English

Remnants, Fuzzballs or Wormholes?

High Energy Physics - Theory 2015-06-19 v1 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Abstract

The black hole information paradox has caused enormous confusion over four decades. But in recent years, the theorem of quantum strong-subaddditivity has sorted out the possible resolutions into three sharp categories: (A) No new physics at rlpr\gg l_p; this necessarily implies remnants/information loss. A realization of remnants is given by a baby Universe attached near r0r\sim 0. (B) Violation of the `no-hair' theorem by nontrivial effects at the horizon rMr\sim M. This possibility is realized by fuzzballs in string theory, and gives unitary evaporation. (C) Having the vacuum at the horizon, but requiring that Hawking quanta at rM3r\sim M^3 be somehow identified with degrees of freedom inside the black hole. A model for this `extreme nonlocality' is realized by conjecturing that wormholes connect the radiation quanta to the hole.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1406.0807,
  title  = {Remnants, Fuzzballs or Wormholes?},
  author = {Samir D. Mathur},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1406.0807},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

7 pages, 4 figures (Essay awarded an honorable mention in the Gravity Research Foundation essay competition 2014)

R2 v1 2026-06-22T04:29:43.911Z