arXiv subjects

Igor Peña

Publications and source records attributed to Igor Peña.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2015

Black Holes: Information Loss But No Paradox

The process of black hole evaporation resulting from the Hawking effect has generated an intense controversy regarding its potential conflict with quantum mechanics' unitary evolution. In a recent couple of works of a collaboration involving one of us, we have revised the controversy with the aims of, on the one hand, clarifying some conceptual issues surrounding it, and, at the same time, arguing that collapse theories have the potential to offer a satisfactory resolution of the so-called paradox. Here we show an explicit calculation supporting this claim using a simplified model of black hole creation and evaporation, known as the CGHS model, together with a dynamical reduction theory, known as CSL, and some speculative, but seemingly natural ideas about the role of quantum gravity in connection with the would-be singularity. This work represents a specific realization of general ideas first discussed in [1].

gr-qc↗

arXiv2015

Non-Paradoxical Loss of Information in Black Hole Evaporation in a Quantum Collapse Model

We consider a novel approach to address the black hole information paradox (BHIP). The idea is based on adapting, to the situation at hand, the modified versions of quantum theory involving spontaneous stochastic dynamical collapse of quantum states, which have been considered in attempts to deal with shortcomings of the standard Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, in particular, the issue known as "the measurement problem". The new basic hypothesis is that the modified quantum behavior is enhanced in the region of high curvature so that the information encoded in the initial quantum state of the matter fields is rapidly erased as the black hole singularity is approached. We show that in this manner the complete evaporation of the black hole via Hawking radiation can be understood as involving no paradox. Calculations are performed using a modified version of quantum theory known as "Continuous Spontaneous Localization" (CSL), which was originally developed in the context of many particle non-relativistic quantum mechanics. We use a version of CSL tailored to quantum field theory and applied in the context of the two dimensional Callan-Giddings-Harvey-Strominger (CGHS) model. Although the role of quantum gravity in this picture is restricted to the resolution of the singularity, related studies suggest that there might be further connections.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2014

On the possibility of measuring the Unruh effect

There is a persistent state of confusion regarding the nature of the Unruh effect. We will argue that, in contrast to some interpretations thereof, the effect does not represent any novel physics and that, by its very nature, the effect is fundamentally unmeasurable in all experiments of the kind that have been contemplated until now. Also, we discuss what aspects connected with this effect one might consider as possibilities to be explored empirically and what their precise meaning may be regarding the issue at hand.

quant-ph↗