Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Philosophy of Science

Does Black Hole Complementarity Answer Hawking's Information Loss Paradox?

Peter Bokulich

Published Dec 1, 2005• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A proper understanding of black hole complementarity as a response to the information loss paradox requires recognizing the essential role played by arguments for the applicability and limitations of effective semiclassical theories. I argue that this perspective sheds important light on the arguments advanced by Susskind, Thorlacius, and Uglum—although ultimately I argue that their position is unsatisfactory. I also consider the argument offered by 't Hooft for the breakdown of microcausality around black holes, and conclude that it relies on a mistaken treatment of measurement collapse. There is, however, a legitimate argumentative role for black hole complementarity, exemplified by the position of Kiem, Verlinde, and Verlinde, that calls for a more subtle analysis of the limitations facing our effective theories.

DOI
10.1086/508972

Related papers

Interactions and the Consistency of Black Hole Complementarity

Peter Bokulich

Presentations of black hole complementarity by van Dongen and de Haro, as well as by 't Hooft, suffer from a mistaken claim that interactions between matter falling into a black hole and the emitted Hawking-like radiation should lead to a failure of commutativity between space-like-related observables localized inside and outside the black hole. I show that this conclusion is not supported by our standard understanding of quantum interactions. We have no reason to believe that near-horizon interactions will threaten microcausality. If these interactions reliably transfer information to the outgoing radiation, then this response to Hawking's information loss argument should amount to a version of the bleaching scenario. I argue that the challenge facing black hole complementarity is that of reconciling this commitment to bleaching with the expectation that the event horizon will be locally unremarkable. This challenge is most promisingly met by proposals that postulate a consistent account of the limitations of our local semi-classical theories, but no support is added to these postulates by appeals to verificationism or to the interactions considered by 't Hooft.

International Studies in the Philosophy of Science•Dec 1, 2011•0 citations

Quantum Information Cannot Be Completely Hidden in Correlations: Implications for the Black-Hole Information Paradox

Samuel L. Braunstein, Arun Kumar Pati

Can quantum-information theory shed light on black-hole evaporation? By entangling the in-fallen matter with an external system we show that the black-hole information paradox becomes more severe, even for cosmologically sized black holes. We rule out the possibility that the information about the in-fallen matter might hide in correlations between the Hawking radiation and the internal states of the black hole. As a consequence, either unitarity or Hawking's semiclassical predictions must break down. Any resolution of the black-hole information crisis must elucidate one of these possibilities.

arXiv:gr-qc/0603046•Physical Review Letters•Feb 23, 2007•187 citations

Collapse of the wavefunction, the information paradox and backreaction

Sujoy K. Modak, Daniel Sudarsky

We consider the black hole information problem within the context of collapse theories in a scheme that allows the incorporation of the backreaction to the Hawking radiation. We explore the issue in a setting of the two dimensional version of black hole evaporation known as the Russo-Susskind-Thorlacius model. We summarize the general ideas based on the semiclassical version of Einstein’s equations and then discuss specific modifications that are required in the context of collapse theories when applied to this model.

arXiv:1711.01509•The European Physical Journal C•Jul 1, 2018•7 citations

The Hawking Information Loss Paradox: The Anatomy of Controversy

G. Belot, John Earman, Laura Ruetsche

Stephen Hawking has argued that universes containing evaporating black holes can evolve from pure initial states to mixed final ones. Such evolution is non-unitary and so contravenes fundamental quantum principles on which Hawking's analysis was based. It disables the retrodiction of the universe's initial state from its final one, and portends the time-asymmetry of quantum gravity. Small wonder that Hawking's paradox has met with considerable resistance. Here we use a simple result for C*-algebras to offer an argument for pure-to-mixed state evolution in black hole evaporation, and review responses to the Hawking paradox with respect to how effectively they rebut this argument.

The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science•Jun 1, 1999•76 citations

A Modest View of the Black Hole Information Paradox

S. P. Boughn

Thirty years ago, John Preskill concluded "that the information loss paradox may well presage a revolution in fundamental physics" and mused that "Conceivably, the puzzle of black hole evaporation portends a scientific revolution as sweeping as that that led to the formulation of quantum theory in the early 20th century." Many still agree with this assessment. On the other hand, it seems to me the "paradox" has little to do with the physical world but rather, at best, simply points out the possible inconsistency of two, already disparate, theories (mathematical models) of nature, general relativity and quantum mechanics, with virtually no conceivable observational consequences. The information paradox hinges on the concepts of a pure quantum state, the unitarity of quantum mechanics, and Hawking's semi-classical calculation of black hole evaporation. I used the qualifier "at best" above because, for me, the concept of a quantum state is far more restrictive than required by the paradox while unitarity is not a property of nature but rather of a mathematical model and is already violated by the process of making a measurement. Furthermore, the semi-classical calculation of Hawking is surely of limited applicability.

arXiv:2207.09421•Jan 1, 2022•0 citations

Not the Measurement Problem’s Problem: Black Hole Information Loss with Schrödinger’s Cat

Saakshi Dulani

Abstract Recently, several philosophers and physicists have increasingly noticed the hegemony of unitarity in the discourse on black hole information loss and are challenging its legitimacy in the face of the measurement problem. They proclaim that embracing non-unitarity solves two paradoxes for the price of one. Although I share their distaste regarding the philosophical bias, I disagree with their strategy of still privileging certain interpretations of quantum theory. I argue that information-restoring solutions can be interpretation-neutral because the manifestation of non-unitarity in Hawking’s original derivation is unrelated to what’s found in collapse theories or generalized stochastic approaches, thereby decoupling the two puzzles.

Philosophy of Science•Sep 3, 2025•1 citation
A proper understanding of black hole complementarity as a response to the information loss paradox requires recognizing the essential role played by arguments for the applicability and limitations of effective semiclassical theories. I argue that this perspective sheds important light on the arguments advanced by Susskind, Thorlacius, and Uglum—although ultimately I argue that their position is unsatisfactory. I also consider the argument offered by 't Hooft for the breakdown of microcausality around black holes, and conclude that it relies on a mistaken treatment of measurement collapse. There is, however, a legitimate argumentative role for black hole complementarity, exemplified by the position of Kiem, Verlinde, and Verlinde, that calls for a more subtle analysis of the limitations facing our effective theories.
Presentations of black hole complementarity by van Dongen and de Haro, as well as by 't Hooft, suffer from a mistaken claim that interactions between matter falling into a black hole and the emitted Hawking-like radiation should lead to a failure of commutativity between space-like-related observables localized inside and outside the black hole. I show that this conclusion is not supported by our standard understanding of quantum interactions. We have no reason to believe that near-horizon interactions will threaten microcausality. If these interactions reliably transfer information to the outgoing radiation, then this response to Hawking's information loss argument should amount to a version of the bleaching scenario. I argue that the challenge facing black hole complementarity is that of reconciling this commitment to bleaching with the expectation that the event horizon will be locally unremarkable. This challenge is most promisingly met by proposals that postulate a consistent account of the limitations of our local semi-classical theories, but no support is added to these postulates by appeals to verificationism or to the interactions considered by 't Hooft.
Can quantum-information theory shed light on black-hole evaporation? By entangling the in-fallen matter with an external system we show that the black-hole information paradox becomes more severe, even for cosmologically sized black holes. We rule out the possibility that the information about the in-fallen matter might hide in correlations between the Hawking radiation and the internal states of the black hole. As a consequence, either unitarity or Hawking's semiclassical predictions must break down. Any resolution of the black-hole information crisis must elucidate one of these possibilities.
We consider the black hole information problem within the context of collapse theories in a scheme that allows the incorporation of the backreaction to the Hawking radiation. We explore the issue in a setting of the two dimensional version of black hole evaporation known as the Russo-Susskind-Thorlacius model. We summarize the general ideas based on the semiclassical version of Einstein’s equations and then discuss specific modifications that are required in the context of collapse theories when applied to this model.
Stephen Hawking has argued that universes containing evaporating black holes can evolve from pure initial states to mixed final ones. Such evolution is non-unitary and so contravenes fundamental quantum principles on which Hawking's analysis was based. It disables the retrodiction of the universe's initial state from its final one, and portends the time-asymmetry of quantum gravity. Small wonder that Hawking's paradox has met with considerable resistance. Here we use a simple result for C*-algebras to offer an argument for pure-to-mixed state evolution in black hole evaporation, and review responses to the Hawking paradox with respect to how effectively they rebut this argument.
Thirty years ago, John Preskill concluded "that the information loss paradox may well presage a revolution in fundamental physics" and mused that "Conceivably, the puzzle of black hole evaporation portends a scientific revolution as sweeping as that that led to the formulation of quantum theory in the early 20th century." Many still agree with this assessment. On the other hand, it seems to me the "paradox" has little to do with the physical world but rather, at best, simply points out the possible inconsistency of two, already disparate, theories (mathematical models) of nature, general relativity and quantum mechanics, with virtually no conceivable observational consequences. The information paradox hinges on the concepts of a pure quantum state, the unitarity of quantum mechanics, and Hawking's semi-classical calculation of black hole evaporation. I used the qualifier "at best" above because, for me, the concept of a quantum state is far more restrictive than required by the paradox while unitarity is not a property of nature but rather of a mathematical model and is already violated by the process of making a measurement. Furthermore, the semi-classical calculation of Hawking is surely of limited applicability.
Abstract Recently, several philosophers and physicists have increasingly noticed the hegemony of unitarity in the discourse on black hole information loss and are challenging its legitimacy in the face of the measurement problem. They proclaim that embracing non-unitarity solves two paradoxes for the price of one. Although I share their distaste regarding the philosophical bias, I disagree with their strategy of still privileging certain interpretations of quantum theory. I argue that information-restoring solutions can be interpretation-neutral because the manifestation of non-unitarity in Hawking’s original derivation is unrelated to what’s found in collapse theories or generalized stochastic approaches, thereby decoupling the two puzzles.