A Possible Resolution of the Black Hole Information Puzzle

TL;DR

This paper proposes a resolution to the black hole information paradox by modeling black hole evaporation as a process ending in a baby universe, ensuring unitarity within superselection sectors and implying long-lived remnants.

Contribution

It introduces a superselection sector framework for black hole evaporation and demonstrates unitarity within these sectors, connecting decay rates to entropy.

Findings

Scattering is unitary within each superselection sector.

Decay rate is proportional to the exponential of total entropy.

Black hole remnants are predicted to be very long-lived.

Abstract

The problem of information loss is considered under the assumption that the process of black hole evaporation terminates in the decay of the black hole interior into a baby universe. We show that such theories can be decomposed into superselection sectors labeled by eigenvalues of the third-quantized baby universe field operator, and that scattering is unitary within each superselection sector. This result relies crucially on the quantum-mechanical variability of the decay time. It is further argued that the decay rate in the black hole rest frame is necessarily proportional to $e^{-S_{tot}}$, where $S_{tot}$ is the total entropy produced during the evaporation process, entailing a very long-lived remnant.