Theories in Physics: Conservation of Quantum Information - Part I

In physics today there is a paradox called the Black Hole Information Paradox that threatens to unravel the theory of General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, which are two of the most important beliefs of present day physicists.

Information can be described of what is visible to the human eye, for example that a soccer ball is round, white, and has black patches; however when analyzing in quantum terms scientists and researchers are more interested in understanding the makeup and build down to the smallest atom of the soccer ball. Quantum Information of an object consists of the position, velocity, and spin of all of its particles and exists for each and every object in the universe. The Law of Conservation of Quantum Information states that the quantum information of all objects and more specifically the quantum information of the universe itself must be conserved. If the soccer ball mentioned before was cut up by a pair of scissors, then the quantum information of the soccer ball would still remain the same as before, it would simply exist in a different form. 

The existence of a black hole however challenges this law to the core. Let's say that a black hole sucks in the soccer ball, and now it appears that the soccer ball along with its quantum information has left the universe and has become lost beyond retrieval. This would mean that the Law of Conservation of Quantum Information is false; however there are many theories in Physics today that state that the quantum information of an object that has been consumed by a black hole exists on the surface layer of the black hole also known as the event horizon. Through the belief of this theory it can be assumed that as a black hole’s mass increases the event horizon also increases, which translates to as the black hole’s intake increases the amount of quantum information on the event horizon of the black hole also increases. This theory in its entirety is called the Black Hole Information Paradox.

The Black Hole Information Paradox has its own controversies, but the theory of Black Hole Radiation proposed by scientist Stephen Hawking truly questions its existence in entirety, and will be discussed in Part II of the Conservation of Quantum Information.

Picture Source: livescience.com