Zeno's paradox and black hole information loss problem
Abstract
We develop a conceptual parallel between the black hole information problem and Zeno's paradox, highlighting the role of limiting procedures that turn formally infinite constructions into finite physical observables. Building on the replica--wormhole paradigm, we move beyond unitarity restoration to formulate a quantitative notion of irreversibility in Hawking radiation. Our main result is a modular thermodynamic framework for black-hole evaporation, in which modular entropy, entanglement capacity, and relative entropy assume thermodynamic roles. The monotonicity of relative entropy furnishes a generalized second law that determines the arrow of evolution in replica space. We further resolve the apparent tension between the replica method and the quantum no-cloning theorem by interpreting replicas as ensemble representations rather than physical copies of an unknown state, thereby clarifying the operational meaning of gravitational path integrals. A key message of this work is that non-additivity in Tsallis statistics provides an information-theoretic analogue of the correlations induced by replica wormholes.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2511.10106,
title = {Zeno's paradox and black hole information loss problem},
author = {Xian-Hui Ge},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.10106},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
20 pages, 1 figure, This manuscript is an English translation and an expanded version of our original paper published in Acta Physica Sinica. Readers are encouraged to consult the original publication for the complete set of results and figures