English

The Black Hole Information Problem

High Energy Physics - Theory 2016-12-21 v1 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Abstract

The black hole information problem has been a challenge since Hawking's original 1975 paper. It led to the discovery of AdS/CFT, which gave a partial resolution of the paradox. However, recent developments, in particular the firewall puzzle, show that there is much that we do not understand. I review the black hole, Hawking radiation, and the Page curve, and the classic form of the paradox. I discuss AdS/CFT as a partial resolution. I then discuss black hole complementarity and its limitations, leading to many proposals for different kinds of `drama.' I conclude with some recent ideas.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1609.04036,
  title  = {The Black Hole Information Problem},
  author = {Joseph Polchinski},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1609.04036},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

45 pages. Presented at the 2014-15 Jerusalem Winter School and the 2015 TASI

R2 v1 2026-06-22T15:48:54.499Z