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Space Science

Stephen Hawking's Last Paper Is Now Online (vice.com) 70

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: When Stephen Hawking died in March at the age of 76, the world mourned a beloved and visionary scientist. But it is some consolation that Hawking's final paper has now been published on the preprint journal ArXiv, demonstrating that even during his last days, he was still pursuing the epic cosmic questions that defined his career. Entitled "Black hole entropy and soft hair," the paper was authored by Hawking along with physicists Sasha Haco, Malcolm Perry, and Andrew Strominger. The work is the third in a series from the team and addresses Hawking's famous brainchild -- the black hole information paradox. Like many physics conundrums, the paradox emerges from the lack of coherence between quantum field theory and general relativity. On the smallest scales of matter, where atoms and quarks abound, there exists a different and seemingly contradictory set of rules to the largest scale of matter, involving stars and galaxies. The search for a "theory of everything" that reconciles these two models is one of the holy grails of modern physics, and was a lifelong fascination for Hawking.

Black holes are notable flashpoints for this tension between quantum field theory and general relativity. According to the quantum rulebook, it should be impossible for information about a particle -- its spin, configuration, mass, and other features -- to be permanently deleted from the universe. But what about matter that falls into black holes, objects with a reputation of not letting anything escape once it passes the event horizon? Can information be scrubbed inside black holes? Hawking suggested that information could indeed be deleted through Hawking radiation, which is a type of theoretical radiation that can escape from inside a black hole. This process has never been empirically observed, but the radiation would supposedly be stripped of all information about its original properties -- and that would violate the rules of the universe as we know them. In his last paper, Hawking and his colleagues speculated that a phenomenon called "soft hair" might resolve the black hole information paradox. The idea is that trails of light and gravity particles might encircle the event horizon, and could store, at the very least, entropic information about matter that fell into the black hole.

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Stephen Hawking's Last Paper Is Now Online

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  • So if this information is encircling the event horizon, is it retrievable or is it permanently lost? If not lost, then that could provide some very interesting cosmological data.

  • Having deleted several Facebook profiles worth of data, I can assure you, data can be lost. Wait.. Mark - Are you seriously telling me that you retain everything? Hmm... Just as I thought. Facebook is a Black Hole.
  • by hcs_$reboot ( 1536101 ) on Saturday October 13, 2018 @01:35AM (#57470778)
    "Hawking's last paper gives new insights on physics" would have been juicy, but "last paper is online" resembles the note that left my grandma on the fridge before passing away, except she was much less famous.
    • What was it? “I have discovered a truly remarkable proof of this theorem which this post-it is too small to contain”
      • No, that was a "kind reminder of the post you have to make to have the whole slashdot community aware".
      • ... proof ...

        He did not leave any proof and he provided no path to test his conjecture.

        From TFS:

        Hawking suggested that information could indeed be deleted through Hawking radiation, which is a type of theoretical radiation that can escape from inside a black hole. This process has never been empirically observed, but the radiation would supposedly be stripped of all information about its original properties -- and that would violate the rules of the universe as we know them. In his last paper, Hawking and his colleagues speculated that a phenomenon called "soft hair" might resolve the black hole information paradox. The idea is that trails of light and gravity particles might encircle the event horizon, and could store, at the very least, entropic information about matter that fell into the black hole.

    • resembles the note that left my grandma on the fridge

      So, how, exactly, did this "note" leave your grandma on the fridge? And was that the cause of death? Or was she already dead when the "note" left her on the fridge?

      And did anyone contact the police when they found grandma on the fridge?

  • Those of us who read 'Hawking's Last Paper' before found it interesting, but with speculative conclusions. At the time, only the speculation was headlined, not the science.
  • Familiar pattern ... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by CaptainDork ( 3678879 ) on Saturday October 13, 2018 @08:40AM (#57471412)

    ... wherein bright theoretical scientists try to straighten a persistent bend in their discipline that moves away from their area of expertise.

    Hawking essentially says that the information comes out of the black hole, but not in a useful form that could, in theory, be used to construct an original.

    Useful to whom?

    Just because we can't recognize the processed information and trace it back to its original state doesn't mean shit.

    The universe made us. It doesn't need use to put it back together again.

    Einstein went down a similar path. He worked all his life trying to extend his theories to perfection.

    With almost predictable regularity, Einstein came up with a new Theory of Everything and, like Hawking, provided no opportunity to test the ideas.

    Meanwhile, younger theorists, about the same age as Albert had been in his prime, had moved on.

    Einstein died trying to take dice away from God.

    Hawking, like Newton and Einstein, was one of the rare talents that pop up throughout history and he deserves accolades and honours for his work.

The herd instinct among economists makes sheep look like independent thinkers.

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