World-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking has recently presented developed theories on how information might still be able to escape the gravitational force of black holes. He hopes that these theories will finally solve one of physics' most challenging puzzles.
During a private conference at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm on Tuesday, Hawking introduced his idea. The exclusive six-day "Hawking Radiation" event, is a secluded meeting of the world's most distinguished physicists where they present theories on how to solve the enigma that is the "information paradox," according to the Wall Street Journal.
Black holes are entities in space that are created after stars collapse into themselves. The extreme force pushes the matter into a small area which will eventually develop into a strong gravitational field. Nothing can escape these black holes - not even light. Hawking theorized in 1974 that these black holes could release radiation which has been coined ever since as the "Hawking radiation." The "Hawking radiation" will eventually run out and information about every bit of particle will be absorbed by the black hole for all eternity.
Quantum mechanics, on the other hand, states that information cannot disappear forever, a sacred law of nature, even if it involves a black hole. This is known as the "information paradox."
During the event, Hawking explained how his theory might solve this conundrum. "I propose that the information is stored not in the interior of the black hole as one might expect, but in its boundary, the event horizon." The event horizon is the area of no return around the black hole where no matter can escape a black hole's gravitational force, the Washington Post reported.
Hawking's theory explains that once these information particles enter the black hole, some traces of it are left in the event horizon. During the "Hawking radiation" the information has way of inching back out of the black hole.
"The information is stored in a super translation of the horizon that the ingoing particles [from the source star] cause," Hawking explained. "The information about ingoing particles is returned, but in a chaotic and useless form. For all practical purposes the info is lost."
Hawking worked this theory with Malcolm Perry of the University of Cambridge in England and Andrew Stromberg of Harvard University, according to Space.
Watch Hawking's presentation below:
