‘Quantum hair’ may be solution to Stephen Hawking’s black hole paradox
- Hawking had suggested that as black holes evaporate, they destroy information about what formed them – which contradicts a fundamental law of physics
- Now researchers believe they can resolve a paradox that has puzzled scientists for nearly half a century
Researchers may have solved Stephen Hawking’s famous black hole paradox – a mystery that has puzzled scientists for almost half a century.
According to two new studies, something called “quantum hair” is the answer to the problem.
In the first paper, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, researchers demonstrated that black holes are more complex than originally thought and have gravitational fields that hold information about how they were formed.
The researchers showed that matter collapsing into a black hole leaves a mark in its gravitational field – an imprint referred to as a “quantum hair”.
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In a follow-up paper, published in a separate journal, Physics Letters B, Xavier Calmet from the University of Sussex’s School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences and Stephen Hsu from Michigan State University said quantum hairs resolve Hawking’s Black Hole Information Paradox.
In 1976, Hawking suggested that, as black holes evaporate, they destroy information about what had formed them.