English

What Exactly is the Information Paradox?

High Energy Physics - Theory 2009-01-28 v1

Abstract

The black hole information paradox tells us something important about the way quantum mechanics and gravity fit together. In these lectures I try to give a pedagogical review of the essential physics leading to the paradox, using mostly pictures. Hawking's argument is recast as a `theorem': if quantum gravity effects are confined to within a given length scale and the vacuum is assumed to be unique, then there will be information loss. We conclude with a brief summary of how quantum effects in string theory violate the first condition and make the interior of the hole a `fuzzball'.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0803.2030,
  title  = {What Exactly is the Information Paradox?},
  author = {Samir D. Mathur},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0803.2030},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

Latex, 43 pages, 17 figures (Proceedings of the 4th Aegean Summer School on Black Holes, Mytilene (Greece), September 2007)

R2 v1 2026-06-21T10:21:21.883Z