Why Black Hole Information Loss is Paradoxical

TL;DR

The paper distinguishes two versions of the black hole information-loss paradox, arguing that the more fundamental one arises from a clash between statistical mechanics and quantum field theory, and discusses recent developments that sharpen this paradox.

Contribution

It clarifies two distinct versions of the black hole information-loss paradox and emphasizes the centrality of the second, more paradoxical version in current quantum gravity debates.

Findings

The second paradox arises before complete evaporation.

Recent work on AdS/CFT and Firewall paradox sharpens the issue.

The first paradox is less compelling as a true paradox.

Abstract

I distinguish between two versions of the black hole information-loss paradox. The first arises from apparent failure of unitarity on the spacetime of a completely evaporating black hole, which appears to be non-globally-hyperbolic; this is the most commonly discussed version of the paradox in the foundational and semipopular literature, and the case for calling it `paradoxical' is less than compelling. But the second arises from a clash between a fully-statistical-mechanical interpretation of black hole evaporation and the quantum-field-theoretic description used in derivations of the Hawking effect. This version of the paradox arises long before a black hole completely evaporates, seems to be the version that has played a central role in quantum gravity, and is genuinely paradoxical. After explicating the paradox, I discuss the implications of more recent work on AdS/CFT duality and on the `Firewall paradox', and conclude that the paradox is if anything now sharper. The article is written at a (relatively) introductory level and does not assume advanced knowledge of quantum gravity.