Stephen Hawking, one of the most reputable and famous scientists of our century, may have just solved the "information paradox", the most intriguing mysteries in physics.
Einstein's theory of relativity predicts that in a black hole the physical information about matter falling in is destroyed. On the other side, it is stipulated by the laws of quantum mechanics that information should be eternal. There is an obvious paradox in the contradiction between the main branches of the modern physics.
Hawking, working with Andrew Stromberg of the Harvard University and Malcolm Perry of the University of Cambridge in England, has come up with a possible solution: The quantum-mechanical information about infalling particles doesn't actually make it inside the black hole.
Stephen Hawking said during a talk Thursday at the Hawking Radiation conference that he propose the information is stored on the boundary of the black, hole and not in its interior, as one might expect, His discourse took place at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.
According to the physicist, the information is stored as "supertranslations" at the boundary of the black hole, as two-dimensional holograms. The supertranslations were first introduced as a concept in the year 1962. Hawking explained that even if the information about particles ongoing in the black hole is returned, it comes back in a useless and chaotic form. This means that "for all practical purposes, the information is lost."
Hawking also explained that in black holes the gravitational pull is so intense that once it passes the event horizon not even light can escape. The scientists have given his lecture on Aug 24 in Stockholm. He added that the black holes could be possible portals to other universes. When the black hole is large and rotating, it might open a passage to another universe. According to a KTH Royal Institute of Technology statement, once you pass through you couldn't return to our universe Hawking said at the lecture.
