entire mass and has infinite density. The space-time curvature is thus infinite. So, you will be crushed at the singularity and your mass will be added to the total mass of the black hole. This is certainly the worst way to die! The point to be taken from this is that ‘Black hole destroys everything that falls into it and there is no escape’.
The emergence of the paradox and the theories that are trying to solve it :
When the black hole crushes and destroys everything (making them into the same substance), the quantum information also seems to leave the universe. This is the point where the paradox emerges. We know that the quantum information is always conserved but the black hole now challenges a fundamental concept in physics. Several theories are trying to solve this paradox and
here I will mention a few of them.
1.) It’s just lost, Goodbye info!
Information is irretrievably lost. Black holes are evaporating at an extremely slow rate particles and they lose mass by giving away from their event horizon. But the studies show that the evaporating particles are unrelated to the information that it swallows. So, it might be that information is indeed completely.
2.) Holographic Principle:
This principle tells a sci-fi sounding theory. It might seem hard to believe but if you read it with an open m ind it does seem like a very good solution candidate. It says that the quantum information can be surface of the event horizon. stored or encoded in the 2D When bodies fall into a black hole, its mass increases and so does the surface area of the event horizon. So , more space is also created for the information of the bodies to be encoded . This principle might change reality as we know it and challenge us to look at things in an entirely different perspective. It also says that maybe the boundary o f the observable universe is also a 2D surface that contain s the information about all the 3D objects in it. So, everything is just a holographic projection of that information. It means that we all are just holograms. This theory is utterly fascinating!
3.) Giving Birth to a Baby Universe:
This theory tells us that quantum information is separated from our universe and stored in a baby universe. We cannot see or interact with it but nevertheless ,it is there and not lost.
4.) Remnant carrying the last hope:
One of the theories suggests that even after a black hole evaporates completely, a Plancksized remnant remains. This remnant contains all the quantum information. You can think of it as storing all your countless embarrassing photos and videos in a pen drive or hard drive ( with extremely high memory storage capacity) and then hiding it so that no one can view it, including yourself.
5.) Wait and Escape!
Information escapes out during the final stage of black hole evaporation.
The End of our Journey:
This paradox has been a well-known one, challenging the theory of relativity and the quantum world and the theories it holds. Many scientists all around the world are working on solving it. Being on this journey to solve this paradox, is quite fun and you, my readers will now agree with me on this one. The one thing we can say with certainty amongst all these theories filled with uncertainties is that arriving at the solution will be so mind-boggling that it might lead to another scientific revolution to be recorded in history. I hope I have explained it in a very simple and fun manner to spark all your curious minds. I say goodbye with a glimmer of hope that maybe one of you can solve this paradox. All the very best!
– J.Jeevitha