Black holes: complementarity or firewalls?
Abstract
We argue that the following three statements cannot all be true: (i) Hawking radiation is in a pure state, (ii) the information carried by the radiation is emitted from the region near the horizon, with low energy effective field theory valid beyond some microscopic distance from the horizon, and (iii) the infalling observer encounters nothing unusual at the horizon. Perhaps the most conservative resolution is that the infalling observer burns up at the horizon. Alternatives would seem to require novel dynamics that nevertheless cause notable violations of semiclassical physics at macroscopic distances from the horizon.
- Publication:
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Journal of High Energy Physics
- Pub Date:
- February 2013
- DOI:
- 10.1007/JHEP02(2013)062
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1207.3123
- Bibcode:
- 2013JHEP...02..062A
- Keywords:
-
- Black Holes;
- Gauge-gravity correspondence;
- High Energy Physics - Theory;
- General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
- E-Print:
- 22 pages, 1 figure. v2: We have not changed our minds. Various arguments are expanded and sharpened. v3: Relation to previous work clarified. v4: Additional reference to earlier work