Related papers: Pure states don't wear black

On the basis of recently discovered connections between D-branes and black holes, I show how the information puzzle is solved by superstring theory as the fundamental theory of quantum gravity. The picture that emerges is that a…

Computations in the calculable small coupling regime of string theories and the general consensus that no new physics has to be invoked in continuing to the large coupling (black hole) regime, suggest the following picture. Quantum states…

Black holes are a continuing source of mystery. Although their classical properties have been understood since the 1970's, their quantum properties raise some of the deepest questions in theoretical physics. Some of these questions have…

The recent progress in string theory strongly suggests that formation and evaporation of black holes is a unitary process. This fact makes it imperative that we find a flaw in the semiclassical reasoning that implies a loss of information.…

Suppose a black hole forms from a pure quantum state $\ket{\psi}$. The black hole information loss paradox arises from semiclassical arguments suggesting that, even in a closed system, the process of black hole formation and evaporation…

The formation and evaporation of a black hole can be viewed as a scattering process in Quantum Gravity. Semiclassical arguments indicate that the process should be non-unitary, and that all the information of the original quantum state…

The introduction of a relational time in quantum gravity naturally implies that pure quantum states evolve into mixed quantum states. We show, using a recently proposed concrete implementation, that the rate at which pure states naturally…

Given the insight steming from string theory, the origin of the black-hole (BH) information puzzle is traced back to the assumption that it is physically meaningful to trace out the density matrix over negative-frequency Hawking particles.…

We show that in string theory, due to non-perturbative effects, there are cases in which two states that semi-classically are completely different, are in fact the same. One state cannot be excited without exciting the other; they are two…

Many relativists have been long convinced that black hole evaporation leads to information loss or remnants. String theorists have however not been too worried about the issue, largely due to a belief that the Hawking argument for…

We analyze a system consisting of an oscillator coupled to a field. With the field traced out as an environment, the oscillator loses coherence on a very short {\it decoherence timescale}; but, on a much longer {\it relaxation timescale},…

The black hole information loss paradox has plagued physicists since Hawking's discovery that black holes evaporate thermally in contradiction to the unitarity expected by quantum mechanics. Here we show that one of the central presumptions…

We review recent progress in our understanding of the physics of black holes. In particular, we discuss the ideas from string theory that explain the entropy of black holes from a counting of microstates of the hole, and the related…

I review the recent progress in providing a statistical foundation for black hole thermodynamics. In the context of string theory, one can now identify and count quantum states associated with black holes. One can also compute the analog of…

Black holes emit thermal radiation (Hawking effect). If after black-hole evaporation nothing else were left, an arbitrary initial state would evolve into a thermal state (`information-loss problem'). Here it is argued that the whole…

Black holes are the hydrogen atoms of quantum gravity. For instance solving the information loss paradox will likely require a deep understanding of how the long-sought quantum gravity theory works. In this thesis we explore how black holes…

It has been shown that the quantum state of the graviton field outside a black hole horizon carries information about the internal state of the hole. We explain how this allows unitary evaporation: the final radiation state is a complex…

We propose a resolution to the black-hole information-loss paradox: in one formulation of physical theory, information is preserved and macroscopic causality is violated; in another, causality is preserved and pure states evolve to mixed…

We argue that the semiclassical analysis of the black hole information paradox is incomplete and has to be completed by an explicit entanglement of matter and quantum gravity degrees of freedom. We study in detail the evaporation process…

In semiclassical gravity, the final state of black-hole evaporation cannot be described by a pure state. Nevertheless, we point out that the system can be described by a generalized pure state, which is not defined on a 3-dimensional…