The black hole information paradox is a paradox that results from the combination of quantum mechanics and general relativity. It suggests that physical information could permanently disappear in a black hole, allowing many physical states to evolve into the same state. This is controversial because it violates a commonly assumed tenet of science—that in principle complete information about a physical system at one point in time should determine its state at any other time. A fundamental postulate of quantum mechanics is that complete information about a system is encoded in its wave function up to when the wave function collapses. The evolution of the wave function is determined by a unitary operator, and unitarity implies that information is conserved in the quantum sense.
Read more about Black Hole Information Paradox: Hawking Radiation
Famous quotes containing the words black, hole, information and/or paradox:
“Black one, black one,
there was a white
candle in your heart.”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)
“never dare entrust them to a safe
For fear they burn a hole through two-foot steel.”
—Robert Graves (1895–1985)
“English literature is a kind of training in social ethics.... English trains you to handle a body of information in a way that is conducive to action.”
—Marilyn Butler (b. 1937)
“When a paradox is widely believed, it is no longer recognized as a paradox.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)