The Black Hole Information Paradox

Date and Time

Location

MacN 415

Details

Speaker

Phil Landry, PhD Candidate

Abstract

Black holes are regions of spacetime with such strong gravitational attraction that matter and radiation cannot escape. They do nonetheless emit thermal radiation due to a quantum mechanical effect discovered by Stephen Hawking in 1974. Over time, Hawking radiation can lead to the evaporation of a black hole -- but what happens to the information that fell into it when the black hole disappears? Hawking's original calculation suggested the information is destroyed, but there have since been several proposals to avoid information loss. In this talk, I will describe the black hole information paradox in simple terms and mention a few attempts to resolve it.

Further Details

The talk is from 12:30 to 1:30 pm. Snacks will be provided at 12:00 pm. Make sure to follow the Graduate Seminar Series on Facebook(External Link).

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