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But for those involved, this is the most positive lead yet towards a
theory of quantum gravity that can unify the forces of nature. The
ER = EPR principle is something that a theory of quantum gravity
should obey, says Maldacena. Susskind thinks so too. We are sure
that these things are going to be part of the final story, he says.
But I dont think we have a clear picture of what that final story
is yet.
Others are less convinced. Joe Polchinski and Don Marolf are
physicists at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and part
of the team that exposed the black hole firewall paradox. Polchinski
is concerned that the ER = EPR idea will end up modifying a central
principle of quantum theory, known as superposition. Exemplified by
Schrdingers cat, this principle explains that a quantum system can
exist in two dierent states at the same time. When quantum objects
become entangled, they also enter a superposition.
At first glance, the ER = EPR hypothesis would mean quantum systems
that become entangled, and therefore enter a superposition, suddenly
gain a wormholea conjuring trick the superposition principle
doesnt obviously allow. Thats problematic, says Polchinski.
Quantum mechanics is weird, but it works, he says. When you give
up superposition, its just weird.
Still, he remains open to the eventuality. In the history of
science, things that seemed absolute in many important cases have
turned out to be not absolute, he saysNewtons law of
gravitation, for example. Maybe superposition is one of them.
Maldacena says that its too early to say if their work is
threatening the superposition principle, because the mathematics
hasnt been worked out in detail.
Marolf for his part isnt convinced the ER = EPR equality works in
all circumstances: Susskind and Maldacena have shown how to avoid
the firewall only for a particular entangled state of black holes.
You might think that it shows how to get out of the [firewall]
paradox for any highly entangled state, but thats not true, says
Marolf.
Given that Einstein developed the ideas of both wormholes and
entanglement, one can only wonder what he would have made of it
all.
My guess is that the old Einstein would have said poppycock, says
Susskindafter all, Einstein spent much of his later years arguing
for a hidden reality that wasnt subject to the vagaries of quantum
mechanics. But the young Einstein apparently had a much more
flexible mind. My guess [is] that the young Einstein would have
embraced these ideas, loved them.
Paradox regained: The black hole problem
In the 1970s, Stephen Hawking showed that black holes emit
radiation. The mechanism has to do with quantum mechanics, which
allows pairs of quantum-entangled particles to spontaneously pop
into existence. When this happens near a black holes event horizon,
one particle may travel outwards, while the other goes towards the
black hole. The result is a steady stream of outgoing particles,
called Hawking radiation.
If no new matter falls into the black hole, this emission means the
black hole will eventually evaporate. But matter is information, and
in quantum theory information is sacrosanct: it can never be
destroyed. So if a black hole evaporates, what happens to the
matter, and therefore information, that fell into it?
One possible solution to this black hole information loss paradox
is the idea that information escapes with the Hawking radiation. But
in 2012, Joseph Polchinski and Don Marolf of the University of
California, Santa Barbara, and colleagues showed this option creates
other problems. General relativity demands that the space-time
around a black holes horizon should be smooth and featureless. It
turns out that for this to be the case and for information not to be
lost, a Hawking particle on its way in would have to be entangled
with all other Hawking particles that left the black hole at all
earlier times, rather than just its partner outside the horizon.
This oends a fundamental quantum rule known as monogamy of
entanglementthat a quantum particle can only ever be fully
entangled with one particle at a time. But if you break the
polyamorous entanglement of Hawking particles, an energetic
firewall of radiation forms at the event horizon. That,
unfortunately, goes against the tenets of general relativity.
Paradox preserved.