Information may be preserved in a black hole's event horizon from "summary" of The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene
According to the laws of quantum mechanics, information cannot be destroyed. When it comes to black holes, this principle poses a significant challenge. As matter falls into a black hole and crosses the event horizon, it seems to vanish from our universe. If information is indeed conserved, what happens to the information of the matter that has been swallowed by a black hole? Stephen Hawking proposed that black holes could actually destroy information, a concept that caused quite a stir in the physics community. However, this idea led to a paradox known as the "information loss paradox" - a conflict between the principles of quantum mechanics and general relativity. Quantum mechanics dictates that information is always preserved, while general relativity suggests that information can be lost in a black hole. To resolve this paradox, physicists began to explore the idea that information might be effectively preserved on the event horizon of a black hole. The event horizon is the boundary beyond which nothing, not even light, can escape the gravitational pull of the black hole. The notion that information could be stored on the event horizon was a radical departure from traditional thinking about black holes. Instead of being obliterated, information would be imprinted on the surface of the event horizon. This concept, known as the holographic principle, suggests that the information of everything that falls into a black hole could be encoded on its two-dimensional surface. The holographic principle has profound implications for our understanding of the universe. It suggests that the information of three-dimensional objects can be represented in a two-dimensional form. This idea challenges our conventional notions of space and time, hinting at a deeper connection between seemingly disparate concepts. By considering the possibility that information is preserved on a black hole's event horizon, physicists are exploring new frontiers in the quest to unravel the mysteries of the cosmos.
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