Turns Out You Can Escape from a Black Hole
Stephen Hawking has revised his theory on black holes. In a paper to be published in the Physical Review Letters, Hawking and two colleagues explain how they believe matter is dispelled from a black hole at the end of its life.
"They are not the eternal prisons they were once thought," Hawking said at a recent conference. "If you feel you are trapped in a black hole, don't give up. There is a way out."
Previously, Hawking had theorized that when a black hole collapses, radiation would be distributed randomly as it falls apart. Any characteristics of the objects absorbed by the black hole would be gone.
But, that theory did not jive with modern physics, which states that it is always possible to go backwards in time. Meaning, you can (theoretically) always recreate something that has been destroyed.
For example, when something is burned, the essential information of that thing remains in the ashes and smoke. If everything in a black hole becomes random matter instead of discernible remains, that breaks the rule.
Instead, the scientists believe the information of objects in the black hole is preserved in the "soft hairs" that can be observed around a black hole from a far distance in time. The "soft hairs" are rays of light that radiate from the black hole and are stuck there thanks to the black hole's gravity.
The information is scrambled, Hawking said. It "can be recovered in principle, but it is lost for all practical purposes."
[H/T New York Times]
