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arXiv:hep-th/0507287 · Physical Review Letters

Locking Information in Black Holes

John A. Smolin, Jonathan Oppenheim

Published Feb 28, 2006• 72 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We show that a central presumption in the debate over black-hole information loss is incorrect. Ensuring that information not escape during evaporation does not require that it all remain trapped until the final stage of the process. Using the recent quantum information-theoretic result of locking, we show that the amount of information that must remain can be very small, even as the amount already radiated is negligible. Information need not be additive: A small system can lock a large amount of information, making it inaccessible. Only if the set of initial states is restricted can information leak.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.96.081302

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We show that a central presumption in the debate over black-hole information loss is incorrect. Ensuring that information not escape during evaporation does not require that it all remain trapped until the final stage of the process. Using the recent quantum information-theoretic result of locking, we show that the amount of information that must remain can be very small, even as the amount already radiated is negligible. Information need not be additive: A small system can lock a large amount of information, making it inaccessible. Only if the set of initial states is restricted can information leak.
Recent models of the black-hole final state suggest that quantum information can escape from a black hole by a process akin to teleportation. These models rely on a controversial process called final-state projection. This Letter discusses the self-consistency of the final-state projection hypothesis and investigates escape from black holes for arbitrary final states and for generic interactions between matter and Hawking radiation. Quantum information escapes with fidelity approximately = (8/3pi)2: only half a bit of quantum information is lost on average, independent of the number of bits that escape from the hole.
Hawking's black hole evaporation process suggests that we may need to choose between quantum unitarity and other basic physical principles such as no-signaling, entanglement monogamy, and the equivalence principle. We here show that the Hawking's quantum model for the black hole evaporation is consistent with the above fundamental principles. Our analysis does not involve exotic new physics, but rather uses standard quantum theory, general relativity, and the Einstein–Hilbert action including matter. We explicitly show that the whole state consisting of matter and radiation (in a joint superposition of different energy states) is pure at any stage of the evaporation process, including the particular case of 0 mass. Moreover, after full evaporation the state for radiation at infinity is pure and in one-to-one correspondence with the initial state forming the black hole. Thus there is no information loss upon full evaporation according to the quantum information theory. The original entanglement of the black hole matter (if any) gets transferred to the outgoing particles via a process similar to entanglement swapping, without violation of causality (as proved explicitly). On the other hand, if the initial state is a tensor product state, the entanglement of Hawking particles, present in the intermediate phase, is broken when the black hole evaporates completely. Therefore, the final state (entangled or tensor product depending on the nature of initial state) after the full black hole evaporation is pure without loss of information.
Hawking's black hole evaporation process suggests that we may need to choose between quantum unitarity and other basic physical principles such as no-signalling, entanglement monogamy, and the equivalence principle. We here provide a quantum model for Hawking pair black hole evaporation within which these principles are all respected. The model does not involve exotic new physics, but rather uses quantum theory and general relativity. The black hole and radiation are in a joint superposition of different energy states at any stage of the evaporation process. In the particular branch where the black hole mass is 0, the radiation state is pure and one-to-one with the initial state forming the black hole. Thus there is no information loss upon full evaporation. The original Hawking's pair entanglement between infalling and outgoing particles gets transferred to outgoing particles via entanglement swapping, without violation of no-signalling or the entanglement's monogamy. The final state after the full black hole evaporation is pure, without loss of information, violation of monogamy, or the equivalence principle.
The complete evaporation of black holes, as a natural endpoint of Hawking radiation, gives rise to the black hole information paradox, which fundamentally challenges the principles of unitarity and information conservation in quantum mechanics. Although the AdS/CFT correspondence indicates that information is preserved during black hole evaporation, the precise mechanism by which it is recovered from the Hawking radiation remains an open question. To explore a potential resolution, we investigate information transfer in a spin-chain model featuring an effective horizon realized via position-dependent couplings within an XY spin chain. We derive and demonstrate Page curve-like behavior, and analyze the transmission of quantum resources, such as entanglement and coherence, across the effective horizon. Our results show that quantum resources initially localized within an interior subsystem can be transferred to the exterior via particle radiation through the horizon. This study provides a novel perspective from quantum simulation on how information may escape from black holes, thereby contributing to the further understanding of the black hole information paradox.
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.
We review and analyse quantum information-theoretic approaches to black hole evaporation that purport to bring us closer to a resolution of the black hole information paradox. Our focus is on the Page-time paradox and on the contribution of the Hayden-Preskill model to understanding information release under the assumption of unitary evaporation. In this model, the black hole is taken to be a finite-dimensional quantum system whose dynamics can be represented by a quantum circuit, and its information-processing and communication abilities are studied. We identify the assumptions underlying this modelling and highlight two key features, fast scrambling dynamics and entanglement as a resource, that underpin the information release in the model. We argue that this reasoning exemplifies a broader change in how information is used in black hole physics, in which quantum information theory now provides a useful operational modelling framework. This application avoids earlier philosophical objections insofar as it is not based on epistemic ignorance and does not regard information as a substance. This line of reasoning has become central to the debate and, as such, warrants greater attention from the philosophy of physics community.